Teufelsmühle-Tower

The Teufelsmühle-Turm stands on the 908-metre summit of Teufelsmühle, a mountain in the northern Black Forest between the valleys of the Murg to the west and the Alb to the east. The Alb rises near the eastern flank and soon reaches Bad Herrenalb. The flat summit plateau, stretching north to south, carries the boundary between the villages of Gernsbach in the Murg valley and Loffenau in the county of Rastatt. In 1910 a ten-metre wooden tower was built on the summit, raised to 16.2 metres in 1952 and extended with a building in 1958 that became a walking club hut. Close by is the Höhen­gasthaus Teufelsmühle, together forming the small settlement of Teufelsmühle, a district of Loffenau. A road from the Rißwasen saddle reaches the buildings, and the mountain serves as the start for walks and mountain-bike tours. Below the tower at 850 metres the local gliding club runs a launch site for hang-gliders and paragliders, with the landing zone 550 metres lower in Loffenau. A second launch was opened in 2015 on the western side after a patch of forest was cleared. A plaque on the tower shows the poet Hubertus Waldteufel, who lived nearby and whose name is given to a path in the Gaistal valley.