Immediately next to the ranger station, a narrow signposted path leads to the summit, the walk taking about 15 minutes. The same route must be used on the way down, because it is in the middle of the Harz National Park and visitors may not leave the paths. South of the Scharfenstein begins the Herdsman's Path (Hirtenstieg) which runs past the Kleiner Brocken on an old concrete road that was built to monitor the former inner German Border to the west and that leads up to the Brocken.