Spot Check #1: Sasbachwalden, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Driving by on the highway, the mountains on the east side of the Rhein valley doesn’t look very spectacular, not high and a little flat. I ignored them many times and drove further south to Freiburg. But not this time.

Beautiful light on beautiful trails

Not far from the highway, Sasbachwalden is easily accessible and as soon as you drive through the first hills, you are surrounded by an idyllic scene of little Schwarzwald villages with wooden framework houses, agriculture and lots of nature.

We leave the car at the Spinnerhof, 200m above Sasbachwalden, and start our climb. Right before Breitenbrunn, we see the crew of trail builders, working hard for a new trail. We say hello and find out that the trail they are working on, is almost finished and ready to ride. Lucky we are! It connects the built trails down to Sasbachwalden with the natural singletracks at Hornisgrinde.

View into the Schwarzwald from high plateau of Hornisgrinde

This mountain is our goal for today, and after a comfortable climb on a paved road, we reach the high plateau of Hornisgrinde. The first trail, Kesselbach Trail will be the hardest of the day. Tough start, but a rewarding descent for all who like technical singletracks. For a trail description, click on the trail head in the map.

Second and easier part of Kesselbach Trail

The climb back up is not very steep and on gravel or paved roads. Also plenty of restaurants are on our way.

Trail around the Mummelsee. Part of our second uphill

Back at the top, we take a break at the small Kiosk and enjoy the beautiful view over the Rhein valley. Lots of other tourists come up here from the Mummelsee on the south side and on weekends the trails around Hornisgrinde are a little crowded.
Looking down into the valley, the highway is a thin line I hardly can see. I realise, the mountains aren't as small as I thought all the time, and now a long descent awaits us.

No time for great views, better concentrate on bumpy trails

The little tiredness after the brake is immediately blown away from the bumpy trail. We really have to concentrate and hold our handlebars tight, not to get thrown off the bikes or loose the momentum on one of the many rocks and roots. Back to Breitenbrunn we are happy to now hit the flowy and built trails of the Bikesport Sasbachwalden e.V.

The first built trail is the new one, a flowy connection trail which is a lot of fun and one don't even realise the short pedal sections. For a trail description and more pictures, click on the trail head in the map.

Then the main downhill to Sasbachwalden, the Alpirsbacher Schwarzwaldtrail. It's a long and versatile trail and so much fun, we almost didn't stop for pictures. It ends directly in the beer garden of the Spinnerhof. We couldn't ask for a better finish.

Creative built lines. A big stone used as a wallride

Summary: The region surprised us with trails of all styles and difficulties, beautiful and idyllic landscape and good food. You can already ride an altitude difference of 700 hm and negotiations for another trail down to Sasbachwalden are running.
Once again it was worth to try something new. Great work of the local trail builders and a good example for the county, which is usually known as not very mountain bike friendly. If you don't want to pedal all by yourself, there is also the possibility to take a shuttle from the Spinnerhof.