Saturday, August 25, 2012

Rocks, Stones and small Caves

In Spring and now I was hiking through the woods around here - looking at rocks.
I already had posted once about it: Awesome Tree and tiny Caves

So now I want to show you some more of those rocks and "caves" (small openings) from around here that are not so openly and typically seen from the marked hiking paths. Ones that are not being photographed at or all the time or are already made public.


These two caves above might look large - actually they are just about cat sized small holes below the rocks and close to the ground. Photos taken in middle of March - still some ice crystals in there.
There was a small opening to a narrow cave close by, called "Eishöhle", where the monks from the monastery got the ice for cooling the fresh brewed beer in the early 1200's. They kept that ice closer to the monastery though, in a place called "Katzenkeller", a half tunnel shaped cellar in the North side of the woods.
In recent times (about 50 years back) the village children crawled into the partly crashed cave and had small "parties" in there. Parents were scared it would collapse on top of them. So, the exact location of this cave was not passed on much.
When going there this year all of the entry to the cave was gone, completely crashed downhill. Only those icy cold small holes are left.


These two photos above, taken just a week later, are on the hill, facing South, above the village lower in the valley. Just an "Abri", an opening in a rock big enough to for humans to hide in from bad weather with wide opening and safe from wild animals.
This one is about 2m deep, only 60cm high at the opening - but about 4m wide overall. Today I have been there again and took a photo of the "Abri" right next to this big one - only 3m wide and about 50cm high, but also about 2m deep and a bit lower to the ground as well (makes it easier to photograph without using flashlight).


And then there was the hike two weeks ago into a complete different direction. More to the North and uphill.
Located deep between the fields and woods along the hiking path, but not close to it, I could see those rocks behind the trees:


But I had to rush on as the companions I was with had no interest in exploring the rocks further. "If you don't intend on climbing them (as in "free-climbing") then you have no need to go there." Ah well, maybe I go there another time alone or with someone that is interested in rocks.

There was also this interesting wall along the hiking path, from medieval times.


In the woods around here there are many lone rocks, walls from ancient times and newer ones from the start of making fields on this rocky ground. And some caves too - hard to find and small.
A bit further away, in the "Fränkische Schweiz" are some larger caves - open for public only when opened by a guide and paid for.

Surely, lots more to explore. =))

No comments:

Post a Comment