Note: The trail is designed as a figure of eight. If you want to walk it in 2 day stages, you should start the hike on the German side from Hinterhersmdorf via Königsplatz
If you start at Kräuterbaude Saupsdorf, follow the Yellow Dot hiking trail. This is the Hinterhermsdorf panorama trail. It first leads up to the Weifberg, where the viewing tower offers magnificent views far into Saxon and Bohemian Switzerland as well as over Wachberg and Tanzplan. On a clear day, you can see as far as the Zittau Mountains. From Weifberg, we continue along the Panoaramaweg to Emmabank and back to Hinterhermsdorf. Only at the end of the village do we leave the yellow dot and now walk along the green line, partly on steps, down to the Obere Schleuse. At a crossroads, the Blue Line joins from the right, which we follow from now on, turning left.
Once we arrive at the Upper Lock, we have a choice: from Easter to the end of October, we can experience the anecdote-filled boat trip on the Kirnitzsch. Out of season, or for those who prefer to stay on land, there is the narrow path that winds its way up after the snack bar and ticket office and runs parallel to the Kirnitzsch to Hermannseck. This is also where visitors on the boat trip rejoin the hiking trail. An easy ascent (via steps) and a difficult ascent on a narrow metal staircase through a narrow rock passage lead up to Hermannseck. The ascent is rewarded with another beautiful view.
We now follow the red line towards Hinterhermsdorf for a short distance, but soon come to a fork in the path and turn left onto the green line. This path leads us to the Rabensteine with another viewpoint. After the view, the trail quickly descends. At the foot of the Rabensteine and thus back in the Kirnitzsch valley, we turn left and, after keeping right at the next fork, we can already see the bridge over the Kirnitzsch at the Zadní Jetřichovice (Hinterdittersbach) border crossing. Here we cross the national border and are now on the Czech part of the Friendship Trail.
Immediately after the border crossing, stay half right at the crossroads and keep left at the next fork. We follow wide, gravel paths, which are also used as cycle routes, through wide valleys for quite a while. We pass a crossroads on the way, but continue straight ahead until we finally turn left onto a narrower hiking trail at the Česká silnice customs post. This is marked in red and leads along the foot of the rocks; you are walking on the border of the Bohemian Switzerland National Park. We soon leave the path to the right to follow the blue markings to Jetřichovice.
In Jetřichovice, the trail leads past the information point. For hikers who want to spend the night in the former sanatorium, turn left after the information point; the hotel is then on the right at the end of the village. Otherwise, continue straight ahead along the road until you reach a crossroads and turn left through the forest up the hill to Rynartice. We cross a meadow. The next accommodation, the Zámeček wellness hotel, is on the right. The first stage for multi-day hikers ends in Jetřichovice or Rynartice.
The Friendship Trail follows the blue line to the left at the meadow, past Křížový vrch, and then winds gently up and down through the forest to the Balzhütte (Na Tokáni). Here you will find the ruins of a burnt-down inn and a refreshment stop a little further on. The route continues relaxed on the blue line along rocks through the forest. At a crossroads, we turn left onto the green-marked path, which finally takes us back to the border crossing.
Back on the German side, we walk back along the familiar path for a short distance, but do not turn back onto the Rabensteinweg, but onto the customs road at the next crossroads. We now follow the wide cycle route for a while until the Roter Strich hiking trail turns left into the tunnel path, which takes us steadily uphill, through a rock tunnel and over steps, finally taking us on a detour to Königsplatz. After enjoying the far-reaching view from here, which was already appreciated by the Saxon King Friedrich August II, we follow the Roter Strich back to Hinterhermsdorf.
Opposite the Buchenparkhalle inn, we turn left and find ourselves back on the Yellow Dot, which we already know from the start of the tour. This leads us along the edge of the Waldhusche adventure area (if you like, you can visit the Blockscheune and Beizehaus national park information points here or explore the Waldhusche stations with your children), briefly through the village, then past the campsite and a little further along Schandauer Straße. The yellow dot soon turns right and we follow it through the Hintere Räumicht until we finally arrive back at the Kräuterbaude.
