Fränkisches Steinreich

 Quality Trail Franconian Stone Kingdom 76.3 km

 Bavaria's stone-rich corner are rightly called the Franconian Forest and Fichtelgebirge, because hardly anywhere else in Europe are there more numerous and varied rock formations in such a small area. The geological subsoil creates a variety of landscapes and the landscape in turn shapes the character of people and culture. The "Fränkisches Steinreich" quality trail - designed as a 75-kilometre stage trail - pays tribute to this unique mixture. Many things come together on the "Steinreich" - not only granite with limestone and slate, but also "Oberland" with "Unterland", Buddhism with Marian worship and "loyal Catholic Bamberg" meets "fortified Protestant Margravial". Four daily stages of 13 to 24 km in length connect more than 40 selected points along the way with a geological and cultural-historical background, 22 of which have explanatory information boards.

Stage 1: From Waldstein to Weißenstein 24.2 km

The first and, at 24.7 km, longest "Steinreich" stage begins at the highest point of the Schieferland Geopark, the impressive granite massif of the Großer Waldstein (871m). Just halfway to the picturesque market town of Zell, the Fichtelgebirge ends at the Saalequelle in geological and scenic terms. The Münchberg hill country, better known to geologists as the "Münchberg Gneiss Massif", now spreads out to the northwest with gently undulating peaks and less prominent valleys. The idyllic Haidberg, also known as the "Magnetberg" because the iron minerals in the iridescent green serpentinite rock make any compass useless. Halfway along the route, the impressive murder cross near Mödlenreuth tells of a gruesome bloody deed and before the ascent to the stage finish at Weißenstein, the market town of Stammbach invites you to take a final rest.

Stage 2: From Weißenstein to Marienweiher 12 km

On this stage, which is just under 13 km long, your head and eyes are more in demand than your hiking legs, as there is plenty to see and linger over. The viewing tower on the Weißenstein offers a magnificent panoramic view of the Fichtelgebirge, Franconian Forest and Upper Main Valley. The massive tower, like the entire mountain, is made of the rare and hard eclogite, which was formed at a depth of 60 km and came to the surface due to the enormous forces of rock formation. Past the Singerweiher, where former German Chancellor Willy Brandt helped with the fishing, the route continues to Herrnschrot, where the altar mound with its larger-than-life Buddha statue at the Muttodaya Forest Monastery appears quite unexpectedly. Here, just a few kilometers from the stronghold of the Marian pilgrimage in north-eastern Bavaria, Buddhist monks take a completely different spiritual approach. Via the valley of the Großer Koserbach - once a center of late medieval mining - the route follows old pilgrimage paths to the stage destination Marienweiher. According to a papal decree, the impressive late Baroque pilgrimage church can call itself a "basilica minor", a distinction shared by only three other outstanding churches in Upper Franconia.

Stage 3: From Marienweiher to Steinachtal 22 km

Past the Schwedenkreuz, an expiatory cross from the 16th century, the third stage, which is a good 22 km long, first leads to the Peterlesstein. In ancient times, the serpentinite found there was used to make beads for rosaries - known as "Patterla" in local dialect. The Münchberg gneiss massif ends at Galgenberg near Kupferberg. The impressive view over the Franconian Line into the "Unterland" extends as far as Plassenburg Castle near Kulmbach and Franconian Switzerland. The enormously diverse layers of the West Franconian Forest, some of which are more than 500 million years old, characterize the rest of the trail. Just behind the ancient mining town of Kupferberg (mining museum), huge quarries open up where diabase, a rock very similar to basalt, is mined. Schloss Guttenberg, the ancestral seat of the old aristocratic family, also stands on a diabase rock. In addition to state secretaries and ministers, it has also produced the current head of the family, Enoch zu Guttenberg, a widely recognized conductor and environmentalist. The stage destination, the farmed Neumühle in Steinachtal, is picturesquely nestled in one of the most beautiful meadow valleys in the Franconian Forest.

Stage 4: From the Steinach Valley to the Wild Rodach 18.1 km

At the beginning of the last, approximately 18-kilometre-long "Steinreich" stage, there is the short themed trail "1000 Steps of Earth History", which brings the history of the earth's formation and the Franconian Forest to life. An outstanding landmark here is the more than 60 m deep Steinachklamm, an impressive rock bar made of quartz keratophyre, an extremely rare volcanic rock from the Palaeozoic era. Equally rare and more than 500 million years old are three-lobed crabs (trilobites) and other fossils found on the Galgenberg near Schlopp. From there, the route continues through the deeply carved Lautengrund to the Pressecker Knock. A real gem is the fortified church in nearby Presseck, where paintings from the 16th century have been preserved in the late Gothic choir vault. Shortly before the "Steinreich" ends at the former Gasthof Fels on the Wild Rodach, the time-honored marble quarry at Köstenhof provides a final historical and scenic highlight.