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Hiking trails & Routes
Germany
North Rhine-Westphalia
Kreis Düren
Niederzier

Hambach Lake – Rest Area by the Lake loop from Hambach

Routes
Hiking trails & Routes
Germany
North Rhine-Westphalia
Kreis Düren
Niederzier

Hambach Lake – Rest Area by the Lake loop from Hambach

Easy

4.7

(160)

443

hikers

Hambach Lake – Rest Area by the Lake loop from Hambach

01:38

6.12km

70m

Hiking

Easy hike. Great for any fitness level. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is right next to a parking lot.

Last updated: April 15, 2026

Waypoints

A

Start point

Parking

Get Directions

1

744 m

Hambach Lake

Highlight • Lake

The Hambach opencast mine is located in the Rhenish lignite mining area, between Jülich and Elsdorf. The pit is currently approximately 350 meters deep. Part of the overburden has been and is being piled up to form an artificial mountain approximately 200 meters high, which is continuously being recultivated – the Sophienhöhe. The extensive site features a well-signposted network of trails leading through diverse landscapes: forests, small lakes, sand dunes, and heathland.

Translated by Google •

Tip by

2

2.56 km

Lake on Sophienhöhe

Highlight • Lake

Nice little lake where dogs can also take a swim

Translated by Google •

Tip by

3

3.25 km

Picnic Area in the Orchard

Highlight • Rest Area

The orchard is a nice place to rest

Translated by Google •

Tip by

4

3.33 km

Stations of the Cross on Sophienhöhe

Highlight (Segment) • Religious Site

In the spirit of the peace movement and as a protest against the destruction of the environment, on Good Friday 1983 the pastor Josef Jansen from the parish of St. Rochus in Jülich organized a Good Friday procession to the Sophienhöhe to the summit cross. The organizers did not expect that 150 people would come to the procession even then.
As a result, 5 stopping points or stations were set up for the processions and a wooden cross was carried up to the summit at the events. From year to year the number of participants increased and the religious themes came more to the fore.
In 2002, the children of a school class with their teachers Mr. Lück and Mrs. Grunewald came up with the idea of creating a Way of the Cross on the Sophienhöhe. The company Rheinbraun, now RWE Power AG, supported this idea and donated large boulders from the nearby opencast mine for the planned 15 Stations of the Cross. The children developed the templates for presentations as silhouettes and metal figures for the boulders were made from them at the Jülich Research Center. The Way of the Cross was inaugurated on October 10, 2002. The communion children of the respective year tend the small gardens at the boulders.
Whether as a Good Friday procession, ecumenical Way of the Cross for young people or the Way of the Cross for the family - a number of communities in the area use this path today for processions for religious devotion.
Excerpt from www-euregio-im-bild.de
The first station is missing. It is on the section of the Elsbeerenweg that is not yet part of the H hiking trail. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it.
euregio-im-bild.de/wandern-discoveren/noerdlicher-eifelrand/die-sophienhoehe/der-kreuzweg-auf-der-sophienhoehe-1.htm

Translated by Google •

Tip by

5

4.46 km

Kreuzweg Shelter

Highlight • Mountain Hut

Here you really had a 💚 for outdoor fans ❣️
Really well-kept refuge, which is something to be proud of.
Well done 👌🏼👏🏼💚

Translated by Google •

Tip by

6

4.59 km

Long Bench Eifel

Highlight • Structure

Keep your distance from the bank :-)

Translated by Google •

Tip by

7

4.90 km

Rest Area by the Lake

Highlight • Rest Area

A rest area by the lake with a table and benches.
From here you have a beautiful view over the lake. The place is coveted.

Translated by Google •

Tip by

8

5.41 km

Photo: Sophia Eckerle, CC BY-SA, district of Düren
At peak times, the up to 411 meter deep opencast mine produced so much lignite for the company's own power plants that it covered five percent of Germany's total electricity requirements. Coal mining in the Hambach opencast mine will end in 2029 as part of the statutory phase-out of coal. Several major regional planning, mining law and water management approval procedures are currently underway. They will determine what the landscape of a large lake and lots of forest that the open pit mine will leave behind will look like. The Hambach lignite plan is currently being changed. In a few weeks, a planning approval process will begin that prepares the design of the opencast mining lake in detail. At the same time, another lignite plan procedure secures the route for the outlet of the future opencast mining lake (rwe.com/der-gruppe/laender-und-standorte/tagebau-hambach/neue-landschaft-nach-dem-tagebau-hambach )

Translated by Google •

Tip by

B

6.12 km

End point

Parking

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Way Types & Surfaces

Way Types

5.81 km

292 m

Surfaces

3.93 km

1.88 km

292 m

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Elevation

Elevation

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Weather

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Sunday 5 July

29°C

16°C

0 %

Additional weather tips

Max wind speed: 23.0 km/h

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