Day 71, Hühnerhaus in Stahlberg – Dannenfels

Weather:☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️ (🥵🥵)
Picnic: 🥪🥪🥪🥪 (3 out 5, We shared the final 3 wraps in a bench in a field. We were happy that we got the canned bratwurst from the Hühnerhaus as a topping)
Track: 🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪 (4 out of 5, great trail through the forest and fields)
Campsite: ⛺⛺⛺⛺⛺ (5 out of 5, field with 2 paragliders in a camper with a campfire, extra water and some great hospitality
Name of followed trail: ➕ Pfälzerwald and from Donnersberg a yellow square 🟨
Special mention: Susanne and Ulrich from the Hühnerhaus for their incredible hospitality. Thank you again, on behalf of all the hikers that visit you!

We get up at 6, when the sun shines on our tent. We left the outer tent off yesterday, because it’s too warm. And the views are great from the tent!

When we are packing our bags, Ulrich comes to us with a platter of breakfast. What an amazing hospitality!

We have a great and relaxed breakfast and treat ourselves with some extra coffee and tea.

We leave the Hühnerhaus with our waterbags full, because we won’t find many water points along the way today.

We start up the hill and into the forest. Soon we find a marble trail. Yes, a trail where you can put a wooden marble in a track for fun. We bought a marble and enjoyed the tracks 😁.

We continue the trail with a lot of elevation through the forest. The heat makes it though, and we’re happy to get into Katzenbach where we can cool ourselves in a surprise fountain.

Onwards up a long and slow ascend (10 km long) towards the Donnersberg. It’s 662m high, but the length of the ascend makes it hard. We are grateful to find a spring in our way. We fill up there, drink a lot and cool our face and arms. After a break we’ve cooled down enough to continue up the hill.

On the top of the hill we change trail markings from the + to a 🟨. Too bad, because the markings were ok. Luckily the new ones are quite alright too😅.

We hike down into Dannenfels and get a nice dinner at a restaurant. We drink extra water and refill for the night too.

We hike the last 2 km towards the forest to find a campspot. When we see 2 campervan’s in a field, about a kilometer from the forest, Mark decided to ask if we can camp here. The man at the campervan is fine with it and claims that his friend, who owns the land, will be happy to have us.

When Hermann, the owner comes, he indeed is fine with it. He even offers us to have a shower at his house! But we’re already very happy with the 10 litres of water he provides for us. This makes it possible to make a makeshift shower from our bowls 😁😁😁.

We get a beer from Roman and have a drink together. We find out they are paragliders. Later, Manfred arrives as well. It’s a welcoming group of men and we’re really happy that we get to stay here ♥️.

We even have a lovely campfire together.Unexpected Trail magic!