The Central Black Forest (German: Mittlerer Schwarzwald), also called the Middle Black Forest, is a natural or cultural division of the Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It generally refers to a region of deeply incised valleys from the Rench valley and southern foothills of the Kniebis in the north to the area of Freiburg im Breisgau and Donaueschingen in the south. Its highest area, which is southeast of the Elz valley, is also part of the High Black Forest.[1]
The dominating valley system of the Kinzig cuts through the Middle Black Forest from east to west. Prominent peaks are the Kandel, Weißtannenhöhe, Obereck, Rohrhardsberg, Brend, Stöcklewald and Mooswaldkopf south of the Kinzig, and the Brandenkopf and Lettstädter Höhe north of the Kinzig.
Gneisses and granites predominate. Unlike the Northern Black Forest the Bunter sandstone covering with its plateau-like mountain shapes has only survived in a few places on the eastern perimeter. Elsewhere the land is marked by narrow ridges and valley floors or, especially in the southeast or even in island-like remnants, hilly highland valley landscapes.
The average height of the Central Black Forest is rather lower than in the Northern and Southern Black Forest. Relative heights are, however, similar; steep mountainsides can rise to 700 metres above the valley bottoms (e.g. in the valley of Simonswälder Tal).