Stage 6: “Paul-Gerhardt Path” from Mittenwalde - Groß Köris

This stage takes you from the centre of Mittenwalde into the open countryside with stunning and very varied scenery. You walk into the Dahme-Heideseen Nature Park. This great nature park features 25 nature conservation areas, 30 fauna and flora habitat areas and the Große Schauener Seenkette bird sanctuary. The Dahme-Heideseen landscape conservation area makes up the largest part. The highest elevations are the Blocksberge mountains at 111 metres altitude. The largest open inland dune, 400 metres long, is located in Massow, the highest is at 33 metres altitude near Storkow. The Pätzer Seen lakes and former clay and gravel pits invite you to take a break: After 1900, the pits supplied Berlin with building materials, which eventually had a serious impact on the forest and heath landscape. The landscape has since been regenerated in the form of the Pätzer Seen lakes, a new natural landscape with great biodiversity. Here you can see beavers, kingfishers and the occasional sea eagle. 

Length (duration): about 19 kilometres (about 5 hours)

Route sign: Signets and hiking signs of the Paul-Gerhardt path

Route: 

This route takes you mainly along natural ground and only in a few pavement sections with noise pollution. Most of the route runs through quiet countryside.

Trail conditions:

Pavements in the towns, forest paths and dirt tracks, mostly without a solid surface, elsewhere.

Points of interest along the route:
Nature: Open fields, forest, Dahme-Heideseen Nature Park with the Pätzer Seen lakes, old elm tree in Motzen.
Culture: St.-Moritz church, Paul-Gerhardt memorial, Paul-Gerhardt house, Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn memorial, local history museum and Mittenwalde town centre, sculptures and local history museum in Motzen, drawbridge in Groß Köris.

By public transport:

Start: St.-Moritz church in Mittenwalde near bus stop, regular bus connections to Königs Wusterhausen railway station

Finish: Groß Köris station, RB (regional train network) to Königs Wusterhausen, Lübben and Berlin and between Motzen and Mittenwalde.

All locations are within the VBB regional tariff zone.

How to get there by car:

There is parking at the start and finish, but there is no direct transport link between start and finish.

Recommended maps/Literature:

Aus der Serie “Schöne Heimat”: Flutgrabenaue, Königs Wusterhausen und Umgebung, Verlag Dr. Barthel; ISBN 978-3-89591-097-5

Aus der Serie “Schöne Heimat”: Naturpark Dahme-Heideseen, Verlag Dr. Barthel; ISBN 978-3-89591-092-0

Reschke, Manfred: Paul-Gerhardt-Weg “Natur und Kultur zwischen Berlin und Spreewald”, Trescher-Verlag; 1. Auflage 2017, 168 Seiten, 80 Fotos, 25 Karten und Stadtpläne, farbige Klappkarten, ISBN 978-3-89794-354-4, https://www.trescher-verlag.de/reisefuehrer/deutschland/paul-gerhardt-weg.html

Find inspiration in the diary specifically published for this trail. The tourist information centres along the way give you hiking stickers for each completed stage, which you can stick in your diary. They also give you song sheets of the poet’s most famous songs.

You can find all souvenirs of the Paul-Gerhardt path here.

Possible combinations/connection to other hiking trails:
Circular trail around the Pätzer Seen lakes
Circular trail around Lake Wolziger See and Lake Kutzingsee
Prieroser Heide Circular Trail
Klein Eichholzer Heide Circular Trail