Hike - Sallmannshäuser Rennsteig - from Ruhla to Sallmannshausen

It is also called the "Junkerschen Rennsteig", the path that leads from Ruhlaer Häuschen via Marksuhl to the Werra. It was the historian Christian Junker who first (even before Julius von Plänckner) wrote a comprehensive description of the Thuringian Rennsteig in 1703. But his high route ran downwards from Ruhla towards the southern edge of the Thuringian Forest.

Today, the route is a welcome alternative to the Rennsteig and offers natural added value along the path to the Werra, away from the much-used high trail. The special feature of this hiking trail is that it does not pass through a single inhabited place along its entire length of about 28 km. From start to finish, you walk through pure nature, through the Thuringian Forest, the meadows of the southern slope, and the Böller just before the destination.

You leave the Rennsteig at Ruhlaer Häuschen near the Schlauchental meadows. In the 18th century, a small hunting lodge stood here. This is immediately followed by a steep descent past the Elte spring and further towards federal road 19. In the northern direction is Etterwinden. Along the forest edge you follow the path until you meet Thuringia's best-known trail network: the Luther Trail. It continues through the forest almost up to Eichberg. At the shelter, turn west. Through the deep mixed forests you pass Milmesberg. Here you have a wonderful view towards Wartburg. Above Marksuhl, you cross the railway track of the South Thuringia Railway on the Herrschaftsbrücke and continue past the Römbach spring and Wilhelmsbuche through the forest. As soon as you reach open land again, you pass the Jakobsweg and continue west past Oberellen until you reach the Thuringian Luther Trail again.

Until shortly before Herda, the Sallmannshausen Rennsteig follows the same route past Napoleonstein and then turns north. After crossing a country road, you reach the former NVA military training area near Lutzberg. Through the "Böller" you walk almost 5 km straight ahead until you finally arrive in Sallmannshausen. Here, the old weir at the Werra mill is particularly worth seeing. There is a great photo spot on the opposite riverbank on the small island.