Hike to the Castle

On Saturday, the Ls, their friends the As, and I went on a 8-km hike (round trip) to the ruins of the Sausenburg Castle.  

The road wound through town at first but then left Kandern and went into the countryside.

Soon we were surrounded by the Black Forest.

There were points where the trees cleared away and we could see over the countryside.

We passed a small rest house.  I've learned that there's a popular long distance hiking trail called the Westweg that passes through the Black Forest, and lots of people hike and bike it every year.  This house might come in handy for tired Westweg travelers.  

We reached the Sausenburg Castle ruins.  I don't know how large the castle used to be, but there is still a thick wall surrounding a large rectangle of grass and a sturdy tower standing at one end.

We climbed up spiraling wooden stairs to the top and were rewarded with a stunning view of the Black Forest.

In the middle of the picture sits the town of Sitzenkirch, farther off in the distance on the righthand side of the photo is Kandern, and way off in the distance, maybe not even visible in this photo, is Basel, Switzerland.

A view down into the tower's front yard

Several of the Ls, the As, and I climbed up on the wall on the right of the above photo.  We took off our shoes and scrambled up the old stones barefoot.  There were plenty of rocks sticking out for hand- and footholds.  It felt somewhat disrespectful to be climbing stones that had stood for hundreds of years but at the same time, I wondered if the castle wouldn't mind having young people touching its walls.  

As I sat on top of the wall, looking out over the forest, I realized that I was sitting on a wall that was older than my own country.  I wondered what people had labored to build it, what things it had seen, what people had lived inside it and sought shelter from it.  

Despite the historical age of the place, it felt alive and young because of the green grass and the ivy climbing the tower.  It would have made a perfect place to picnic or read a book or paint something.

Eventually it was time to go.  We climbed down and hiked back.  It was a lovely hike, and it surprised me that such a cool place was so simple and free to go to.