#3 Fairytale hike through the Dragon Gorge

October 19, 2021: Eisenach

Thuringia is not only known for its beautiful capital Erfurt, but also for the Thuringian Forest; and so we want to go hiking there. We drive to the vicinity of Eisenach to the parking lot "Hohe Sonne", which is free compared to all the parking lots that are closer to Wartburg. From here, we want to hike through the Dragon Gorge. I have already done this hike twice before with a group of 30 young adults and was amazed both times. That's why I want to show Florian the Dragon Gorge too.

After walking through the autumnal forest for a while, we come to a rock crevice with a wooden walkway. The rocks are covered with dense, velvety, dark green moss, and it's a great feeling to walk between these tall rocks. It's like being in a jungle. At the end of this rather short passage, I say to Florian, "I think this was the Dragon Gorge." However, I remembered it differently. In my memory, the path through the rocks was much longer and narrower and wound in such a way that you couldn't see the exit at the beginning. But this was beautiful too.

So we continue to hike through the autumnal Thuringian primeval forest. We often have to stop on the narrow paths to let oncoming hikers pass. Apparently, it's the autumn vacation, because even though we are here during the week, there is quite a lot going on and we encounter many families.

After about fifteen minutes, we suddenly find ourselves facing another gorge. This time, the path is much narrower and we still can't see the exit at the beginning. The passage winds through the rock, and around every bend, there could be a surprise waiting. Will we finally meet the dragon of this gorge? However, more often than not, there is only oncoming traffic behind the next bend, so we have to squeeze past each other on the narrow path or use some of the alcoves in the bends. We cannot keep the recommended 1.5 meters distance.

We walk on grids over the small stream that carved this groove into the rock a long time ago. The path becomes narrower and occasionally, you almost touch the velvety green moss walls with both shoulders. It's a good thing that the rock crevice is open at the top, otherwise I might get claustrophobic. Florian tells the children coming towards us that they will have to crawl at the end to continue. I can see excitement and anticipation in some eyes, but I can also see fear and the desire to turn back in others, so occasionally, I have to contradict Florian's statements. After 10 minutes in this adventurous, mossy, winding, narrow passage, we reach the exit. Here, next to a small waterfall, there is an information board, because according to the signs, this is the official entrance to the Dragon Gorge. The narrowest point there is measured at 68 cm. I can only recommend to everyone who wants to see the Dragon Gorge to hike through it from the back like we did. This way, the adventurous hike builds up over time and the narrowest and most exciting part is not crossed right at the beginning.

From the Dragon Gorge, we hike all the way to Wartburg. There is a beautiful view of the surrounding forest and an exhibition about life in Luther's time, but also a freezing, whistling wind. Originally, we wanted to take the bus back to our starting point from there, but the whole hike only took us two hours, so we hike back to the van through a different route. We walk along the Landgrafenschlucht, which is not comparable to the Dragon Gorge, but rather resembles what you would expect from a gorge in a German forest: a wide path through the woods and steep, rocky walls that tower into the sky with a lot of distance to us. Also beautiful. Unfortunately, the Landgrafenschlucht goes a bit in the wrong direction, so the way back takes a long time and we arrive back at the almost empty parking lot by the van hungry and slightly frozen.

We sit down in our new home and cook our first meal in the van. Unfortunately, our electric stove doesn't work. (It draws too many watts when turned on for our inverter, even though it shows differently. But maybe more on that later.) Luckily, we still have a gas cooker with us. The food tastes good, and as more and more motorhomes turn into the parking lot while we eat, apparently planning to spend the night here, we decide to stay there as well.

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