The Murrhardt Forest () in the

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

county of

Rems-Murr-Kreis Rems-Murr is a (district) in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Heilbronn, Schwäbisch Hall, Ostalbkreis, Göppingen, Esslingen, the district-free city Stuttgart and the district Ludwigs ...

is part of 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 ...

known as the

Swabian-Franconian Forest The Swabian-Franconian Forest (, also ''Schwäbisch-Fränkischer Wald'') is a mainly forested, deeply incised upland region, 1,187 km² in area and up to , in the northeast of Baden-Württemberg. It forms natural region major unit number 108 w ...

. It reaches a maximum height of . at 1:10,000 scale. A lower value of m on many maps refer to a spot that is not the highest point, but a fork in the tracks. It takes its name from the town of

Murrhardt Murrhardt () is a town in the Rems-Murr district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located 12 km east of Backnang, and 18 km southwest of Schwäbisch Hall. The source of the Murr is situated in Murrhardt. Local council (Gemeinder ...

in the centre.

Geography

Location

The Murrhardt Forest lies around 35 kilometres (

as the crow flies The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points. Etymology The meaning of the expression is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in the Charles Dickens novel ''Oliver Twist'' (1838): ...

) northeast of

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

and almost due southeast of

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. From the late Middle Ages on, it developed into an important trading centre. At the begi ...

, between the

Mainhardt Forest The Mainhardt Forest is a hill range up to {{GeoQuelle, DE, BFN-Karten in the counties of Schwäbisch Hall and Heilbronn, Hohenlohekreis and Rems-Murr-Kreis in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is named after the municipality of Mainhard ...

to the northeast and east, the

Welzheim Forest The Welzheim Forest () is a wooded, hill ridge, up to , in the counties of Rems-Murr-Kreis, Rems-Murr, Ostalbkreis, Ostalb and Landkreis Schwäbisch Hall, Schwäbisch Hall in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). Geography Location The Welzheim Fores ...

to the south, the Backnang Basin to the west and the

Löwenstein Hills The Löwenstein Hills () are a hill range up to , in the counties of Landkreis Heilbronn, Heilbronn, Landkreis Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg, Rems-Murr-Kreis and Hohenlohekreis in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. They are named after the town of ...

to the northwest. The

Central Uplands The Central UplandsDickinson (1964), p.18 ff. (N.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 ''-gebirge'' = "range").) ...

forest is situated on either side of the axis of the Murr valley, more of it lying to the left of the river. The region is fringed by the settlements of

Oberrot Oberrot is a municipality in the district of Schwäbisch Hall in Baden-Württemberg in 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 no ...

to the northeast, Fichtenberg to the east, Kaisersbach to the southeast,

Althütte Althütte is a municipality of the Rems-Murr-Kreis, Rems-Murr district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History The modern municipality of Althütte was formed by the merging of the villages of Althütte and Sechselberg in 1971. Geography The mu ...

and

Auenwald Auenwald is a municipality in the district of Rems-Murr in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Twin town The twin town of Auenwald is: * Beaurepaire, Isère, France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in W ...

to the south,

Backnang Backnang (; ) is a town in Germany in the Bundesland (Germany), Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, roughly northeast of Stuttgart. Its population has increased greatly over the past century, from 7,650 in 1900 to 37,957 in 2022. Backnang was ce ...

to the southwest,

Oppenweiler Oppenweiler is a town in the Rems-Murr district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Oppenweiler merged with Reichenberg on 1 April 1938. Geography The municipality ('' Gemeinde'') of Oppenweiler is located in the Rems-Murr district of Bad ...

to the west and Sulzbach an der Murr to the northwest. The woods are drained by the River Murr, which rises here and runs through them heading westwards after making a marked bend, before discharging into the River Neckar still further to the west. At the bend in the upper reaches of the Murr it is joined by its larger streams, the ''Otterbach'' and Fornsbach. In Murrhardt it is joined by the Trauzenbach and

Hörschbach Hörschbach is a river of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It flows into the Murr near Murrhardt. Geography The Hörschbach rises in the southern Murrhardter Forest and runs quite steadily in a northern direction See also *List of rivers of Bad ...

, and, further downstream to the west, the Harbach, Eschelbach and Haselbach. It flows, like numerous smaller streams, for much of its way through wooded ''klingen'' and sometimes drops over rock ledges, as the Hörschbach does at its two high waterfalls. The largest lake in the Murrhardt Forest is the ''Waldsee'' ("Forest Lake"), near the village of Fornsbach, which has an area of 2 hectares and is open to tourists.

Hills

Among the hills, high points and spurs of the Murrhardt Forest are the following − sorted by height in

metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

s (m) above sea level (NHN):{{GeoQuelle, DE, BFN-Karten * Hohenstein (ca. 572 m), 0.8 km south-southeast of Sechselberg in the municipality of Althütte * Zollstock (543.7 m, Südhang heißt ''Wüstenberg''), 1.5 km south-southwest of Sulzbach- Ittenberg * Hoblersberg (539.2 m), 1.1 km south-southeast of Murrhardt-Waltersberg * Springstein (532.5 m), 0.9 km southwest of Murrhardt-Siebenknie * Hornberg (490.4 m), 0.5 km west-northwest of Fichtenberg-Hornberg * Linderst (Name des Südhangs) (460.4 m), 0.8 km north-northwest of the Murrhardter Almsiedlung * Raitberg (447.3 m), 1 km east of Murrhardt-Köchersberg

Nature and landscape conservation, tourism

Large areas of the Murrhardt Forest are designated as

protected landscape IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

s, smaller ones as

nature reserves A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geolog ...

. It lies almost entirely within the

References

External links

Swabian-Franconian Forest Nature Park

Baden-Württemberg Conservation record

TK 50 by the des Baden-Württemberg State Survey Office online
Mountain and hill ranges of Baden-Württemberg Forests and woodlands of Baden-Württemberg Natural regions of the Swabian Keuper-Lias Plains