The Kinzig is a river in Baden-Württemberg, which flows through the Middle Black Forest and the Upper Rhine Plain over a length of 93 km.
The Kinzig rises in the wooded northeast of the Middle Black Forest on the district of the municipality Lossburg in the district Freudenstadt. Their valley runs initially between Buntsandsteinplateaus near the eastern mountain edge in a southerly direction. She leaves the district of Freudenstadt just south of Alpirsbach and wanders the district of Rottweil. The following largest part of their course lies in Ortenaukreis. In the town of Schiltach Kinzig kinks to the west. The slopes of the now more tortuous valley are restless, especially in the lower parts, which are often embossed by meadows. In Hausach, the valley is wide, rather straightforward and densely populated with the confluence of the Gutachtales. It is here sunk in between Farrenkopf and Brandenkopf about 550 meters deep and is now lined by diverse articulated, narrow mountain ridges. At Haslach Kinzig kinks to the northwest, then leaves after another 25 kilometers at Offenburg the Black Forest and finally flows at Kehl in the Rhine.
In its upper run, the Kinzig is a typical mountain river. Because of the risk of flooding, the Kinzig was forced in the middle middle and lower running section in a bed with double trapezoidal profile and high dikes. In the area of the double trapezoidal profile renaturations have already been carried out in several places, such. B. below the Schutter estuary, in the area of the motorway bridge at Griesheim and at the Erlenbach estuary at Biberach.