Palatine Watershed
In the southern Palatine Forest, the German part of the Wasgau, the Palatine Watershed begins on the French border in the area of the Erlenkopf hill (473 m above NHN), where it is a continuation of the watershed in the northern Vosges. Always generally running from southwest to northeast it initially heads eastwards past Eppenbrunn and Pirmasens over the Großer Schiffelskopf () and reaches the region of Gräfenstein Land. From there it runs up the Hortenkopf () in the central Frankenweide. Several kilometres it passes through the hamlet of Johanniskreuz (), one of the highest settlements in the Palatine Forest. The watershed then reaches the area west of Waldleiningen in the Lower Frankenweide.
Johanniskreuz
Johanniskreuz has always been a central communication hub in the Palatine Forest. Whilst the most important historic link from Speyer to Metz ran from east to west and the area around Johanniskreuz was also part of the northern route of the Palatine St. James' Ways, today the main transport axis is the B 48 federal highway from Annweiler to Hochspeyer which runs from north to south. From the Queich valley to Hochspeyer, Johanniskreuz is the only settlement on this very route, which is very winding especially in the north. Also important from a transport perspective is the equally winding state road through the Elmstein Valley towards Neustadt an der Weinstraße. Other road links in a western direction through the Karlstal to Trippstadt and southwest – Heltersberg, Waldfischbach-Burgalben – in places follow paths that were used in the Middle Ages.