Otto, der letzte Dorfhirte (Themenpfad)

The 5.7 kilometre-long shepherd's path between the Fröhnder districts of Ittenschwand and Hof tells the story of Otto, the last village shepherd in the Wiesental valley. He herded the cattle of the small hamlet of Hof until 1980, even though electric fencing had long since been introduced.
The start of the trail is not far from the Tannebodenhütte. From here, we follow the path to the left from the car park and follow the "Hirtenpfad" signs for 1.3 kilometres and over open terrain up to Schiffsboden. Here you can already guess that the landscape of the Oberes Wiesental is characterised by a form of pasture farming that dates back to the Middle Ages - the communally used "Allmendweiden". They are also what give the steep mountain slopes of the Wiesental its charm. The shepherd's path leads us further up the Dachsgrabenweg to the Dachsgraben, which we reach after 2.6 ascending kilometres. At 904 metres above sea level, we are also at the highest point of the tour. We now march on past the eastern side of the Dachseck to the signpost location "Unter dem Dachseckwald". Shortly before we reach a small pine forest on the way there, we are offered a wonderful view of the southern Black Forest, in particular of the local mountain of the Black Forest region, Belchen, 1414 metres high. At the signpost just mentioned, we keep to the right and shortly afterwards emerge from the forest again. From here it is another 1.6 kilometres, following the blue diamond into the valley to the hamlet of Hof. At the end, we stop off at the Hirtenbrunnen inn, which is more than 400 years old, and retrace the daily route of the shepherds with their flocks on the communal pastures.