The Ellerspring, at , is the highest point of the
Soonwald
The Soonwald is a forested, low mountain region, up to , which forms part of the Hunsrück mountains in the German Central Uplands. It lies within the counties of Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis and Bad Kreuznach in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Geo ...
, a part of the
Hunsrück
The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...
mountains in the German
Central Uplands
The Central UplandsDickinson (1964), p.18 ff. (german: die MittelgebirgeN.B. In German die ''Mittelgebirge'' (plural) refers to the Central Uplands; das ''Mittelgebirge'' refers to a low mountain range or upland region (''Mittel'' = "medium" and ...
. It is situated near
Winterbach in the county of
Bad Kreuznach
Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, most well known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke, which is one of the few remaining bridges in the ...
in the state of
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
Geography
Location
The Ellerspring lies in the northwest of the county of Bad Kreuznach roughly in the centre of the
Soonwald-Nahe Nature Park. It rises within the parish of
Winterbach, whose village church stands some 4.6 km south-southeast of the summit. About 1 km to the northwest of the summit in the valley of the
Gräfenbach, which initially flows southwest, and that of the
Lametbach, which begins by heading northeast, is the boundary with the county of
Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis
Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis is a district (german: Kreis) in the middle of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise) Mayen-Koblenz, Rhein-Lahn, Mainz-Bingen, Bad Kreuznach, Birkenfeld, Bernkastel-Wittlich, ...
, in which are located the villages of
Argenthal (to the north),
Riesweiler and
Tiefenbach (to the northwest) and
Sargenroth and
Mengerschied (to the west). Not far from the mountain, in the county of Bad Kreuznach, lie the villages of
Spabrücken
Spabrücken is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country ...
and
Münchwald
Münchwald is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rüdesheim, ...
(to the east),
Gebroth
Gebroth is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rüdesheim, who ...
(to the southeast) and Winterbach and
Ippenschied (to the south-southeast). About 2 km (
as the crow flies
__NOTOC__
The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points, rather similar to "in a beeline". This meaning is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliv ...
) south-southwest of the summit at a height of about 529 m rises the
Nahe tributary of
Ellerbach, after which the mountain is named. Roughly northeast of the summit is the ''Ödesborner Höhe'' (641.1 m) and, beyond that, the ''Hölzenkopf'' (604.8 m). Forming a spur to the south-southeastern is the ''Odstein'' (511.0 m) and, to the east, the ''Steineberg'' (563.9 m).
Natural regions
The Ellerspring belongs to the
natural region
A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate.
From the ecological point of view, the naturally occurring flora and ...
al major unit group of
Hunsrück
The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...
(No. 24), in the major unit of
Soonwald
The Soonwald is a forested, low mountain region, up to , which forms part of the Hunsrück mountains in the German Central Uplands. It lies within the counties of Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis and Bad Kreuznach in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Geo ...
(240) and the sub-unit of
Großer Soon (240.1) to the eponymous natural region of ''Großer Soon'' (240.11).
References
External links
* Information about th
''Ellerspring''(private website)
{{German Central Uplands
Mountains under 1000 metres
Mountains and hills of the Hunsrück
Bad Kreuznach (district)