Nature discovery trail "From Moor to Moor" at Roofensee

Moors - mysterious, mystical, eerie. The dark, often legendary landscapes are the preferred setting for spooky fairy tales and stories. From a scientific point of view, the wetlands worthy of protection are rare habitats for a unique animal and plant world. However, not all bogs are the same, and those who hike the bog experience trail can experience much more than just a damp and inhospitable landscape often populated by countless mosquitoes and gnats. There are several types of bogs in different forms of formation and appearance. The moor as a biotope offers a habitat to different, partly rare and therefore protected plants and besides the mentioned unpleasant representatives to many other interesting, mostly also protected animals. It is - at least in daylight - not "scary to walk across the moor", as it says in the poem "Der Knabe im Moor" by Annette von Droste-Hülsdorf, but highly interesting. A hike on the moor experience path gives in a very vivid way an insight into the recent history of the formation of the moors, the influence of man and the current habitat of plants and animals.

Length: 12 km, approx. 3.5 hrs.

Start/finish: NaturParkHaus Stechlin in Menz

Marking: logo of the moor experience trail (blue-green dot on white background), up to the Polzowkanal additionally yellow line

Arrival/departure
Car: A24, AS Neuruppin, B167 to Herzberg, further left Lindow - Rheinsberg, right Menz, parking: NaturParkHaus Stechlin
Public transport: DB trains from Berlin to Gransee. Journey time about 20 minutes. There is a bus connection between Gransee and Menz (line 836)

Directions / Things to see, things to know

The hike on the moor experience trail begins at the NaturParkHaus Stechlin in Menz. Here there are corresponding information boards with information about the Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park in general and the moor in particular. The start of the trail leads diagonally through the small park and down to the lake. Follow the very small marker, or better the yellow line, along the shore of the Rofensee to the first information board on the moor. Before the campsite, leave the shore to the right. Cross a moor area on a wooden footbridge. The trail then loops through sparse pine forest, later returning to the boggy lakeshore. Along the Polzow Canal, you come to the old forest path. Here you leave the yellow line marking. The signs of the Moorerlebnispfad point to the left. The forest path leads through an area with various types of moor. It is very interesting to look at and discover, but stopping is only recommended with sufficient mosquito repellent. In front of the large perch lake - also a bog - turn left and walk back towards the Polzow Canal. In the meantime, hike with the Blue Dot marker. Arriving at the northern tip of the Roofensee, it is recommended to leave the adventure trail and follow the Blue Dot to the lakeshore. While the actual moor adventure trail now leads back to the starting point as a cycle path above the lake, this trail winds along the shore of the lake to the Menz lido and continues as a path around the Wallberg back to the Stechlin NatureParkHouse.

Dog-friendly

The smaller circular trail leads along the shore, only at one point you cross a wet meadow, the Schleusenwiese, via paths. Otherwise, you have almost continuous access to the water. On the north side of the lake there is a small campground, here it can be more turbulent, as well as in high summer at the public bathing area at the southern tip. On the larger circular hike, the Moorerlebnispfad, really impressive landscapes await, but moors are of course no playgrounds for dogs.

Maps / Literature: Rad-, Wander- & Gewässerkarte Rheinsberger Seen, Großer Stechlin, 1:35.000, Verlag Grünes Herz, 9.überarbeitete Auflage, Stand: 15.7.2020, ISBN 978-3-86636-100-3, 4,95 Euro

Texts courtesy of www.wandermagazin.de