Soonwaldsteig: Hiking 85km in the Heart of Germany

In the beginning of October 2023, I hiked the Soonwaldsteig from Kirn to Bingen 🙌

In this article I want to share my experience, as well as tips for anyone who wants to hike it in the future 🤗

Let’s dive in! 😄

Preparation for the Soonwaldsteig

Below is what I did to prepare for the Soonwaldsteig 🙂

Trekking camps

Wild camping is unfortunately not allowed along the trail.

But luckily they provide some camps along the trail where you can book a spot for the night.

I personally think Trekking Camp Ellerspring comes too soon after Alteburg, so I’ll be skipping that one.

Later on in this article I will share my experiences with these campsites.

Route & Stages

Since I’ll be skipping Camp Ellerspring, these will be my planned stages:

• Day #1: Till Smidtburg – 17,4km
• Day #2: Till Alteburg – 20,6km
• Day #3: Till Ochsenbaumer Höhe – 13,2km
• Day #4: Till Campsite Lauschhütte – 16,5km (+2km detour to Netto)
• Day #5: Finish at Bingen Hbf – 17,8km

That’s 17,1 kilometres a day on average.

The official map of the trail is on the Soonwaldsteig website, where they keep a map on Outdooractive.

I couldn’t download the GPX file there because I’m not a pro member of Outdooractive, but it was easy to find the trail on Komoot.

So I downloaded the GPX file there, and loaded it into the Gaia GPS app for offline access.

Could also use the native Komoot app, but I prefer Gaia GPS because the map is a bit more detailed 🙂

I’ll also print a copy of the map in case my phone dies.

Food

I’m planning to do the Soonwaldsteig in five days.

Which means I’ll need four dinners, four breakfasts, eight coffees, and plenty of snacks.

There aren’t many resupply options, but there is a Netto supermarket in Rheinböllen after 59 kilometres only 1000m off the trail.

So I’ll be packing snacks, three dinners, and three breakfasts initially and will buy more food for the last day.

Here’s an overview of what I’ll bring:

It’s some couscous curry, mashed potatoes with nuts, rice with dried tomatoes, and for breakfast fruity overnight oats.

All of this comes in at 2.5 kg, and completely fills up my 13 liter dry sack. Whoops 😋

It feels like carrying a food baby around 😅

Water

I’ve read that water can be an issue on some stretches of the trail, and read that some people carried 4 to 5 liter of water at times.

I’m not sure if those people used a water filter or not, but that seems like a lot since there are often little streams in German forests.

From studying the map, I spotted these streams;

• Stream: Hahnenbach – 17,4km
• Stream: Kellenbach – 28,7km
• Small stream: Asbach – 35,2km
• Small stream: Gräfenbach – 47,2km
• Stream: Guldenbach – 60,2km
• Small stream: Morgenbach – 70,6/76,5km

Can’t tell for sure if the small ones will be dry.

If they are, that the biggest gap would be 31,5km between the Kellenbach and Guldenbach streams.

There are also some water points along the way. Looks like some of these are free taps, and others spots to buy water bottles.

(note to self: bring coins)

I will pack two 1,5 liter bottles, and one collapsable 1 liter bottle for filtering dirty water.

So if necessary, I could carry 4 liter of water.

Update: after completing the trail, I can confirm that all of the streams above had water in October. Biggest dry stretch was between the Gräfenbach stream and the fuel station in Rheinböllen, for which I carried 3 liters of water.

Weather

To make sure I’m not freezing at night, I always like to check the weather so I can take the appropriate clothes and sleeping bag.

I’m planning to do the Soonwaldsteig at the beginning of October, and the coldest predictions are 6°C at night:

(I checked the weather in Seibersbach, which is roughly halfway and at 345m elevation)

Luckily the temperatures during the day are going to be incredibly warm for this time of year! 🌞

Sunset will be around 19:00 every day, so I’ll bring my ereader to spend the evenings.

Packing list

Here’s what I’m taking on the Soonwaldsteig 🙂

The total base weight of my pack without food & water is 6.5kg.

