page_title: Rhön Mountains
section_title: High Rhön
hierarchical_section_title: Rhön Mountains / Geography / Natural region divisions / High Rhön
context_page_description: The Rhön Mountains are a group of low mountains in central Germany, located around the border area where the states of Hesse, Bavaria and Thuringia come together. These mountains, which are at the extreme southeast end of the East Hesse Highlands, are partly a result of ancient volcanic activity. They are separated from the Vogelsberg Mountains by the river Fulda and its valley. The highest mountain in the Rhön is the Wasserkuppe which is in Hesse. The Rhön Mountains are a popular tourist destination and walking area.
context_section_description: The High Rhön (German: Hohe Rhön or Hochrhön) is that part of the central Rhön that lies in Hesse, Bavaria, and to a lesser extent in Thuringia; it covers an area of 344 km² (132.8 sq mi) Landscape fact files by the BfN (c.f. section on Natural region division) and is up to 950.0 m (3,117 ft) and whose highland plateaux with elevations starting at 600 to 700 m (1,969 to 2,297 ft) are covered by solid basalt. Its core area in the northeast used to be called the Plattenrhön. The High Rhön is a natural regional major unit in the East Hesse Highlands; see Natural regions.
  The High Rhön has five main mountainous regions:
  Wasserkuppen Rhön
  Long Rhön (Lange Rhön)
  Dammersfeld Ridge (Dammerfeldrücken)
  Kreuzberg Group
  Black Mountains (Schwarze Berge)
  At the heart of the Rhön, albeit only the fourth highest summit of these mountains, is the Heidelstein (925.7 m (3,037 ft)) on the border between Bavaria and Hesse on the Rhine-Weser watershed. It forms the main high point on the plateau of the Long Rhön, which runs northeast over the Stirnberg (901.9 m (2,959 ft)) as far as the Ellenbogen (Schnitzersberg) (815.5 m (2,676 ft)) without crossing any significant lower ground. Within the Long Rhön the basalt layer is almost unbroken.
  At the Heidelstein, another natural region, the Wasserkuppen Rhön, branches off in a north to northwesterly direction to the Rhön's highest summit, the Wasserkuppe (950.0 m (3,117 ft)), whose basalt likewise covers a wide area, but is broken in places by bunter sandstone and muschelkalk – in particular the basalt kuppen of the Weiherberg (785.7 m (2,578 ft), northwest) and Ehrenberg (816.5 m (2,679 ft) northeast) are slightly separated from the rest.
  Between the northeastern end of the Wasserkuppen Rhön at the Ehrenberg and the plateau of the Long Rhön from the Heidelstein to just beyond the Stirnberg is the Upper Ulster valley, which cuts into the bunter sandstone by up to about 300 m (984 ft) and divides the Plattenrhön in two.
  The Long Rhön runs southwest along the main watershed to the Dammersfeld ridge which continues along the watershed via the Hohe Hölle (893.8 m (2,932 ft)) and Eierhauckberg (909.9 m (2,985 ft)) to the Dammersfeldkuppe (927.9 m (3,044 ft)), the ridge being clearly narrower than the Long Rhön and its basalt layer being interrupted several times. The Großer (808.6 m (2,653 ft)) and Kleiner Auersberg (about 808 m (2,651 ft)), separated by the valley of the Schmale Sinn, are also part of this natural region.
  South of Heidelstein and Hoher Hölle the narrow head of the Brend valley near Bischofsheim forms the boundary with another mountain group of the High Rhön, the Kreuzberg Group, which contains the Arnsberg (843.1 m (2,766 ft)) and the Kreuzberg (927.8 m (3,044 ft)). In between these two mountains lies the source of the Sinn. This river, which forms a wide and deep valley head flanked by the Dammersfeld ridge, flows to the southwest.
  On the other side of the Sinn valley, and southwest of the Kreuzberg Group, are the Black Mountains (German: Schwarze Berge), which include the Schwarzenberg (Feuerberg, 832.0 m (2,730 ft)) and Totnansberg (839.4 m (2,754 ft)). They are separated from the Kreuzberg Group by the narrow valley of the Premich's upper reaches, the Kellersbach.
  Clearly different from the aforementioned ridges is the eastern slope of the Long Rhön, which forms the transition zone from the High Rhön to the muschelkalk region of the Mellrichstadt Gäu (Mellrichstädter Gäu), the eastern part of the Werra Gäu Plateaux. Individual domes rise from the descending Triassic beds east of the solid basalt covering of the Long Rhön in the interfluvials of the tributaries of the Franconian Saale between Brend and Streu, notably the Gangolfsberg (735.8 m (2,414 ft)) and the Rother Kuppe (710.6 m (2,331 ft)). This landscape bears a clear resemblance to the Kuppen Rhön.
  The Wildflecken Training Area, which covers an area of 74 km² (28.6 sq mi), equivalent to almost a quarter of the High Rhön, is not accessible to the public.
caption: The Kreuzberg (927.8 m (3,044 ft))
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