Drei Buchen is a

hill pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both human and animal migrat ...

in the central Palatine Forest in the German 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 ...

. It lies in the estate of the village of Ramberg at a height of 403 metres above sea level (NHN). The L 506 state road runs over the pass from Ramberg to

Weyher Weyher is a surname. Notable persons with that name include: * Harry F. Weyher Jr. (1921–2002), American lawyer *Hein-Peter Weyher (born 1935), German Navy officer *Kurt Weyher (1901–1991), German admiral *Ruth Weyher (1901-1983), German actres ...

. At the top of the pass is an inn, the Waldhaus Drei Buchen. The name ''Drei Buchen'' means "Three Beeches".

Geography

The pass enables a crossing from the Ramberg valley, through which the Dernbach stream flows, to the valley of the

Modenbach The Modenbach is a stream, just under {{convert, 30, km long, and a right-hand tributary of the Speyerbach in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Course The Modenbach rises in the Palatine Forest east of the Palatine Watershed at a heigh ...

. Thus Drei Buchen is part of the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

between the catchment areas of two left-hand

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

of the

River Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , sourc ...

: the

Queich The Queich is a tributary of the Rhine, which rises in the southern part of the Palatinate Forest, and flows through the Upper Rhine valley to its confluence with the Rhine in Germersheim. It is long and is one of the four major drainage system ...

and the

Speyerbach The Speyerbach is a left tributary of the Rhine in the Palatinate part of Rhineland-Palatinate. In Speyer, the river split into ''Gießhübelbach'' and ''Woogbach''. The Woogbach changes its name to ''Nonnenbach'', then flows into Gießhübe ...

. The highest hill in the vicinity of Drei Buchen is the 637-metre-high Roßberg, one kilometre to the southeast, which is the third highest peak in the Palatine Forest mountain range. The road over the pass runs from Ramberg, two kilometres to the west, to Weyher, ten kilometres to the east. At the top of the pass is the Ramberg forest inn or ''Waldhaus'' of ''Drei Buchen'', which is managed by the Ramberg branch of the

Palatine Forest Club The Palatine Forest Club (german: Pfälzerwald-Verein) is a hiking club in the former Bavarian Palatinate, i.e. the southern part of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland county of Saarpfalz-Kreis. In 2011 it had 221 local ...

, and a forest car park. The Ramberg ''Waldhaus'' should not be confused with the ''Waldhaus Drei Buchen'' east of the Bichtenberg in the county of

Südwestpfalz Südwestpfalz is a district (''Kreis'' or more precise ''Landkreis'') in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Saarpfalz, the district-free city Zweibrücken, the districts Kaiserslautern and Ba ...

, which is 24 kilometres to the southwest. The ''

Ritterstein A Ritterstein ("Ritter Stone") is the German name given to markers made of sandstone erected at sites of historic or natural interest in the Palatine Forest, a range of low mountains in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. In some cases, gl ...

'' there, no. 213, also bears the inscription ''" Drei Buchen"''. {{clear, left

Sights

At the top of the pass is a ''

'', number 234. Several

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

castles in the surrounding area have survived as ruins. The nearest is

Meistersel Castle Meistersel Castle is a ruined castle near Ramberg on the outskirts of the Palatinate Forest in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is located on a 492-metre-high hilltop that towers above the Modenbach valley near the Three Beeches pass ('' Drei ...

, also called Modeneck Castle (''Burg Modeneck'') or ''Modenbacher Schloss'', just under one kilometre north. Within two kilometres are the ruins of Neuscharfeneck Castle and the Ramburg.

References

Mountain passes of Germany Palatinate Forest Transport in Rhineland-Palatinate