History The old rigle trail (Kammweg)

                On March 25, 1878, the first tourist organization in the Czech lands was founded in Děčín – the Mountain Association for Bohemian Switzerland (GVBS). Thanks to Gustav Adolf Ressler, who initiated the founding of the Mountain Association for Bohemian Switzerland, and August Weyeman, who worked in the Ore Mountains, the idea of organized tourism in the northern borderlands spread rapidly. In 1882, the Union of Tourist Associations of the Ore Mountains and Central Mountains was established, later renamed the Union of Mountain Associations of Northwest Bohemia (NWBGVV). was founded, followed a year later by the Central Mountains Association of Ústí nad Labem, later renamed the Mountain Association of Ústí (GVA), and two years later, the associations from the Šluknov Hook merged to form the Mountain Association for Northern Bohemia (GVNB). Marking basic hiking trails was usually the first step taken by tourist associations.

               In addition to the network of shorter and medium-length trails, there were also specific long-distance trails, which, apart from their practical significance, also had an important integrative dimension. The most ambitious project of the German tourist associations in Bohemia was the Ridge Trail (Kammweg). The route from Ještěd to Růžovský vrch was proposed by Josef Mohr, trail master of the Mountain Association for Northern Bohemia, on August 13, 1901, at a meeting to which the Mountain Association for Northern Bohemia (GVNB) invited delegates from three neighboring organizations: the German Mountain Association for the Ještěd and Jizera Mountains (DGV), the Mountain Association for Bohemian Switzerland (GVBS), and the Association of South Lusatian Natural Science and Mountain Associations Lusatia (VLSSNGV) from Zittau. At a meeting of the above-mentioned associations held on April 13, 1902, in Varnsdorf, the marking of this ridge trail was approved. At the suggestion of August Otto from Varnsdorf, a "supra-regional" pictogram was chosen for the approximately 60 km long route, similar to other long-distance routes crossing the federal territories of several tourist organizations with different marking practices. It was a blue four-pronged comb on a white background, using the homonymous meaning of the German "Kamm", similar to the comb. The four prongs of the comb were to symbolize its four founding organizations.

              The trail was marked in 1902–1903. In 1903, meetings were held between the German Mountain Association for the Jizera Mountains (DGV), the Austrian Krkonoše Mountain Association (ÖRGV), and the Krkonoše Mountain Association (RGV) from Silesia. At a meeting held on September 16, 1903, in Kořenov, they decided to extend the Ridge Trail from Ještěd to Sněžka. This section was completed in 1904–1905. In 1904, the German Mountain Association for Jablonec and the Surrounding Area (DGGU) also decided to connect its branch from Ještěd to the Štěpánka lookout tower.

              At a meeting of the Association of Mountain Clubs of Northwest Bohemia on February 28, 1904, Josef Brechensbauer, a member of the central committee and secretary of the Teplice Mountain Club (TGV), proposed marking a 250 km long section from Podmokly to Háj u Aše, which took place in 1904–1906 despite the opposition of the Thun landowners in the Elbe River Basin.

               The ridge trail thus led from Sněžka to Aš. Both member organizations of the association and some associations outside the association participated in marking the long Ore Mountains passage. The ridge trail, which led from Sněžka to Aš and crossed the Austrian-German border in several places, became a solid link between the otherwise disintegrated German organized tourism in the Czech borderlands. From July 1920, negotiations began between the Association of German Mountain and Tourist Associations in the Czechoslovak Republic (HDGW) and the Czechoslovak Tourist Club (KČST) on the form of uniform marking. At the first meeting held on July 14, 1920, representatives of the KČST agreed with the proposal of the German Krkonoše Mountain Association (DRGV) that the Ridge Trail should continue to be marked with the same symbol. Although it was a main route, which according to KČST custom should have been marked in red, they took into account that parts of it passed through Germany.

               At the end of 1921, the Vidnava section of the Moravian-Silesian Sudeten Mountain Association (MSSGV) proposed extending the Ridge Trail from Broumov to Krnov, where it was completed in 1923. In 1926, the German Mountain Association for the Orlické Mountains (DGVfdA) completed the section of this ridge trail on its territory, and so the white metal signs with a blue ridge now led tourists from Krnov to Aš. In 1932, the Cheb section of the German Alpine Association (DAV Eger und Egerland) marked a 120 km section of the Ridge Trail from Aš to Přimda. The German Šumava Association (DBB) marked another section from Přimda to Vyšší Brod, stating in its 51st annual report from August 1935 that the Ridge Trail was almost complete. The ridge trail thus reached a total length of almost 2,000 km, including the connection to the Rennsteig – a ridge trail in the Thuringian Forest – and various turnoffs to important destinations, making it the longest hiking trail in Europe at the time.

                The Ridge Trail contributed significantly to the economic development of structurally weak mountain areas and to the creation of a revivalist culture typical of northern Bohemia. With one interruption between 1914 and 1918, the Ridge Trail was used extensively until the outbreak of World War II. At the end of the war, its use almost completely ceased. The large population exchange in the former Sudetenland meant that the Ridge Trail was increasingly forgotten. The new inhabitants of the border areas, who had moved from the east and the interior, had completely different problems than maintaining the cultural heritage of the expelled Germans. The Ridge Trail was abandoned and the markings removed. Nothing remained to remind us of its creator. 

                In Kamenického toulkách českým pohraničím from 1947 book (Kamenický's Wanderings through the Czech Borderlands), the route of the old Ridge Trail is still mentioned under its new name,"Strážní cesta"(Guard Trail).

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

List of abbreviations:

DAV Deutscher Alpenverein - Eger und Egerland

DBB Deutscher Böhmerwaldbund

DGGU Deutschen Gebirgsverein für Gablonz und Umgebung

DGV Deutsche Gebirgsverein für das Jeschken- und Isergebirge

DGVFdA Deutsche Gebirgsverein für das Adlergebirge

DRGV Deutscher Riesengebirgsverein

GVA Gebirgs Verein Aussig

GVBS Gebirgsverein für die Böhmische Schweiz

GVNB Gebirgsverein für das Nördlichste Böhmen

HDGW Hauptverband deutscher Gebirgs- und Wandervereine in der Tschechoslowakischen Republik

KČST Klub československých turistů

MSSGV Mährisch-Schlesische Sudetengebirgsverein e. V.

NWBGVV Nordwest Böhmischer Gebirgsvereins Verband

ÖRGV Österreichischer Riesengebirgsverein

RGV Riesengebirgsverein

TGV Teplitzer Gebirgsverein

VLSSNGV Verband Lusatia südlausitzischer Natur-und Gebirgsvereine