At the Dammersfeldkuppe in Bavaria is the second highest mountain after the

Wasserkuppe The is a mountain within the German state of Hesse. It is a large plateau formation at an elevation of and is the highest peak in the Rhön Mountains. Great advances in sailplane development took place on the mountain during the interwar peri ...

(; Hessen) in the Rhön, a low mountain range straddling the states of Bavaria, Hesse and Thuringia in Germany.

Location

The Dammersfeldkuppe is situated in the districts of Bad Kissingen (Bavaria) and

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. History ...

(Hesse) and is one of the peaks of the "High Rhön" (''Hohe Rhön''). Its dome is in Bavaria about 200 m southeast of the border with Hesse between

Gersfeld Gersfeld is a town in the district of Fulda, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated on the Fulda River, in the Rhön Mountains, southeast of Fulda. It belonged to the abbey-principality of Fulda before secularisation in 1803. It then belonged to the ...

(Hesse),

Bad Brückenau Bad Brückenau () is a spa town in Bad Kissingen district in northwestern Bavaria in the Rhön Mountains. Geography Bad Brückenau is in the tree-lined Sinn valley, in the western Rhön Mountains – this river being a tributary of the Main ...

and

Wildflecken Wildflecken is a municipality in the Bad Kissingen district, at the border of northwestern Bavaria and southern Hesse. In 2005, its population was 3,285; the postal code is 97772 (US Forces used APO NY 09026 until July 15, 1991, when APO/FPO/DPO ...

(both in Bavaria). The entire mountain lies within the Wildflecken Military Training Area and is surrounded by the

Bavarian Rhön Nature Park The Bavarian Rhön Nature Park (''Naturpark Bayerische Rhön'') straddles the junction of the German states of Bavaria, Hesse and Thuringia. 70 km2 of the total 125 km2 area of the nature park has been recognised by UNESCO as part of th ...

and

Rhön Biosphere Reserve The Rhön Biosphere Reserve includes the entire central area of the Rhön Mountains, a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Thuringia. Aim In 1991 the Rhön was recognised at international level by UNESCO as a biosph ...

. The Rhine-Weser watershed runs through the Dammersfeldkuppe. The source of the

Schmalnau Schmalnau is a river of Hesse, Germany. It flows into the Fulda in Ebersburg. See also *List of rivers of Hesse A list of rivers of Hesse, Germany: A *Aar, tributary of the Dill *Aar, tributary of the Lahn *Aar, tributary of the Twiste * Aa ...

is on the northern flank of the mountain; its waters flow through the

into the Weser. On the mountain's southern flank rises the ''Kleine Sinn'' ("Little Sinn"), the Bavarian name of the

Schmale Sinn Schmale Sinn (in its upper course in Bavaria: ''Kleine Sinn'') is a river of Bavaria and Hesse, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Sinn near Zeitlofs. Via the Franconian Saale it discharges into the Main. See also *List of rivers of Hesse ...

, whose water makes its way via the

Sinn In the philosophy of language, the distinction between sense and reference was an idea of the German philosopher and mathematician Gottlob Frege in 1892 (in his paper "On Sense and Reference"; German: "Über Sinn und Bedeutung"), reflecting the ...

Franconian Saale The Franconian Saale (german: Fränkische Saale) is a 140 km long river in Bavaria, Germany. It is a right-bank tributary of the Main, in Lower Franconia. It should not be confused with the larger Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale), whi ...

and Main to the Rhine.

Annual training area walk

Because the Wildflecken Military Training Area extends over the Dammersfeldkuppe it is usually closed to the public. However a tradition that was started by the

US Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

and continued by the Bundeswehr after the Americans pulled out of Wildflecken in 1994, is the annual summer walk or ''Volksmarsch'' through the out-of-bounds area. This provides an opportunity to walk across the otherwise inaccessible terrain and the summit of the mountain on specified paths.

Literature

* ''Unvergessene Heimat rund um`s Dammersfeld. Die abgesiedelten Ortschaften des Truppenübungsplatzes Wildflecken.'' Geiger, Horb am Neckar 1988, ISBN 3-89264-184-6.

References

External links

Information at rhoenline.de
{{Authority control Mountains of Bavaria Mountains and hills of the Rhön Wildflecken Training Area