The Egenhäuser Kapf rises in the northern Black Forest, roughly halfway between Freudenstadt and Calw and, at , it is the highest point along the ''Bömbach'' valley. As the crow flies it is around 8 kilometres (north)west of Nagold and about 3 kilometres southeast of Altensteig, between the municipalities of Egenhausen and Walddorf. It is home to large areas of the nature reserve and protected landscape known as the Egenhäuser Kapf and Bömbach Valley (''Egenhäuser Kapf mit Bömbachtal''). As early as 1969 the Egenhäuser Kapf was declared as a protected area, the current ordinance was published by the Regierungspräsidium Karlsruhe on 20 December 1991. The nature reserve, index no. 2,150, has an area of 150.3 hectares, the protected area, no. 2.35.047, covers 294.8 hectares. The conservation aim is the preservation, development and maintenances of the typical natural region countryside of the Bösingen Wellenkalk Plateau, (''Bösinger Wellenkalkplatte''), the

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

heaths and mesoxerophytic grassland as a habitat for typical, specialised animal and plant species as well as its numerous landscape elements such as open pine woods, hedges, meadows with scattered fruit trees, grazing meadows, stone quarries and stream valleys as a habitat for endangered and threatened

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s, birds,

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

, beetles and

hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

. One well known species is the

Carline Thistle ''Carlina vulgaris'', the carline thistle, is a plant species of the genus ''Carlina ''Carlina'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is distributed from Madeira and the Canary Islands across Europe and northern Africa to ...

which is rare at these latitudes and has been adopted for the coat of arms of Egenhausen. On its western slopes the Kapf transitions into bunter sandstone; otherwise it consists mainly of grey-blue to green-brown Muschelkalk soils which form the basis for

juniper heath Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arc ...

s, rough pasture, clearance cairns and small quarries. Even in 1860, ''Rauhbastard'' sheep were grazed on the gentian grasslands of the parish of Egenhausen. The Egenhäuser Kapf is home to the Kapf Evangelical Sport and Recreation Centre. This belongs to the Evangelical Youthwork in Württemberg organisation. Since 1950 the terrain was used as a tented camp; in the early 1960s, the recreation centre was built.

External links

Internet presence of the municipality of Egenhausen

Youth area on the Kapf
Mountains and hills of Baden-Württemberg Mountains and hills of the Black Forest Mountains under 1000 metres Calw (district) {{BadenWürttemberg-geo-stub