Geopad 124b-The forests north of Zeist-Cossack pit route

If you want to get a representative picture of the described area, it is best to walk the two hiking trails described below. One leads to the core of the former Wallenburg estate, the other to the Cossack pit. Both usually follow parts of routes marked by Staatsbosbeheer or the Utrechts Landschap.
Both walks start and end diagonally opposite the Beaufort house on the north side of the Woudenbergseweg. That's at the beginning of a partially paved road.

1. The Cossack pit route starts on the partly paved road opposite the Beaufort house that is located on the Woudenbergseweg. The geopath follows parts of a marked route.
From the starting point we first walk a short distance onto the paved road and then follow the green marked route on the left. This leads via relief forest area almost directly to the large former quarry Krakeling. Meltwater and wind deposits were excavated there in the second half of the twentieth century.

2. Through the green marking we walk down and enter 'new nature' of the former quarry. The heather-covered area is now owned by the Utrechts Landschap.

3. After the quarry we continue to follow the green marking and we see an adjacent new moorland. Here the subsoil remained virtually intact, but had to give way to planted forest. It can be clearly seen that the soil is slightly hilly. This is mainly related to the presence of atomized deck sands. The green route continues along the edges of the heathland to the Oude Woudenbergse Zandweg. There we turn left and follow the blue route through the area De Kozakput.

4. The Oude Woudenbergse Zandweg goes to an X-junction with the five-kilometer-long, straight Laantje Zonder Eind. This intersection marks the blunt southeast corner of the Cossack Pit area. The Laantje Zonder Eind dates back to the time when the Cossack pit was part of a vast 18th-century estate. In the past, the Cossack pit was owned by the municipality of Zeist. In 1996, he transferred the area to the Utrecht Landscape. The blue marking goes through the Cossack Pit area, with the X intersection as the beginning and end. This means that the geopath gradually bends to the right after passing the Laantje zonder Eind. It happens in a place where farm De (Oude) Krakeling used to be.

5. Beyond the exit we see a zone of cultivated land. It is intersected transversely by two sandy roads of the forest area, with a (wide) wood girth on both sides. The three plots of cultivated land are not remnants of the agricultural plots that were located near the farm De (Oude) Krakeling. According to maps from the beginning of the last century, they were then forested.
According to the blue route, we first walk several hundred meters along the northeast edge of the cultivated land zone. Then the marked walk goes via a cross connection to the southwest side of the cultivated land. This almost means a return to the Oude Woudenbergse Zandweg. In sight of that, however, we turn right to walk further along the cultivated land. At the end of it, the blue route turns right again. There we come through a forest section with some winding paths.

6. The blue route repeatedly turns left or right. At some point we see the also geographically interesting Cossack pit. It is a round pit that merges into a southwesterly shallower trench. The pit is almost entirely surrounded by a partly plateau-like ridge.
There are several theories about the origin of this terrain depression. The blue walk follows the straight forest roads along the northwest and northeast sides of the area. A little further on, the route turns right. After this, the marked walk zigzags through the forest. We leave the Cossack pit forest area at a T-junction with the Laantje Zonder Eind. There we turn right. Soon after, the X-junction follows where the circular walk through the Cossack pit area began. We turn left this time. This means that we will now follow the Oude Woudenbergse Zandweg in the opposite direction.

7. The Oude Woudenbergse Zandweg goes back to the surroundings of the Krakeling quarry where it runs just above. Then we follow the blue route and descend again to the bottom of the quarry. There we see the green route.

8. Turn left via that green route we go back to the beginning of the geopath.