The High Taunus runs as a mountain ridge from southwest to northeast from the Middle Rhine opposite the Bingen Forest to the Wetterau before Bad Nauheim for a distance of 75kilometres; its average widths being only 4to 5km. The narrowest point on the ridge is only 2.4km and is located on the heights of the Saalburg. At 7km, the widest part of the natural region lies between Presberg and Rüdesheim am Rhein. From the Main-Taunus Plain (ca.100mabovesea level (NHN)) in the south the ridge zone climbs rapidly and steeply to over 600to 879m, and rises above the plain by 400 to 600metres (m). To the north the Taunus ridge descends steeply but only around 200to 300m to the Lower Taunus.
The geological heart of the Taunus crest unit is formed by strata of Taunus quartzite several hundred metres thick. The very weather-resistant rock forms many of the peaks on the main ridge of the Taunus, such as the Großer Feldberg which, at 879m is the highest mountain in the Taunus, but it also forms island-like mountains to the south such as the Hallgarter Zange, the Schläferskopf, the Kellerskopf and the Altkönig. In places, a parallel ridge has formed: along the Theißtal near Niedernhausen, which is bounded in the north and south by two lines of mountains.
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