Today I made up some more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and we headed back to Aesch to find our way to the other ruins that are near Pfeffingen on the map. We made our way up through Pfeffingen (up being the operative word, the entire hike there and through the town was all up hills of various grades) to the trail marker directing us into the woods toward the Ruine Schalberg (15 min). The uphill trend continued through the woods. These castles are of course built on the most advantageous viewing points for the region, which means hills!
About 10 minutes or so into the woods we saw this tree, adorned with Christmas decorations! That's my kind of tree, alive and happy out in the woods, not dead and drying out inside a house. No, we don't have a Christmas tree in our house. We haven't in quite some time, and I'd rather not follow that tradition. But it was a pretty surprise to find a decorated tree out in the middle of the woods.
A ways beyond that we found the first of three sets of ruins, that we think might have been the Münchsberg ruins. There was no sign for them, and they are barely visible. There are only a few crumbling walls left and the trees and moss have taken them over almost completely. They were probably simple watch towers, and were built on two separate outcroppings of rock that overlook the valley where the Klus Valley Vineyards and Domaine Nussbaumer operate.
Roots growing over what was left of a wall...or is it just a stony outcropping? Very hard to tell at this point.
The next ruin we saw had a helpful sign attached to it as well as a ladder to climb up to it. This is the Burgruine Engenstein, and they think that it was built in the first quarter of the thirteenth century, and served as a 'stadthaus' or city hall up until the completion of the Burg Schalberg in 1280.
As we were looking around on the top of this ruin, we saw to our north yet another ruin. Here, finally, must be the elusive Ruine Schalberg! We climbed down from Engenstein, and continued along the trail. The next ruin was indeed the Schalberg ruin. With its crumbling outline it is hard to make out amongst the trees.
Looking up at the ruin from the trail below, and up the trail along the wall of the ruin.
Looking out across the ruins toward the tower. Upon closer inspection, the tower has unfortunately been filled with trash. There is also some graffiti scrawled on it, very sad.
Tree growing up and out of the window.
As we left the Schalberg ruins, we came upon a small natural 'cave' system, that is called Schalberghöhle. It was only marginally a cave, as it was open on both ends, with holes overhead in a couple of places, more like stone archways than a cave. Unfortunately the photos I took did not turn out very well. The sign there said that judging from the archaeological remains found there it had likely been used as a resting place for hunters, and as a hide out.As we wound our way down off the mountain, we crossed over this small icy stream, that ended at the road in this gorgeous waterfall.
These last two photos give you a better idea of the overlook the castle was built on. The first was taken from the ruins looking down at the horse farm in the valley, and the other is looking up at the ruins from the horse farm.
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