"When you are out and about in our densely populated country, it is always exciting to experience how quickly and right in the middle of it all this wonderful national park is. Such large, undivided beech forests are rare. It is easily accessible through the jungle trail and yet you are very fast only because it is not overcrowded.

As a child, the forest near Frankenau was my playground. As a teenager I wanted to get out into the world, as far away as possible. In the meantime my vision has sharpened. When I'm here, I feel "home". I am rooted here, just like the trees that have stretched out their roots here for many hundreds of years. The steep slopes on the shores of the Edersee are fascinating. The orchids and carnations that grow here are real treasures.  

My favorite hiking time is November. Autumn with its colorful foliage is beautiful anyway, but November is special. The slightly moldy foliage smells spicy. Space comes into the forest because the view is no longer captured. The gnarled, creaky trunks and branches are much more tangible. And when the wafts of fog are still wafting around, it gets really mystical."