Soonwald

Soonwald
The Soonwaldsteig trail near Henau in the Soonwald.
Highest point
Peak	Ellerspring
Elevation	657.5 m (2,157 ft)
Geography
State	Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, Bad Kreuznach; Rhineland-Palatinate,  Germany
Range coordinates	49°54′48″N 7°36′44″E / 49.9132°N 7.6121°E / 49.9132; 7.6121Coordinates: 49°54′48″N 7°36′44″E / 49.9132°N 7.6121°E / 49.9132; 7.6121
Parent range	Hunsrück
Geology
Type of rock	Quartzite ridge

The Soonwald is a forested, low mountain region, up to 657.5 m above sea level (NN), which forms part of the Hunsrück mountains in the German Central Uplands. It lies within the counties of Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis and Bad Kreuznach in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The Soonwald lies in the west and south of the county of Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis and the east and north of Bad Kreuznach county. It is located within the Soonwald-Nahe Nature Park, roughly between the main crest of the Hunsrück mountains (to the northwest) and the Nahe valley (to the southeast), behind which the Saar-Nahe Uplands rise. The Soonwald extends over about 40 kilometres in a southwest to northeast direction from the Simmer valley on the Nahe to the valley of the Guldenbach, which lies on the boundary of the Soonwald with the Bingen Forest, west of the Rhine knee near Bingen.

Other ranges and woodlands of the German Central Uplands adjoin the Soonwald in all directions of the compass: to the southwest are the Lützelsoon and, a just to its west, the Idar Forest; to the southeast is the Gauchswald; and to the northeast, the Bingen Forest. The Lützelsoon and parts of the Bingen Wald are sometimes counted as part of the Soonwald rather than as separate forest regions; the entire region then being known as the "Großer Soon" ("Great Soon").

The average annual temperature on the summits of the Soonwald is just under 7 °C, more than 2 °C lower than that in the Simmerbach valley near Kellenbach (over 9 °C), thanks to a height difference of about 500 metres. They also receive around 25% more precipitation (800 mm) than in the valleys.