The Rotbach (in its upper reaches it is called the Zartenbach and Löffeltalbach, in its middle section, the Höllenbach) is the 19.9-kilometre-long, left-hand and southeasterly headstream of the

Dreisam The Dreisam (Celtic: ''*tragisamā'', "the very fast one") is a 29 km long river (48.8 km including its source river Rotbach), and a tributary of the Elz in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The waters of the Dreisam feed the fam ...

in the

Southern Black Forest The Southern Black Forest (german: Südschwarzwald) is the highest part of the Black Forest, an area heavily transformed by ice age glaciation south of a line roughly from Freiburg im Breisgau to Donaueschingen. The term High Black Forest is no ...

in the south German state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a 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 inhabitants across a ...

Zartenbach

The headstreams of the upper reaches of the Rotbach, known as the ''Zartenbach'', begin on the territory of

Hinterzarten Hinterzarten is a resort village in the Black Forest (German: ''Schwarzwald''), located in the southwest of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Although Hinterzarten is mostly famous for its ski jumping, it has many other tourist attractions. ...

(

Southern Black Forest Nature Park The Southern Black Forest Nature Park (german: Naturpark Südschwarzwald) is located in Baden-Württemberg in Germany and covers an area of 394,000 hectares. As of 2018, it is Germany's largest nature park. History The Southern Black Forest Nat ...

) southwest of the village of ''Oberzarten'' on the eastern mountainside of the Ramselehöhe (1,111,9 m) at about 1,085 metres above sea level. They gather on the bottom of a valley basin with a stepped longitudinal profile that was formed by an

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

glacier. On one of the levels the stream is impounded to form the pond of Mathisleweiher (). Thereafter it flows in a broad left-hand arc around the Windeck (1,209 m) and passes through Oberzarten and Hinterzarten northwards in the broad hollow of the level Hinterzarten Moor (

nature reserve 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, or features of geological or ...

Löffeltalbach

After picking up the outflow of the western part of the moor, the stream deepens as it enters a

V-shaped valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

and descends steeply. The valley is named after the old workshops here that used to make wooden spoons (''Holzlöffeln''). Through this valley used to run the ''Löffeltalsteige'', the ascent from the Höllental valley to the heights of Hinterzarten.

Höllenbach

In the Höllental the Löffeltalbach merges with the Ravennabach coming from

Ravenna Gorge The Ravenna Gorge (german: Ravennaschlucht) is a gorge in the Black Forest in southwest Germany. It is a narrow side valley of the Höllental, through which the Ravenna stream flows. A trail also runs through the ravine as part of the Black Fo ...

to the northeast. The stream, now called the ''Höllenbach'', flows northwest initially through the straight

trough valley U-shaped valleys, also called trough valleys or glacial troughs, are formed by the process of glaciation. They are characteristic of mountain glaciation in particular. They have a characteristic U shape in cross-section, with steep, straight s ...

of the upper Höllental which was formed by ice age glaciers. It then comes to a gorge-like section of the valley which is known as the '' Hirschsprung'' or ''Höllenpass''. The stream is accompanied by the B 31 and Höllentalbahn as it continues through the Höllental.

Rotbach

In the lower section of the valley, the stream continues as the ''Rotbach'' through Falkensteig and Himmelreich (villages in the municipality of

Buchenbach Buchenbach is a municipality in the south west of the Black Forest in Germany. It is located in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg. It is made up of four communities, the main town of Buchenbach and the villages of F ...

), where it flows out into the plain of the Zarten Basin. North of

Kirchzarten Kirchzarten is a town in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in the federal-state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. A Zionist agricultural training farm was founded in Kirchzarten in 1919 to prepare young people to become farme ...

the Rotbach empties into the Dreisam together with the

Wagensteigbach Wagensteigbach is a river of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. At its confluence with the Rotbach near Kirchzarten, the Dreisam is formed. See also *List of rivers of Baden-Württemberg A list of rivers of Baden-Württemberg, Germany: A * Aal * ...

above the bridge carrying ''

Landesstraße ''Landesstraßen'' (singular: ''Landesstraße'') are roads in Germany and Austria that are, as a rule, the responsibility of the respective German or Austrian federal state. The term may therefore be translated as "state road". They are roads t ...

'' 127 at a height of .

Sights

The sights along the Rotbach include the: * Mathisleweiher (also called the Mathislesweiher or Mathiesleweiher ; source pond of the Zartenbach and Rotbachs) * Höllental (narrow valley of the Höllenbach/Rotbach) *

and Ravennabach (side valley of the Höllental) * Tarodunum (ca. 200 ha large Celtic ''

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretchi ...

''; east of Kirchzarten)

References

External links

{{Commons category Rivers of Baden-Württemberg Rivers of the Black Forest Rivers of Germany