Osterkopf

Willingen-Usseln (51.289252 | 8.672492)

Infinity

Panoramic mountain peak (708 m) in the middle of a naturally protected high heath area.

The mountain has been spared from spruce plantations. The value of the unique high heath landscape was recognized in time and its 708-metre-high peak was designated a nature reserve. It is thanks to this foresight that I am able to hike up a dirt track this afternoon, out of the narrow valley and into a sky-like expanse. Today, the Osterkopf arches brightly and openly over the Upland community of Usseln.

A red and white barrier marks the start of the protected area. After I pass it, the feeling of walking changes. I feel as if I am walking over a deep, soft, springy carpet. Moss and grass cushion the path, lined with heather that covers the entire hilltop. The green trail leads towards two pine trees, which stand out because they stand like sentinels to the right and left and because they have grown straight and tall, which is rare up here. A constant and strong westerly wind blows the trees and bushes, which are scattered as singles across the Heid. It keeps them low, bends and bends and breaks them. Under its thumb, the branches twist and turn, creating sculptures reminiscent of abstract art, quaint characters, sometimes mythical creatures. The wind as a tree sculptor.

One consequence of the constant blowing is that the average annual temperature is only six degrees Celsius, a value similar to that in the Scandinavian tundra. The impression of Nordic exoticism is also created by the sparse vegetation, the stunted pines and the presence of the alpine lycopod, which grows in areas that are covered in snow for long periods - 100 days a year on the Osterkopf.

There is not actually a summit on this plateau, but there is a point marked by a weather vane instead of a summit cross. It shows the Waldeck star, once the emblem of the Grafschaft of the same name. I can see a lot of the area that now belongs to Hessen. But the unobstructed 360-degree view goes far beyond that. I feel as if I'm standing on the edge of a sea, elevated as if on a dyke, overlooking an endless landscape of waves that fade into the blue-blue horizon. I like this vastness because my head becomes clearer and my thoughts more fluid. At the same time, I think: I could also lose myself in this infinite view, dissolve, fly away. I realize that I need both wings AND roots in my life.

It's wonderful that from my vantage point I can see another place of the soul on the other side of the valley, the Hengböhl quarry. It's as if the two places are communicating with each other. Here the open, there the closed; here the vastness, there the security; here the airy, there the earthy. Their qualities complement each other.

Historians have discovered that farming was once carried out right up to the summit plateau. Since the 17th century, Amish and Mennonites, two religious communities based on early Christian customs, have also lived here. During the Reformation, they first fled from Switzerland to Alsace and from there to the Waldeck region from 1650. They were persecuted because they practiced adult baptism and non-violence. Above all, however, they placed the authority of the Holy Scriptures above all ecclesiastical and secular authorities. These anarchists of God were hated and killed by power-obsessed princes, but appreciated and courted by the few tolerant lords of the land, who also knew of their diligence and peasant skills. It is said that they also settled around the Osterkopf and brought Bracht to Upland.

When Waldeck's rule became more dogmatic again and things became tight for the Amish, they moved on again. Many emigrated to America, seeking and finding the space they needed to cultivate their faith. But some also stayed. Their traces are still preserved today in Usseln family and house names.

Author: Michael Gleich