>>489501never mat anyone that would be pissed of, but i also did my cooking with minimal impact, or on public areas where it is allowed or very well hidden and moved after eating.
the times i met a forester i was using my closed alcohol stove and it was fine.
i have made around 100-150 day trips in the area
and maybe 50 or so to the national park.
and made open campfire to cook food maybe 50 times.
But very often when i go on hikes the weather is particularly bad (snowstorms/ wind+rain/ night time etc).
so chances are lower to meet people...
While its technically not allowed to sleep in the parks at night. everybody does it. sometimes when i hike up the Brocken at night to see the sunrise, every hut on the way is filled with people sleeping.
also the police would not be looking for you as most police station are closed at night and only the ones in the bigger citys around the harz are open and on patrol.
>>489458the harz is quite touristy around the Brocken with lots of traffic. the other routes have little traffic in my experience but you do met people on the trail closer to towns
>>489395route choice would be the "Hazer Hexenstieg"
since you are from the Netherlands i assume you can read German a bit right ?
because the is a page which lists the "German high-quality-hiking-paths" where you might find some ideas and data.
>http://www.wanderbares-deutschland.de/wanderwege/qualitaetswege.html 