The Kermeter is an upland region, up to , which is part of the Rureifel within the North Eifel in the districts of

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

Düren Düren (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne, on the river Rur (river), Rur. History Roman era The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the ter ...

and

Euskirchen Euskirchen (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Öskerche'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Euskirchen (district), district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating ba ...

in the southwestern part of the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The Kermeter ridge is covered by a forest, some 33 km² in area, that is one of the largest contiguous,

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

forests in the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

. Since 1 January 2004 it has formed the core zone of the

Eifel National Park The Eifel National Park () is the 14th national park in Germany and the first in North Rhine-Westphalia. The park was founded in 2004, and is classified as a "national park in development". Eifel National Park is part of the much larger High ...

Location

The Kermeter lies on the territory of the three Eifel parishes of Heimbach,

Simmerath Simmerath () is a municipality in the Aachen (district), district of Aachen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approximately 20 km south-east of Aachen, near the border to Belgium. The administrative area was expanded in 1972 ...

and Schleiden. It is bordered to the north and west by the Rur Reservoir (around ) and thus by the Rur valley near Heimbach, to the southwest by the Obersee (a pre-basin of the Rur Dam), and in the south by the Urft Reservoir (at around ) and thus the Urft valley. In the southwest the Kermeter transitions into Wolfgarten and Gemünd in the direction of the upper reaches of the Rotbach. The highest point in the Kermeter is an unnamed rounded summit () near Wolfgarten, on which the fire service and observation tower, the Wolfgarten Fire Watchtower (''Feuerwachtturm Wolfgarten''), stands (a list of other Kermeter hills is given

below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) *Less than *Temperatures below freezing *Hell or underworld People with the surname * Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general * Fred Belo ...

Landscape and nature

The Kermeter covers an area of 3,592 hectares, of which about 3,300 hectares is a single forested area (the so-called ''Kermeter-Hochwald'' or Kermeter High Forest). Beech woods dominate the shaded, damp northern slopes (24%), in places with trees that are over 200 years old. Oak woods hold sway on the drier, southern slopes (26%), interrupted by rocky outcrops (''Felsheide''). At the start of the 21st century almost half the forest area still consisted of

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

trees, a consequence of reforestation measures after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. However it is planned that in the long term the spruce stock will be reduced in favour of deciduous woods.

Hills

Amongst the hills and high points of the Kermeter are the following, according to the '' Deutsche Grundkarte'' and sorted by height in metres above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

: * Unnamed summit near Wolfgarten (527.8 m), Euskirchen district; highest hill in the Kermeter; with an

observation tower An observation tower is a tower used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, and woo ...

and the Wolfgarten Fire Watchtower (''Feuerwachtturm Wolfgarten'') * Hellberg (525.8 m) * Wildbretshügel (525.3 m), Euskirchen district; good views of the Rur Reservoir * Theissenberg (522.4 m), Euskirchen district * Verbrannter Berg (515.5 m); with the Verbrannter Berg ancient forest (''Urwald Verbrannter Berg'') * Winterberg (Wolfgarten) (503.4 m); with Kermeterstollen below its western hillside * Mauelter Berg (502.4 m); with fire watchtower (incl. transmitter) and hunting lodge * Honigberg (495 m), Kreis Düren district * Schweizer Berge, slate formation on the southern outskirts of the Urftsee lake (max. 482.2 m) * Böttenbachsberg (466.6 m) * Weidenauer Berg (453.3 m), Kreis Düren district * Adamsberg (443.8 m) * Altenberg (423.0 m); near Mariawald Abbey * Griesberg (421.3 m); near Mariawald Abbey * Winterberg (southern Kermeter) (404.8 m) * Hohenberg (363.7 m) * Tonsberg (333.3 m); with ruined castle (cultural monument)

Location

Landscape and nature

Hills

External links

Further reading