WHAT A HIKE!! Frau Holle Land is filled with excellent Premium Hikes, but P2 Frankershäuser Karst blew me away. The 10.5 km long trail hits one geological highlight after another – a pitted moon-like landscape, natural springs, and limestone rock formations and caves. Besides the geological points of interests, there are many view points along the way with great panoramas of the area including the region’s well-known attraction, the Hoher Meißner.
Arrival to Frankershausen
Using public transportation, it can be a little complicated to get to Frankershausen. This hike used to be one giant Premium Hike, but has now been cut into two 10-ish km hikes, P2 and P23. To get to P2, we took bus 290 from Eschwege to Meißner-Abterode Sparkasse. From here you can begin P23 (which we did on another day). We then connected to bus 222 to Berkatal-Frankershausen Mitte. There are not many connections a day to Frankershausen from Eschwege, but it is workable. The difficulty in arriving is worth it. This hike is fantastic!!
Starting the Hike in Frankershausen
We made our way from the bus stop to the end of the street Trift/Steinweg. To orient us, we asked for some help at the supermarket. Cell phone service can be intermittent in the Frau Holle Region, so download maps before you go. Once we reached the Premiumweg signs, we headed northwards (to the right) in order to complete the route counterclockwise.
<<The map here shows two of the bus stops in Frankershausen. We began at the stop near Tegut and walked to “Standort” to begin the hike.
Hielöcher in Frankershäuser Karst
We quickly came upon one of the biggest highlights of the trail: the Hielöcher. This unique geological feature has created a pitted landscape. When water below the surface breaks up the ground above it, material from the top begins to fall inward like a sinkhole. For this reason, it is important to stay on the path. Well, staying on the path is ALWAYS important as good trail etiquette, but here it’s life threatening.
Some of the sinkholes are bigger than others. There is a short detour to the bottom of one of them where you can get a closer look. I loved walking through the long Hielöcher section. It’s also a good introduction to the kind of rock you will see on the way.
Mills and Springs
From the Hielöcher, we hiked to the Oberdorfer Mühle. There are several old mills in the area and this one has been well-maintained. Here, we also crossed two small creeks and their sources, called Karstquellen. Since Frau Holle Land is a Geo Naturpark about geology, there are lots of information signs (in German) about how each landscape formed, including Karstquellen.
Rock Formations in Frankershäuser Karst
At the northernmost tip of the hike, we met the Ellerstein, a huge chunk of limestone with a few cave-like hollows in it. Here, there is the opportunity to connect with the Premium Hike P7 Sooder Wald, which I completed during my excursion to Bad Sooden-Allendorf.
Heading south, the trail leaves the forest and heads up a hill to the Großer Marstein. This is another limestone boulder jutting out of the earth. We had a snack on the bench and enjoyed the view from the rock, happy to be in the early spring sun. A little further on, we could see the Kleiner Marstein, which is a 100 m detour from P2. Afterwards, most of the trail is through farm fields, with continually spectacular views along the way. Plus, there is nearly no noise from the road!
Traveling up and down various hills, we had views of the nearby villages of Franershausen, Frankenhain, and Wolfterode, as well as the Hoher Meißner mountain. At the Alter Teich (old pond) we stopped for a lunch break and enjoyed watching two ducks play in the water.
Wolfterode
There were several more viewpoints after we crossed the Ziegenbach creek and made our way to the village of Wolfterode. In the town, we enjoyed seeing the old cow scale. You can even open it up to weigh yourself. It is a little shed with a big crate inside. Slide open the locks to open the doors and let the cow ramp down to get inside. Then use the slide on the bar to find the weight. If the cow scale wasn‘t enough fun for you, there are plenty of half-timbered houses to gawk at and an adorable family garden, which is divided up into pizza slice plots, per request of the village children, to relax in.
Connect to P23
Leaving Wolfterode, there is a trail to connect P2 with its original other half, P23, if you‘d like to do all of it at once. Along the way, you pass the Mühlstein, another large chunk of karst. Doing both hikes at once is a long day, so we continued back towards Frankershausen to complete our loop. We traveled through a strip of forest to return to our starting point.
Such a lovely loop! We liked that it was short so we could take our time to enjoy all of the highlights and views. It was really worth the many bus connections to get there. P2 Frankershäuser Karst is one of my favorite hikes in Frau Holle Land!
I planned my tour in Frankershausen with help from this page from the Deutsches Wander Institut and this page from Geo Naturpark Frau Holle Land.
Learn more about Premium Hiking in Germany
More premium hikes in Frau Holle Land: Hoher Meißner P1, Über die Blaue Kuppe P3, Waldkappeler Berg P17, Gänsekerleweg P19