Shelter ⛺

I bring a 1-person trekking pole tent, a pad with an R-value of 4.5, and a quilt with a comfort temperature of 4°C.

• Durston X-Mid 1P
• Therm-A-Rest NeoAir XLite MAX
• Cumulus Quilt 250

Clothing 👕

I tried to keep clothing minimal as it isn’t going to freeze.

• Trail runners
• Merino shirt (2x)
• Merino socks (2x)
• Merino underwear
• Hiking trousers
• Rain jacket
• Down jacket
• Buff

Electronics⚡

I use my iPhone to navigate on trail, and to make pictures. The powerbank keeps the phone and lights charged

• iPhone 13 mini
• Nitecore NB10000
• Cables & adapter
• Headlamp
• Mini flashlight
• Ereader

Toiletries 🧻

Some simple things to stay fresh on trail.

• Towel
• Sun screen
• All-purpose soap
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste pills
• Deo
• Insect spray
• Portable bidet
• Trowel

Miscellaneous

Some other important but random things.

• First aid kit
• Pocket knife
• Trekking poles
• Pack liner
• Cooking setup
• Wallet

Trip report

So how did it go? Let me tell you 😄

Day #1

Distance: 17.2km • Elevation: ↑540m ↓440m • Moving time: 5 hours

My plan was to take an early train to Kirn, but decided in the morning to go by car because there were some issues with the trains.

After a 2-hour drive, I got to Kirn at 11:00 and parked at a free parking lot across from Jysk.

The beginning of the trail was nice but not overly exciting.. yet!

(passed through some regular looking villages)

But excited nevertheless! Finally getting started, wohoo! 🥳

What was really cute, is that someone did the effort of painting a lot of sticks & stones, and building them homes.

There were literally hundreds of sticks, and dozens of shelters built out of sticks and moss. Pretty cool! 😋

After a few kilometres, I got to Schloss Wartenstein.

Really nice building where you can walk for free along the old wall and enjoy the view.

(be sure to walk all the way to the back and viewing platform up top, it’s nice there!)

I took a break here, made myself a coffee and ate the bun I bought at the bakery this morning.

Thinking back to this moment now, this is where the trail really started for me.

From here on out, the trail got really nice.

Through the forest, over some steeper rocky hills.

Especially loved the narrow trails with sunlight peeking through the trees, so nice.

Around 16:00, I got to some old mining tunnels that you have to walk through to continue the trail. How cool!?

Two tunnels of roughly 20 meters long. Pretty dark when you’re in the middle!

On the other side of the tunnel you can still see the old tracks that were used for the mining wagons.

Right after this, I got treated on my first view of the Schmidtburg castle ruin where I’m going to spend the night 😄

After walking a bit further and higher up, there was another amazing viewpoint of the castle from above.

Really cool! Much bigger than expected.

Then, after going all the way down to the Hahnenbach stream, I washed myself and filtered enough water for the night.

I got to the castle half an hour before sunset, and the sky looked so nice.

Went up to the highest tower right away, before setting up the tent, to soak it in.

I set up my tent in one of the ‘rooms’ and prepared my campfire for the night 🔥

I was actually surprised that each spot had a fire pit, I thought there would only be one communal one. Cool! 🙌

Loved sitting at the campfire after it got dark.

I didn’t have much wood, but luckily a friendly couple gave me some wood because they had way too much.

(thanks Maria & Henry!)

What a cool first day, and what an incredible campsite 🤩

Day #2

Distance: 20,7km • Elevation: ↑800m ↓480m • Moving time: 6.5 hours

Decided to sleep out till 08:30, and took it easy all morning so I could enjoy being in this cool castle ruin.

It’s going to be an easy day, so I’ve plenty of time.

Or wait… is it going to be an easy day? 🤔

Started hiking at 10:30, checked the map, and realized I mixed up the days 🤦‍♂️

Today is not going to be an easy 14km, but it’s actually the longest day of the Soonwaldsteig with 21km and a shitload of elevation. Faaack 😅

So I washed up in the river, filtered more water, and started hiking with a rather fast pace to make up for the late morning.

