{"id":7659,"date":"2026-06-12T03:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T03:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zjunk.net\/blog\/?p=7659"},"modified":"2026-06-12T03:00:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T03:00:56","slug":"hiking-around-osnabrucks-piesberg-thursday-june-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zjunk.net\/blog\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/hiking-around-osnabrucks-piesberg-thursday-june-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiking around Osnabr\u00fcck’s Piesberg: Thursday, June 11"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was again coolish today (we have been getting just above 60 for a high for the past week or so) but without much rain in the forecast, so we decided to take the bus to the Piesberg hiking loop in the north of town. It is a simple 8 km (5 miles and change) loop around a huge stone quarry that used to be a flat top mountain and is now more of a crater. The narrow-gauge track that used to serve for transportation is now a mini train tourist attraction, but today was a very quiet day. We saw a couple of hikers, one school class with their teacher, and the little train was not running. But we just came for the hike and some spectacular views of Osnabr\u00fcck from the highest elevation in the region (a sensational 188 m or about 550 feet above sea level at its highest point). It was a lovely time, and apart from a two-minute sprinkle, we remained dry in partly cloudy, partly sunny weather. It was also really clear, and we could see all the way to Lingen, 50 km (30 miles) from Osnabr\u00fcck, where we could spot a distinctive landmark (a three-tower power plant, very romantic). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
This is the map for the 8 km loop around the Piesberg. We started at the museum (bottom left corner, about 7 o’clock position) and went counter-clockwise. The four light blue stars are the four viewing platforms. We stopped at all of them, but we skipped a museum visit for another day. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The narrow-gauge railroad with some quarry containers no longer in use. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The three windmills that make the Piesberg recognizable from afar. They used to be state of the art and among the biggest there were, but they are now dwarfed in size and output by the newest wind-power generators. To the left, the parking lot for the (active) stone quarry at the center of the Piesberg. The hike starts at a Museum for Industry with exhibits about the history of the stone quarry, which combines strip mining and underground mining. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Strip mining usually looks awful, but for some reason, from the viewing platforms around the rim, it looked beautiful. The geological layers are also really intriguing. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
But the coolest part was the view of Osnabr\u00fcck from the highest viewing platform. You can see the whole city. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The path through the woods was beautiful, especially when the sun was peeking through.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The hike took us about 2 hours, with a couple of detours, and after the 20-minute bus ride home (plus another 10 minutes of walking to Imke’s house) we were starving! I enriched our pasta from the other day with some sauteed veggies and we had a lovely lunch–light enough to leave room for coffee and cake at 3:30, when family friends Maya and Wolfgang stopped by. We’ve known them ever since we moved to F\u00fcrstenau in 1971, and they became some of my parents’ best friends. (My mom has been meeting with them regularly again ever since they moved to Osnabr\u00fcck a few years after she did.) Lots of catching up for an hour or so over cheese cake and crumb cake from the nearby bakery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
My mom and I with longtime friends, Wolfgang and Maya. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Taking off on their e-tandem with foldable front end (so it can attach to the back of an RV)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then Imke and I spent the evening leafing through old family photo albums (from the late 19th century to about 1966), and Mark, with the patience of at least a half dozen angels, took pictures of every photograph I singled out (with a little note to identify it). It was an intense and interesting couple of hours, but we had had this projects on our minds for a few days, and this was our chance!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Serious work! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was again coolish today (we have been getting just above 60 for a high for the past week or so) but without much rain in the forecast, so we decided to take the bus to the Piesberg hiking loop in the north of town. It is a simple 8 km (5 miles and change) … Continue reading “Hiking around Osnabr\u00fcck’s Piesberg: Thursday, June 11”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2026-vienna","category-photos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zjunk.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zjunk.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zjunk.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zjunk.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zjunk.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7659"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zjunk.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7672,"href":"https:\/\/zjunk.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7659\/revisions\/7672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zjunk.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zjunk.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zjunk.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}