The journey begins with a train ride to Bad Harzburg. Depending on your hiking pace, we recommend taking the last or second-to-last train the evening before sunrise. At 12:11 a.m., the hike begins at the Bad Harzburg train station, winding through the deserted town to the valley station of the Burgberg cable car. A headlamp will help you find your way on the next section of the trail. Passing the treetop trail, the path gradually gets a bit steeper—a small preview of the Hirtenstieg—all the way to the Molkenhaus. Anyone hoping to become a “Hiking Emperor” or “Hiking Empress” has their first chance to get their passport stamped here.
The trail descends gently until it reaches the Braunschweiger Weg, which crosses a clearing. Here, we take our first break on the two benches by the side of the trail to gaze at the starry sky, undisturbed by the light pollution of a big city. The view into the infinite vastness of space is almost more impressive than the sunrise that follows later. The silence of the night—it’s 1:30 a.m.—is also remarkable. After a 15-minute break, we continue down into the Eckertal valley and follow the stream upstream to the Eckertalsperre dam. We refill our water bottles at the drinking fountain before the trail leads us across the dam into Saxony-Anhalt. A border post marks the former zone border. This is the next stamping station. We hike along the Eckertal Dam on root-strewn paths until we pass through a former wooded area—where almost only the remains of trees jut up into the night sky—toward the Scharf Ranger Station (stamp number three).
Those were the first 11 km, which were pretty relaxed. It’s 3:10. By now it’s already so light out that we no longer need our headlamps. Now comes the final climb to the Brocken via the Hirtenstieg—4 km with 500 meters of elevation gain over tank tracks. Around 3:55, we stop at a bench and enjoy the view of the Eckertal Dam at dawn. It’s always worth arriving a little early to watch the play of colors in the sky before the sun breaks through the horizon. At 4:30 a.m., we reach the highest point (stamp number four). This year, there are black flies that prevent us from enjoying a relaxed breakfast on the wind-sheltered rocks next to the Brockenhaus.
We need the extra clothes we brought—it’s still a pleasant 16°C—less to keep us warm and more to protect us from the midges. The sky isn’t completely cloudless, but around 4:50 a.m. we’re able to admire the sunrise. After taking all our photos, we hike along the Goetheweg around 5:10 a.m., passing the Eckersprung (Stamp Number 5), toward Torfhaus, where we catch the first bus back to Bad Harzburg around 7:20 a.m. after a total of 24.5 km. The bus arrives at the train station on time, and we take the train back to rainy Braunschweig.
