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Taunus Nature Park
*Naturpark Taunus*
Taunus Nature Park; Naturpark Taunus
	Panorama of the High Taunus from the Eastern Hintertaunus
Location	Zweckverband „Naturpark Taunus“ ; Hohemarkstr. 192; 61440 Oberursel; http://www.naturpark-taunus.de
Nearest city	Frankfurt, Gießen, Limburg, Wetzlar, Wiesbaden
Coordinates	50°11′N 8°18′E / 50.19°N 8.30°E
Area	1347.75 km²
Established	30 May 1962

The Taunus Nature Park (German: Naturpark Taunus) (until December 2012 called the High Taunus Nature Park or Naturpark Hochtaunus^[1]) is a nature park in Central Germany with an area of 134,775 hectares (1347.75 km²) in the Central Upland range of the Taunus. It is one of two Hessian nature parks in the Taunus and the second largest nature park in Hesse.

Location

The Taunus Nature Park stretches across the counties of Hochtaunuskreis, Lahn-Dill-Kreis, Limburg-Weilburg, Main-Taunus-Kreis, Wetteraukreis and Gießen. Its boundaries are identical with these counties except that, in the west, it is bounded by the A3 motorway, in the north roughly by the Lahn valley (but extends between Runkel and Weilburg over the Lahn into the Westerwald)^[2] and in the east by the A5 motorway. In the south it ends where the Main-Taunus Foreland between Frankfurt am Main and Wiesbaden begins. The park borders in the west on the Rhine-Taunus Nature Park.

The nature park covers the eastern half of the natural region of the High Taunus. This is where the main ridge of the Taunus runs with the highest peak in the range, the Großer Feldberg (881.5 m). Also part of the park and north of this ridge is the much larger Eastern Hintertaunus. Another part of the park is the Anterior Taunus, a narrow strip south of the ridge that descends to the Rhine-Main Plain. The original name of the park, "High Taunus", was thus not really accurate.

Fauna

The High Taunus is sparsely settled and densely covered by coniferous forest. In the Eastern Hintertaunus, deciduous woods dominate. Characteristic of the Taunus with its rolling to high mountain relief are extensive scattered orchards, which occur mainly in the Anterior Taunus and on the eastern slopes facing the Wetterau.

Sights

Various

Hessenpark Open-Air Museum – near Neu-Anspach
Lochmühle Amusement Park – near Wehrheim
Saalburg – near Bad Homburg vor der Höhe
Eschbacher Klippen – near Usingen
Kubach Crystal Cave – near Kubach
Lahn Marble – a natural monument near Villmar
Bad Camberg – historic town centre and Chapel of the Cross
Braunfels – Braunfels Castle
Königstein – Königstein Castle
Falkenstein – ruins of Falkenstein Castle
Kronberg – Kronberg Castle
Weilburg – Schloss Weilburg
Großer Feldberg – at 881.5 m above sea level (NHN) the highest point of the Taunus, near Schmitten-Oberreifenberg
Weil Valley – source of the Weil by Kleiner Feldberg Roman Fort
Opel Zoo – between Königstein and Kronberg
Vogelburg – castle near Weilrod-Hasselbach
Weilburg Wildlife Park – near Weilburg-Hirschhausen

Viewing towers

There are several observation towers in the nature park on prominent mountains and hills:

(Name, Height in metres (m) above sea level (NHN), Location; Height from ^[3] unless otherwise stated; alphabetically sorted)

Atzelberg (506.7 m), Atzelberg Tower, near Eppenhain
Gaulskopf (396.8 m), near Wehrheim-Pfaffenwiesbach
Großer Feldberg (881.5 m),^[4] near Schmitten-Oberreifenberg
Hausberg (485.7 m), near Butzbach-Hausen-Oes
Hardtberg (408.7 m), near Königstein-Mammolshain
Herzberg (591.4 m), near Bad Homburg vor der Höhe
Kapellenberg (292.0 m), mit Meisterturm, bei Hofheim am Taunus
Pferdskopf (662,6 m), bei Schmitten-Treisberg
Stoppelberg (401,2 m), bei Wetzlar
Winterstein (482,3 m), bei Wehrheim-Pfaffenwiesbach

References

^ Artikel Kein Hoch vorm Taunus – Der Naturpark Hochtaunus heißt ab sofort Naturpark Taunus… aus Frankfurter Neue Presse (FNP), auf www.fnp.de vom 3. Dezember 2012
^ ADAC-MaxiAtlas Deutschland 1:200.000
^ Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation
^ zur Höhe des Großen Feldbergs siehe in dessen Artikel den Abschnitt Höhe

Literature

Theodor Arzt, Erich Hentschel, Gertrud Mordhorst: Die Pflanzenwelt des Naturparks Hochtaunus. Institut für Naturschutz Darmstadt, Schriftenreihe Vol. IX, Issue 1, Darmstadt, 1967
Gudrun Schirrmann: Wanderung im Naturpark Hochtaunus, Stuttgart und Hamburg 1981
Eugen Ernst: HB Naturmagazin draußen "Naturpark Hochtaunus", Hamburg, 1983
Zweckverband "Naturpark Hochtaunus": Parkplätze und Rundwanderwege im Naturpark Hochtaunus, Frankfurt, 1988
Ingrid Berg, Eugen Ernst, Hans-Joachim Galuschka, Gerta Walsh: Heimat Hochtaunus, Frankfurt am Main, 1988, ISBN 3-7829-0375-7
Alexander Stahr, Birgit Bender: Der Taunus-Eine Zeitreise, Stuttgart, 2007, ISBN 978-3-510-65224-2
Stefan Jung: Wandern im Naturpark Hochtaunus, Frankfurt, 2009, ISBN 978-3-7973-1136-8
Eugen Ernst: Der Taunus - Ein L(i)ebenswertes Mittelgebirge, Frankfurt, 2009, ISBN 978-3-7973-1146-7