The Karst Trail (german: Karstwanderweg) is a marked and signed

footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide ...

that runs for over 250 kilometres between Förste in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

and

Pölsfeld Pölsfeld is a village and a former municipality in the Mansfeld-Südharz district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Allstedt,Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

through the

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

landscape of the

South Harz South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The path runs past a number of areas of natural beauty, including caves like the

Heimkehle The Heimkehle is one of two great gypsum caves in Germany that are accessible as show caves. It lies on the southern edge of the Harz Mountains between Rottleberode and Uftrungen, east of Nordhausen, right on the state border between Thuringia an ...

and the

Barbarossa Cave The Barbarossa Cave (german: Barbarossahöhle) is an anhydrite cave (gypsum cave) in the Kyffhäuser Hills near Rottleben in the east German state of Thuringia. It is a cave with large caverns, grottos and lakes. The anhydrite has formed gypsum o ...

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

s like the Juessee and the Schwimmende Insel, depressions, moor landscapes like the

Teufelsbäder The Teufelsbäder ("Devil's Baths") is the name of a moor landscape near Osterode am Harz in the Harz Mountains of central Germany. It lies within the nature reserve of the same name southeast of Augustental on the B 243 federal road. Descriptio ...

, karst springs like the

Rhumequelle The Rhume Spring (german: Rhumequelle) is a large karst spring in the eastern part of the Rotenberg ridge not far from the northeastern edge of the village of Rhumspringe in the Harz mountains of Germany. It is the source of the River Rhume. ...

and the Teufelsloch, disappearing streams and subterranean rivers like the Bauerngraben and gypsum rocks.

External links

Homepage of the Karst Trail

Hiking trails in Germany Karst formations of Germany Tourist attractions in Lower Saxony Tourist attractions in Saxony-Anhalt Osterode (district) {{SaxonyAnhalt-geo-stub