Boden-Geo-Pfad, walking trail

The Fläming region has a wealth of stones. They lie all over the landscape, from small reading stones to colossal boulders the size of houses. Almost every relatively large boulder has its own name. These get especially creative in the forests between Medewitz and Setzsteig along this boulder hiking trail: The Elephant Stone, the Crisis Stone, the Red Stone... the list goes on and on.

Length/Duration: 15 kilometres / 3–4 hours

Start/Finish: Medewitz station or Setzsteig/Wanderparkplatz on the B107

Marking: grey stones on a white square

How to get there

• Car: A9, exit for Köselitz, parking: Car park for hikers on the B107 near Setzsteig
• Public transport: RE7 Berlin–Dessau until Medewitz

How to get there / Points of interest/background information:

Huge though the stones may be, many of them lie a little off the track, so you have to look closely to make sure you don’t miss any of them.

If you set off from Medewitz station, you can reach the Boulder Hiking Trail in the Flämingbuchen Nature Reserve via Hiking Trail 70. These beech trees look completely normal, but there’s something special about them: The beeches in Hoher Fläming form a kind of island, far away from any other trees like them, thanks to the better soil and more abundant precipitation here. They are genetically different, and foresters take seeds from here for new planting.

Walking in a clockwise direction will take you through lush blueberry forests. So many berries grow here that after the war there was even a ‘blueberry train’ that went from Dessau to Medewitz.

After walking round the Frauenberg hill you will reach Setzsteig, a former manor estate in the heart of the forest. Today there is very little left of the castle, church and manor except a few foundations. Keep your eyes pealed behind Setzsteig, because this is where a section with lots of boulders begin, though some have since been removed.

Right after a short tarmacked section you will come to the foothills of the Springer Rummel, one of the most beautiful dry valleys in the Fläming region, with its high slopes and a path that meanders through the valley floor. It becomes quite steep until you reach the junction for Hiking Trail 70 again, but the views into the valley make it worth the effort.

Maps/Literature: Topografische Freizeitkarte Naturpark Hoher Fläming, 1:50.000, ISBN 978-3-7490-4073-5 (Ausgabe 2017)