The Taunus Nature Park () (until December 2012 called the High Taunus Nature Park or Naturpark Hochtaunus) 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) 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 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 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), 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
See also List of nature parks in Germany
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
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, Alexander Stahr, Birgit Bender: Der Taunus-Eine Zeitreise, Stuttgart, 2007, Stefan Jung: Wandern im Naturpark Hochtaunus, Frankfurt, 2009, Eugen Ernst: Der Taunus - Ein L(i)ebenswertes Mittelgebirge, Frankfurt, 2009,
External links
Internet site of the Taunus Nature Park Association of German Nature Parks: Facts on Taunus