Hiking was invented in the Black Forest
It was Philipp Bussemer from Baden-Baden who, at the end of the 19th century, opened what was probably the first tourist information centre in the Black Forest near to his haberdashery shop.
Publishing hiking maps and numerous hiking guides for the Schwarzwaldverein, which had been promoting hiking in the Black Forest since 1864, soon became more important to him than his chosen career. The Schwarzwaldverein is an association that cares for the needs of nature in the Black Forest and is predominantly responsible for signposting the hiking trails in the Black Forest.
In Bussemer’s lectures on the Westweg, a hiking trail in the western Black Forest leading from the north to the south, he maintained that the sprightly hiker could manage the Westweg in eight days. Today we might call that power walking. And talking of walking – the high priest of walking, Gary Yanker from the USA, recounts in his book, Walking, how it was at the Schwarzwaldverein in Neustadt that he first discovered his love of hiking and began developing his walking skills.
Hiking, walking and trekking have been part of the Black Forest’s history for more than 100 years.