Alteburg Mountain (620 m) with a Celtic refuge

Anyone who walks in nature not only for exercise but as an essential contribution to one's quality of life will acknowledge that the aim of a long-distance hike is not simply to walk along a circular path, but rather, to increase with every step the distance to the starting point. A small foretaste to quite a "big" long-distance hike —as, for example, that offered by a one-week hike in Hunsrück along Ausonius Way from Bingen to Trier— might perhaps be a day trip to one of the most beautiful Soonwald outlooks suggested here. This trip leads from the Nahe Valley through the Soonwald foothills up to the observation tower on Alteburg mountain, where you encounter the remains of a Celtic refuge. In the Latène Age (500 - 20 BC) such fortifications served the Celtic people in the surrounding area as protection against roving enemy tribes.

Photo: From the observation tower on the Alteburg Mountain (620 m), one not only has a grandiose view over the almost endless forests of the Soonwald, but also down to the wide plateau of the Hunsrück with its villages, fields and pastures.