After walking by the river for a while, it went gradually up through some forests and fields.

The view from the fields was actually pretty cool, you could see most of the surrounding area.

Took a short break to eat a snack with this view, walking so fast going up up up is pretty tiring.

Decided to take a bit slower now, no point in going fast and then having to take more breaks.

Then after another two hours of mostly hiking up, I got to the Teufelsfels Observation Tower.

The view was really nice, but I am even more excited about the hut that at the foot of this tower, the Teufelsfelshütte.

There’s no staff or anything at this hut, but you can use it to take a break and charge your phone while enjoying your bought sparkling bottled water.

Such a cool concept, and the hut looks so nice being build all out of wood. Very cool they provide this!

I bought a bottle of water, and continued the trail.

Hike dover the mountain, some kind of wide edge, and walked really long over this field with boulders. Really nice!

After hiking on the same altitude for a while, it’s time to hike down.

My right knee starts to hurt on the left side, and I’m not too excited about hiking down 🤐

But luckily it went okay, only a few steeper sections really hurt somehow.

Curious what’s going on? Just a muscle or did I do a wrong movement? Didn’t feel anything before.

After dropping 200 meters in altitude, I got to the Simmerbach river where I took a break, massaged my knee, and filtered some water.

Always feel like an adventurer feeling water, haha 😋

After crossing the river, the hiking path was going crazy steep up over a bunch of boulders and rocks.

Extremely pretty, and maybe my favorite part of the hike, but oh boy was I sweaty when I got to the top. Lol.

At the top, there was a comfortable bench with an awesome view over the surrounding area.

You can’t see it when you stand there, but there’s a huuuuuge stone quarry at the bottom of this mountain.

An hour later, after passing some really beautiful trails, I got to a castle ruin with a nice lookout tower.

The climb up there was difficult because my knee was hurting pretty badly. Damnnn.

Getting a bit worried about my knee, but still manage to enjoy all the beauty of the trail today.

Another hour later, sunset started setting it and it was slowly getting dark.

I’m not there yet, but I’m trying not to rush with my painful knee.

And hiking with this view is actually pretty cool 🤓

After crossing the fields, I continued hiking through the forest for another 30 minutes or so.

Was getting sooo dark, and really a bit creepy 😅

Got to the campsite at 20:00 or so. Happy I’m here, tough day.

A woman, Anna, hurried over and said she is very happy that someone else arrived. There was nobody else, and it’s a bit creepy here with all the animal noises 😶

Set up my tentie, made dinner, did lots of stretching, and went to bed at 21:20. So tired!

Very grateful for this beautiful day, what a nice trail. Just hope my knee is better tomorrow.

Day #3

Distance: 14,27km • Elevation: ↑240m ↓220m • Moving time: 4 hours

Woke up around 8. Besides waking up a few times because my arm felt asleep (why is that!?), it was an okay night.

Already before getting up I can feel my knee still hurting, damn.

Was somehow hoping it would go away with a night of sleep.

Seriously contemplated giving up before it’s getting worse, but after getting up and walking around camp a bit I realized it’s not that bad.

So I’ll just try and see how it goes today.

Luckily today is a bit of an easier day with only 14 kilometres and not much elevation, and if my knee gets worse I could set up camp earlier at trekking camp Ellerspring.

After eating breakfast and packing up, it was time to hit the trail at 09:30 💪

First stop after a kilometre or so was the Alteburg tower, from where you can get a pretty cool view of the area.

The trail continued for a while over some long stretched logging roads.

It was honestly a bit boring, it just kept going and going with no end in sight 😴

After a while I got my sit pad out to take a break with a snack, felt somehow funny to sit on the middle of the ‘road’ here 😋

(first time taking a sit pad on a trip, love it!)

My knee luckily seems to be doing okay! Can still feel it, but it’s much better than yesterday.

After walking on the boring forest road for another while, I got to a nicer section, pretty cool.

Came across a bright orange dude here. Wondering if I should wear more bright clothes too? Maybe it’s hunting season or something. Did hear some shots yesterday 🤔

Anna told me this morning trekking camp Ellerspring is a really nice spot for lunch, so I gave it a try for a nice long break.

