Black Forest Trails and the Balzer Herrgott
20 May 2018
I’ve gone on and on about this before. This little place in Brend has possibly my favorite breakfast of about anywhere. Croissants, yogurt, fresh fruit, salami, cheeses, local-made Black Forest Ham, smoked salmon, a variety of breads, made to order eggs and coffee – I would be happy with having our view and this breakfast every single day. It is truly my happy place, and I really try to treasure it while we are here.
Halfway along the small road between Furtwangen and Brend is another little offshoot through forests and fields, up hills and through valleys, which eventually leads to the village of Gütenbach. The model train company Faller has a showroom here, that was closed unfortunately. Just past town is trailhead for an easy-going hike leading to the Balzer Herrgott.
Some time back in the early 1900s, someone carved a large Jesus on the cross figure into a tree. It was about ¾ the normal scene, from the top of the head down to about the waist. Over time, the tree continued to grow and actually closed in around most of the carving, absorbing it back under the bark. Just before the face had fully closed up, an artist began trying to preserve the figure. Today it stands as a little monument in the forest, with just the head and shoulders visible. The tree itself was beautiful, and the carving peering through the bark makes for a wonderful little stop off point along the trail. Great work by the artist to preserve this!
We have made our way out into the forest on our trip here before, but it was a very limited time in the woods. There is an extensive - and I emphasize extensive – network of trails going all through this region. You could spend months here and only manage to work your way through a part of it all. We wouldn’t have time on these week-long trips to delve deep into the trail system, but we should take some time to see more than we did last time. As we walk through the trails around the Balzer Herrgott, we take our time to appreciate the place where we are. The air is so very fresh, the leaves are brilliant green, the little snails crawl along the mossy ground, and call of the birds echo through the trees. We pulled off the trail a bit and took some time in the forest itself. When you cross an ocean on limited time, you want to rush to see everything you can. But there is really a place for just slowing the pace and not just seeing, but experiencing your surroundings. We took a close look at the leaves, felt the soft ground underfoot, and let the forest envelop us. We thought of the multitude of stories and legends that have come from the forest, and with Beth in her red dress, took a few Red Riding Hood inspired pictures. We enjoyed the slower pace of the forest and took our time getting back to the car, to then head off and revisit our first ever stop in the Black Forest.
With everything else to see and do, simple things like this can be easily overlooked. Don’t let that happen. The forest was so calming and beautiful, it was definitely worth the time to stop!
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