Tweet11-08-2010 om 10:00 by Amanda Potter

Hiking in the Vijlenerbos is both similar and dissimilar to the more casual hikes of my home state of Vermont. The hilly nature of the region, means that you can expect variations in grade and types of pathway, much like (although maybe not as steep as) Vermont hiking. But there are also a lot more hiking paths and other types of paths for enjoying the woods, resulting more traffic that the average mountain back home.

The Vijlenerbos is one of the largest wooded areas in the Netherlands and stretches into Belgium & Germany. In the old days, the forest was considered common property to the residents of nearby villages and each person had the right to cut down a portion of the forest. Today you can still see evidence of logging that occurred in the area. Trees often grown in equal height “patches”, and where they were replanted the trunks line up in garden-like rows.

We started exploring the Vijlenerbos from Vaals, and found the hiking to be pretty easy and beautiful. The trees were mostly very tall and straight softwoods, with some deciduous trees mixed in and the underbrush was thick with extremely large ferns and other shade-tolerate plants. The large trees block out a lot of sun.

You can do more in the Vijlenerbos than just hike; there are also bike paths (wear a helmet!) and horseback riding paths. We saw perhaps two dozen other people out enjoying the woods at the same time we were. On the downside we encountered lots of crisscrossing pathways. The trails are marked with colored posts, but not always clearly, so if you go be sure to bring a map. Just in case.

The Vijlenerbos is accessible from several towns in the Netherlands (as well as Germany & Belgium), including Gulpen and Epen. Epen in particular seems to be a popular place to start exploring with lots of trails and bike paths that pass through the area. Unless you’re biking, I would recommend bringing along a car as the trailheads are frequently not in town. Happy exploring.

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