Experience Trail 3 Western Harly

From Wöltingerode, go up the Bärental, pass the Kräuter-August Cave, but do not turn right to the tower; instead, continue northwest straight ahead. At the start of the large curve, follow the middle path towards the sequoia. Here, continue on the middle path and at the junction with the shelter, turn right downwards into the east-west valley between Komturberg in the south and the Muschelkalk height of the Harly ridge in the east. You are still on the height of the Middle Buntsandstein, where the ground is relatively dry and we find fragments of red sandstone. Soon, the downward path forks again – you can take either path, as both are in equally poor condition and not always easy to walk. You will soon enter the Upper Buntsandstein – along the valley path, the red, water-retaining clays of the Röt are partially exposed. Multiple sinkholes can be seen.

Soon you reach the western edge of the Harly at Weddebachtal, where the Harly is sharply cut off to the west morphologically and tectonically. You continue walking along the forest edge of the Harly towards the south. Just south of the valley path you came down, on the left is the Waldmönnecken Cave, a cave similar to the Kräuter-August Cave in the Bärental. It extends a few meters into thick-bedded red sandstones of the Middle Buntsandstein and is also a historical sandstone construction, not a natural cave.

From the Waldmönnecken Cave, continue south along the forest edge below the Komturberg, which consists of Middle Buntsandstein, and reach the ford through the Weddebach. There, keep to the left and you can now take a shortcut path parallel to the Wedde. Geologically more interesting is the path cut steeply upwards opposite the ford leading up Komturberg, which was created by old mining of Rogenstein. Take this path, climb steeply to the left (north) for about 250 m and shortly below the middle path you reach a quarry in Rogenstein. Here, the Rogenstein was still mined in the 1930s, and there is probably the only good exposure of the outcropping Rogenstein.

Descend from the middle path back to the original path and follow it east. Soon you will reach a new, widely developed forest road. Directly in front of you is the tailings mound of the former Shaft III (Röhrig Shaft), which you reach via a short spur path uphill. The shaft was sunk by Preussag from 1925 to 1928 and was closed in 1930, along with shafts I and II further east, after water intrusion and flooding of the mine.

From Shaft III, walk along the forest edge, past an exposure of disturbed chalk layers, back east towards Wöltingerode.

Direct connection from Goslar via the B6 to Wöltingerode

Parking lot at the Klosterkrug restaurant at Wöltingerode Abbey

RBB bus: Line 822, Goslar - Vienenburg - Lengde - Beuchte

BUND - Westharz Regional Association
Petersilienstr. 23, 38640 Goslar
Tel. 05321 4696075
E-Mail: bund.goslar@bund.net
www.bund-westharz.de

Tip!Download brochure "The Harly - From Wöltingerode to the Muschelkalk ridge"