The Iberg - A Coral Reef

Short description

The Iberg - A coral reef

From the Devonian period, full of caves, historical iron ore mining, an FFH area as a limestone beech forest with rare yews.

Directions

It is recommended to hike the tour clockwise, so that the dining options come when you have built up enough hunger, at the peak and end of the tour. You walk this not too long circular tour almost continuously through the forest.

On the western side of the Harz Mountains, the Karst hiking trail begins at the HöhlenErlebnisZentrum in and on the Iberg near Bad Grund. In the building, the finds and evidence as well as a replica of the Lichtenstein Cave are exhibited: so the real Lichtenstein Cave, located between Dorste and Förste and once the tomb of a Bronze Age extended family, is connected to the exhibition on the significant excavation and cave archaeology at the HöhlenErlebnisZentrum.

The Iberg is the mother of the mountain town, where iron ore has been mined for millennia until 1885 and later also base metal ore. The 385 million year old Devonian limestone coral reef is heavily karstified and houses dozens of caves. Today, the Iberg is protected as an FFH area, the natural forest with beech and noble hardwood as well as the rare yew is left to itself. At the neighboring Winterberg, part of the reef, high-quality limestone has been mined in the largest quarry in Lower Saxony since 1938, best seen from the viewpoint on the summit of the Iberg.

First, you go below the parking lot into the Devils Valley, where the Fairy Tale Ground soon awaits children on the left. On the right is the entrance to the iron ore tunnel. Iron ore was mined here until 1885 and smelted in front of the square. Today, the extensive mining facility, reaching down to the karst groundwater in the Iberg - also the drinking water of Bad Grund - contains the healing tunnel for the therapy of certain lung diseases. A memorial stone for a victim of the death marches in April 1945 is also located there.

The path leads west below the B 242, with the Iberg settlement on the left, built in 1938 to accommodate mostly South Tyrolean workers for the simultaneously established limestone quarry. We now come to the Hübichenstein, a double rock needle made of reef limestone, already climbed by J.W. von Goethe on 12.8.1784.

Climbing is rewarded with a beautiful view of Bad Grund and the Iberg. Old iron ore mines are deeper in the rock. Hübich, king of a legendary dwarf people, is said to have lived here (or does he still live here?). On the Canada Trail, the continuous Karst hiking trail would continue through the World Forest, then past the former Grund ore mine and to the western Harz edge with magnificent views into southern Lower Saxony.

To the right and a short distance over the federal road (caution!), we go up the Hippelweg, a cut between Winterberg (left, quarry) and Iberg. The cut is the trace of a fault surface probably dating back to the Upper Carboniferous, on which the Winterberg, a limestone thickness of approx. 600 m as the upper quarter of the reef, was pushed westward, so that the reef is now doubled. At the upper end of the Hippelweg, the route turns horizontally to the Maibohmshöhe. Here, deep pingen lie to the right of the path, evidence of historical iron ore mining, also nature caves shaped by it. Caution: risk of falling: do not leave the path! Now it goes up to the Iberghochfläche, passing by the so-called Gletschertöpfe, karst hollow forms with mining superimposition, but there were never glaciers here.

At the Iberg Albert Tower, there are dining options and a panoramic view from the tower. Shortly after, panels provide information on the archaeological exploration of the early history of Iberg mining. An observation point with information boards expands the view of the largest quarry in Lower Saxony, whose mining areas now extend into the Iberg.

Several caves, some with massive stalactite formations, were encountered during mining. Across the Iberghochfläche, an old forest path gently descends to the Bismarck Cliff. Here the view sweeps south over the steep Iberg slope, densely wooded with beech trees. The forest, owned by the state, has been exempted from management for several years, and self-development has been scientifically monitored since then. Except for traffic safety measures, no work is allowed.

Further down, the path leads to a native occurrence of yew, a tree species typical of this substrate and climate, but now rare.

It is still unclear whether the name Iberg is derived from yew (Ibe) or iron (Isen).

Parking information

HöhlenErlebnisZentrum, An der Tropfsteinhöhle 1, 37539 Bad Grund (Harz)