Romantic canyons and original forests
The river Wutach and its tributaries form an overwhelming primal landscape with romantic canyons and original forests. An unforgettable experience for every hiker. Thousands of tourists hike through the WUTACH GORGE each year, one of the highlights of the Central Black Forrest, a unique integral nature reserve area, and a strict protected savage river valley. It is not possible to drive through this area by car but it has to be crossed by hiking. The spring streams of the Wutach (angry Ach) come from the eastern slope of the Feldberg.
This water body has three names, before it flows into the High Rhine close to Waldshut: from the lake Feldsee, in the eastern firn basin of the mountain Feldberg to the Titisee, it meanders leisurely as "Seebach" through the floodplain of the bear’s valley . The river leaves the lake Titisee as "Gutach" (good Ach), and in the east of Neustadt the now torrential river starts being called "Wutach" (angry Ach).
From this point it starts getting botanically and geologically interesting. The Wutach has buried itself deeply in layers of rock and still permanently changes the river bed and valley gorge, especially in spring. The beddings that descend to the east present to the amateur geologist an interesting insight into the history of the soil. The karst formations and the formations of sinkholes are of particular interest, as well as the various fossilisations, such as ammonites and belemnites. For the hobby botanist, the gorge is an entire eldorado. 1200 of the 2500 plant species that appear in Central Europe can be found here.
And it is not surprising that still more than 500 species of butterflies can be found in the ravine. Friends of nature will come across hundreds of species of birds. It is most practical to hike through the Wutach gorge from west to east which will take about two daily hiking tours. Recommended entrances are the Gutach bridge close to Kappel, in the east of Neustadt and, the Schattenmühle (information centre and hikers parking site) from Loeffingen-Göschweiler. Additionally it is recommended to start at the hikers parking sites Dietfurt (Löffingen-Reiselingen) or by Löffingen-Bachheim.
The Wutach gorge can be visited almost year round. The best seasons are the early summer and autumn. Especially the autumn, the time of the fall foliage colour is fascinating, when the various shrubs and broad-leafed trees put on their colourful dress. Additionally, this is the climatically most predictable season. By now the weather is not sub tropically warm anymore, but the temperatures are convenient for hiking.