Schiltach & Schwarzwaldhochstrasse

Our final day in the Black Forest, with route driven as indicated

Our final day, we set out from our BnB in Lahr and headed east to the Black Forest museum.

Museum

The open air museum showed what life was like in the Black Forest in various times- largely, ~100+ years ago, but they also had a 1980s and modern art exhibit (both of which I found quite amusing).

Schiltach

After the museum (and an adjacent Rödelbahn), we headed to Schiltach. What a beautiful town! It's part of the Fachwerkstrasse (half-timbered road), which highlights German towns with exceptional amounts of said architecture. Those buildings, nestled in the forest, was a wonderful environment. We walked the town, had ice cream (of course), and enjoyed a picnic lunch.

Drive

After Schiltach, we snaked our way north to the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse, or Black Forest high road (see top map for route). Google for pictures, because we didn't get any. Some views were decent, but the day was hazy and the pull-offs did not align with scenic vistas (so you'd have to park and walk a good way to get a nice picture). This disappointed me.

Geroldsau Waterfall

We ended the trip with another hike, to the Geroldsau waterfall. The hike was short (1km to the falls) and pleasant, but underwhelming. I think we should have skipped this, too. Afterwards, we drove through Baden-Baden, hit the highway, and were on our way home.

So ended our little vacation. The Black Forest is certainly less majestic than the Alps, but no less serene. The tranquility of the small towns and immense forests was a relaxing experience. Our home base, Lahr, was a nice central location, but resulted in lots of "out and back" driving to see sights in all directions. In that respect, it reminded me of our trip to the Scottish Highlands long ago. We probably spent at least 3 hours more on the roads as a result. In the pandemic, it makes sense to stay in one area, but if that were no barrier, I'd have opted to stay in a different town each night.