Photo : Ji-Elle / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
l'Arche d'Erbsenfelsen
The Erbsenfelsen is a sandstone rock ridge of the northern Vosges, in the regional nature park of the same name. It overlooks the forest near the Hanau pond, in the commune of Philippsbourg, in the Moselle, not far from the hamlet of Waldeck. Visible from the pond, it stretches about 450 metres and is some thirty metres high.
Its special feature is the arch carved by erosion at its centre, about a dozen metres long and some six metres high, which earns the rock the nickname arch rock. It is one of the most remarkable natural curiosities of the Pays de Bitche. It is reached on foot from the Hanau pond by a marked path forming a loop of about 7 kilometres, or from the Waldeck pond car park by the GR 532. The site is fragile: protected birds, such as the peregrine falcon and the raven, nest there.