(plenty of time today)

It was only a small detour from the trail, and it’s indeed very nice.

Took out the hammock, made Koawach and chilled for over an hour. Great. Love having so much time.

After a long break, I continued the trail.

It was nice, but my legs were feeling pretty tired again.

Luckily not much to go, and the weather is sooo nice 🤓

At the Gräfenbach stream, I filtered enough water for the night, and enough to get to Rheinböllen tomorrow because I don’t see any other streams on the map.

The water was pretty shallow and still, but found a part where the water was a bit deeper and flowing.

Made it to Ochsenbaumer Höhe 🤩 really nice here, a clearing in the middle and then several small tent spots scattered around.

Since there was no one else there, I could choose any spot I liked.

When I got closer to camp, I collected some dry wood to start the fire, which was really smart because there isn’t much around.

Think having a fire is such a good thing this time of year because it gets dark so early. Keeps you busy, gives off warmt, and lightens up the creepy dark forest a bit 🤗

Used the fire to boil water for dinner, read a few pages, and called it a night.

It definitely feels like the coldest night so far, so I snuggled up under my quilt.

Good night 😴

Day #4

Distance: 19km • Elevation: ↑400m ↓450m • Moving time: 5 hours

Woke up at 07:45. Slept quite okay but feeling pretty stiff.

Looking forward to a real bed already 😅

My plan is to leave at 09:00 so I have plenty of time for the 16,5km hike to Lauschhütte today 💪

Feeling excited about resupplying at the supermarket in Rheilböllen so I can get some fresh fruit and vegetables.

But first breakfast; eating fruity overnight oats with some chopped up chocolate, yum! 🤤

Pain in knee is almost away, and I’m feeling excited!

The trail started off nice with some narrow trails through a very dense forest with sunlight sparkling through the trees. Soo nice.

Walked for two hours or so and stumbled upon the Hochsteinchen tower.

The view wasn’t much different from what I saw on trail, but made it special by making the rest of my mashed potato dinner there. Nice 🤗

After the tower, the trail went down down down into the valley where Rheinböllen is.

Not too steep, but I know I have to hike all of this up again on the other side of the valley 😅

First stop: Burger King 🤩

I’m usually never too excited about this kind of food, but oh my did those fried fries and a cold coke taste gooooooooood.

After filling my belly, I walked over to the Netto supermarket, where I got some fresh supplies.

Then I continued the trail, got to the other side of the highway through a tunnel, and walked steep up for an hour or so.

Wasn’t so pleasant, big forest road and could hear the highway the whole time.

The rest of the hike was mostly these same logging roads, with dozens of windmills all around.

Somehow interesting to see these things from up close, they’re soooo huge.

After another two hours or so, I made it to the Lauschhütte 🤩

Pretty cool here, there’s a whole area where you can climb around the trees, and where they’ve also build some cool tree houses.

Wish I would’ve booked one of those cool tree houses!

But I’m also happy with my spot on the very spacious field 🤓

Another guy, Philip, arrived just after me.

Nice to talk to someone else since I’ve not seen any other hikers in the last two days.

He hiked from Alteburg all the way over here with a 20kg backpack in one day, impressive!

We chatted a bit, I made dinner, and at 21:30 it was time to call it a night 😴

Day #5

Distance: 17,7km • Elevation: ↑290m ↓790m • Moving time: 5.5 hours

Woke up at 07:45, and slept like a baby 😄

Could probably still sleep a few more hours, but want to start early so I can still drive home tonight.

Philip already left before it got light, crazy guy. Can’t imagine it to be lots of fun packing the tent and hiking in the dark, but probably awesome to see sunrise on the trail.

Curious if I’ll see him again today.

Time to start the last day! 🙌

Started off with the same boring logging roads again as yesterday, but it got nice pretty quickly after that 😄

The trail went by the Morgenbach, which was very nice in this light.

Also chilled here on a bridge for a bit.

I feel good but still pretty tired from the last few days.

