66 Seen Weg: the Gamengrund

The 66 Seen Weg from Melchow to Leuenberg

Day 6 and 7 of the 66 Seen Weg take you through the Gamengrund, a 30 km long valley that came into existence in the Ice Age. Water flowed underneath the glacier and carved a valley through the land. It’s 300 to 400 meters wide and filled with lakes and ponds with meltwater from the glaciers. The area is a protected park and many walking and biking routes can be explored here.

I set off in Melchow and soon I ended up on a country road that was already used by Napoleon, when he marched to Russia. The Bernauer Heerstrasse was simple and went all the way through the forest of the Barnim nature park. The walk goes over wide forest paths and everything sort of looks the same. There was also a fair amount of logging done in the forest. There weren’t huge clearings, but plenty of logs along the paths. This wasn’t my favourite part, mainly for lack of variation.

Day 6 goes from Melchow to Leuenberg and takes you through the first 12 km of the Gamengrund. You walk past the long Gamensee and some other small lakes, but much of the time you don’t really see the water through the trees. Even though it was Saturday, I also didn’t see many people on this part of the walk. It was a bit strange to be the only person in this huge forest. But I found another lonely one out here. I walked past a boulder that was brought here from Scandinavia in the Ice Age.

At Leuenberg you exit the forest to get to the bus stop. Instead of taking the road, you can cross a nice meadow, where they’ve placed a picnic bench in case you want to stay a little longer. And you might want to. Buses leave Leuenberg every 2 hours! I ended up reading my book at the bus stop for 1,5h!

Hiking from Leuenberg to Strausberg Stadt

On Sunday I picked the trail up again in Leuenberg. There were many people with rucksacks and hiking boots on the train and bus. I quickly powerwalked onto the trail to stay ahead of them. Right next to the town you find the Langer See, Mittelsee and Gamensee all in a row. You can hike around them in a loop and it was a popular spot on this sunny day. People were out walking dogs, parents took their kids out on little bicycles and others took their cameras. It was indeed very scenic.

After the Gamensee I crossed a road and continued through the forest, but there were no lakes anymore. It was so much quieter here. I think I only came across 3 or 4 people. The path went up and down a bit until I reached water again. At the Fängersee I was nearing the end of my walk, but others were just starting to come out for a picnic along the shores.

There are 2 lakes very close to each other and there are trails on either side of it. Especially the Bötzsee had many benches or shaded spots at the water’s edge. I can imagine it would get busy on a hot day here, but if you find your own little space between the trees, you still have a fair amount of privacy. I see now why Strausberg is a popular weekend getaway! Even along the Straussee it was very nice, although there are houses very close to the water’s edge. The view of Strausberg’s old town is spectacular.

Strausberg is easily reached from Berlin by train and S-bahn, so even worth just a day trip. I’ll be back when summer comes!