The Idarkopf near Stipshausen in 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 ...

is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

, , within the

Idar Forest The Idar Forest (German: ''Idarwald'', Celtic: ''"id ar"'' - hill forest above the land) is part of the Hunsrück low mountain range in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography The Idar Forest lies in the districts ...

in the German counties of

Birkenfeld Birkenfeld () is a town and the district seat of the Birkenfeld district in southwest Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also the seat of the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde''. The town itself has approximately 7,000 inhabitants. Geography ...

and

Bernkastel-Wittlich Bernkastel-Wittlich (German: ''Landkreis Bernkastel-Wittlich'') is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Vulkaneifel, Cochem-Zell, Rhein-Hunsrück, Birkenfeld, Trier-Saarbur ...

. It is one of the highest mountains in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Geography

Location

The Idarkopf lies in the northeastern part of the

and within the

Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park The Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park (german: Naturpark Saar-Hunsrück) was established in 1980 and covers an area of just under 2,000 km² in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland. The authority responsible for the nature pa ...

. Its summit rises around 2 km northwest of the village of Stipshausen (county of Birkenfeld) and 4 km southeast of the village of

Hochscheid Hochscheid is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location This rural municipality ...

(Bernkastel-Wittlich). Whilst the summit and the southeastern flank of the mountain belong to Stipshausen, its western flanks up to the crest and northern to northeastern areas belong to the village of Weitersbach (county of Birkenfeld) which lies 3.5 km east-northeast of the summit (both distances

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 ...

). The Idarbach stream flows past the Idarkopf to the northeast.

Towers

About 200 metres northwest of the summit of the Idarkopf at a height of 744.2 m stands the observation tower known as the

Idarkopf Tower Idarkopf Tower (german: Idarkopf Turm or Idarkopfturm), also known as Idarkopf Observation Tower (german: Idarkopf Aussichtsturm) for long, is a wooden German lattice observation tower on the summit of Mt. Idarkopf in the state of Rhineland-Palati ...

, from which there are views, for example, of the

Taunus The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is ''Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are ''Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and ''Altkönig'' (798 m). The Taunus range spans ...

, the

Donnersberg The Donnersberg ("thunder mountain") is the highest peak of the Palatinate (german: Pfalz) region of Germany. The mountain lies between the towns of Rockenhausen and Kirchheimbolanden, in the Donnersbergkreis district, which is named after the m ...

across the

, to the

Eifel The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...

and of the

Westerwald The Westerwald (; literally 'Western forest') is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Massif ( or Rhenish ...

. Around 300 metres northeast of the summit at a height of about 738 m stands a

transmission tower A transmission tower, also known as an electricity pylon or simply a pylon in British English and as a hydro tower in Canadian English, is a tall structure, usually a steel lattice tower, used to support an overhead power line. In electrical gri ...

References

External links

{{commons category
Idarkopf winter sports region
Mountains under 1000 metres Mountains and hills of the Hunsrück Birkenfeld (district) Bernkastel-Wittlich