The trail continued further along the Morgenbach, and was getting nicer and nicer.

Seriously, I did not expect this.

That little creek turned into a beautiful lush green valley with a thousand little waterfalls 🤩

The pictures don’t do it justice, but here are a few;

After walking through that valley for nearly two hours, I got to a section where it went up.

And when I mean up, I mean upppp. Holy crap!

It was rocky, very steep, but beautiful! And it was going surprisingly easy, have the feeling my legs are slowly getting used to all the torture they have to endure the last few days, hehe.

And after getting to the top, I got treated to a cool view of the Rhine with castle Reichenstein.

Made myself a coffee, and took a long break with this view ☕

Really cool seeing the Rhine, knowing the end is in sight!

But first another 8km or so 💪

The path after the viewpoint is really nice. It is narrow the whole time, surrounded by a thin forest with beautiful views over the Rhine.

After a few more kilometres, I walked by the Rheinstein Castle and found an old lookout tower with a cool view of it.

I’m really getting there now.

And while my legs are protesting, I’m feeling excited about the thought of finishing already.

Did a slight detour to viewpoint Damianskopf, which gave me a cool view of the Rhine valley.

Could already see the train station in Bingen from here, where I’ll be finishing in a bit 🥳

The last 5 kilometres are tough.

It’s almost like my body knows it is almost there.

I couldn’t hike fast enough, I’m ready to finish 🤓

Which I did, not too much time later 😄😄

I fuckiiing diddsdd ittttttt! So proud 🤗 feels sooo good! Now sitting in the train and really feeling euphoria. Wohooo!

Can’t believe I really hiked 87 kilometres, holy shit.

On the other hand, it feels like I’ve been walking for weeks, lol 😅

Now time for some goooood rest.

Afterthoughts

Whoah, still can’t believe I actually did it! 🤩

It was a bit tougher than I thought.

Hiking so many days in a row with a heavy backpack and not optimal sleep was definitely wearing down on me.

But I’m so so proud! 🙌

Also learned what I can and can’t do, and definitely want to plan a multi-day hike in some higher mountains next year.

Quick learnings

During the trail I wrote a few things in my notes to do different on my next hike.

• Slightly more morning oats would be better, getting hungry quickly again.
• Missed real lunches a bit, energy bars and nuts are no substitute for a nice lunch.
• Should add tiger balm to first aid kit for aching muscles.
• Shirt with long sleeves would be nice when it’s chilly but not cold enough for a jacket.
• Overnight oats for 4 days in a row is a bit boring.
• Put food that’s not waterproof in ziplock. My salt and peppers got destroyed when something leaked inside my food bag.
• Magnet clip watertube keeps coming off sternum strap. Maybe glue it or sew a piece of metal onto the strap.
• Used hammock not enough to justify the 300 grams it weighs.
• Brought 120ml of spiritus but only used 70ml.
• Mini flashlight is great, but also runs out of battery very fast. Luckily rechargeable with usb-c.
• Was smart to bring a few coins for honesty boxes.
• When I’m going to hike even longer trails, I definitely want to plan a rest day every 4 or 5 days.
• Days over 20 kilometres with a 10kg backpack are doable but less enjoyable.
• Injuries happen quickly, should really make sure I stretch every morning and evening.

Recommendations for other hikers

If I would do the hike again, I would do the trail the other way around because I think it’s nice to save Camp Schmidtburg for last.

Also, I would start the hike on a different day so that all the huts between Rheinböllen and Bingen are open. Right now, they were all closed on Monday & Tuesday. Would’ve been a nice opportunity for a cold drink & nice lunch.

I would recommend to bring a water filter because people I met without one struggled with water and had to do detours to nearby towns. In some of the camps there was supposed to be bottled water, but the supply was gone when I got there.

Think it wasn’t worth doing the 2km detour to the supermarket in Rheinböllen to resupply for one more day. Would’ve been better to pack a bit more food, and skip the detour along that boring road.

Over to you

When are you planning to do the Soonwaldsteig? 💪

And do you have any questions about it?

Whatever it is, let me know in the comments below 🤗