The Schindhübel is a hill, , that rises in the middle of the

Palatine Forest The Palatinate Forest (; ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The forest is a designated nature park () covering 1,771&n ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, southwest of

Elmstein Elmstein is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim (district), Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Ge ...

Geography

It is part of the central massif of this mountain range and also lies on the Palatine Watershed. This massif stretches roughly from

Hochspeyer Hochspeyer () is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate forest (Pfälzer Wald), approx. 10 km east of Kaiserslautern. Hochspeyer was the seat of the former Verba ...

via

Johanniskreuz Johanniskreuz is a tiny hamlet (place), hamlet in the middle of the Palatine Forest in Germany and belongs to the municipality of Trippstadt in the Kaiserslautern (district), district of Kaiserslautern in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Geog ...

to the B10 federal highway near

Hauenstein Hauenstein () is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate forest, approximately 20 km east of Pirmasens, and 20 km west of Landau. Hauenstein is the seat of the ' ...

. The region between Johanniskreuz and Hermersbergerhof is rather like a high plateau that is bounded by deeply incised valleys. From the Eschkopf hill, the ridge runs northwest over the Schindhübel to the Bloskülb () near the Elmstein village of Iggelbach. This ridge separates the upper tributaries of

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 ...

and Helmbach.

Viewing tower

On top of the Schindhübel is a 17-metre-high observation tower, which was built in 1975 by an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

unit from

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

. From here there are views of the eastern Palatine Forest as far as the

Haardt The Haardt () is a range of wooded, sandstone hills in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in southwestern Germany. The range is some long and lies within the Palatinate Forest (''Pfälzerwald''). Its highest point is the Kalmit, near Maikammer ...

, as well as the striking mountain mass of the

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

to the north and, in good visibility, the great

Hornisgrinde The Hornisgrinde, 1,164 m (3,820 ft), is the highest mountain in the Northern Black Forest of Germany. The Hornisgrinde lies in northern Ortenaukreis district. Origin of the name The name is probably derived from Latin, and essenti ...

mountain in the Northern Black Forest, 83 kilometres away to the south. To the west the view is limited by the nearby Eschkopf. Two kilometres northwest, in the direction of the Bloskülb and Iggelbach, are the wall foundations of a forester's lodge which was allocated to the "Hunters from

Electoral Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire until it was annexed by the Electorate of Baden in 1803. From the end of the 13th century, its ruler was one of the Prince-electors who elected the Holy Roman Empero ...

" (''Jäger aus Kurpfalz'').

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schindhubel Mountains and hills of Rhineland-Palatinate Mountains and hills of the Palatinate Forest Observation towers in Rhineland-Palatinate