Where is the Black Forest?
Northern Black Forest
The Northern Black Forest is bounded in the north by a line from Karlsruhe to Pforzheim and, in the south, by a line running from the Rench valley to Freudenstadt. Its northern boundary largely coincides with the emergence of the extensively forested bunter sandstone strata from the arable region of the Kraichgau; its southern boundary with the Central Black Forest (or, in the case of a bipartite division, the Southern Black Forest) varies depending on the definition or natural regional division used (see also Black Forest). Earlier the Northern Black Forest was the entire northern half of the mountain range as far as the line of the Kinzig valley, which divides the Black Forest east of Lahr. To the west it is bounded by the Upper Rhine Plain, to the east by the Gäu landscapes.
Black Forest National Park
The greater part of the "Ruhestein" area extends reaches a height of approximately near Dreifürstenstein in the southeasternmost summit region of the Hornisgrinde, the highest mountain in the northern Black Forest. Other summits are the bird's head (Vogelskopf) () and the Schliffkopf () to the west, the Seekopf () in the northwest, the Riesenköpfle () in the centre, the Leinkopf () in the north and the Großhahnberg () in the northeast. In this southern part of the National Park are the tarns of Wildsee, Huzenbacher See and Buhlbachsee and the upper Schönmünz valley and the headwaters of the Murg headstreams, the Rechtmurg and Rotmurg and other Murg tributaries. On the western slopes of the Schliffkopf this subregions extends down as far as the All Saints Waterfalls, where it reaches is lowest and most westerly point at a height of approximately . Excluded from the Ruhestein area are the Ruhestein itself with its two ski slopes and the Great Ruhestein Ski Jump, the Darmstädter Hut, the Schliffkopf Hotel, the Rotmurg Hunting Lodge, the hamlet of Schonmünz (Volzenhäuser) and other small areas. The state forest land here belongs mainly to the collective municipality of Baiersbronn (in the county of Freudenstadt), other elements belong to Oppenau, Ottenhöfen and Seebach (in the county of Ortenaukreis).