Photos

A hiking path leads from Hinterzarten into the Höllental - English translation: "Valley of Hell". I don't know exactly why the valley was given such an ominous name, but I have my own ideas why. This photo was taken around midday(!), and even at this time, the steep mountains to the south of the valley blocked out every last ray of sunshine and there was an overwhelming feeling of icy cold, mossy dampness and blue frost. For someone living in this valley (few do), the entire winter season would be perpetual darkness.

Along the path, there were a series of late 18th- and 19th-century sawmills, aqueducts, and other old infrastructure elements. This is in the Black Forest, in an area where forestry was a traditional economic livelihood. Small creeks like this one were used to power water wheels, and in turn drive the sawmills for cutting timber.

I loved the atmosphere of this place. At any moment I expected some sort of lonely forest creature, or a ghost of an ancient sawmill worker perhaps, to show up and put the water wheels and saw in motion, for the first time in hundreds of years. And I need to go hiking in the winter more; the experience is completely different from a summer's hike.