Volcano Trail - The final stretch

As I am currently on paid leave I got to finalize my section hike of the Volcano Trail which I had started almost a year ago. Friday the weather gods were on my side. After a fairly moderate climb up to the crater rim I was rewarded with lovely views on the popular "Dauner Maare", three crater lakes adjacent to each other. I took my time to surround the lakes and opted to stay at the youth hostel in the town Daun. 70€ for a room, including three-course dinner and breakfast buffet sounded like a real bargain.

Schalkenmehrener Maar

Weinfelder Maar

Dronke tower

Gemündener Maar

Youth hostel dinner!

It had rained overnight and it still poured when I left the hostel in the morning. I scrambled uphill for the next two or three hours, and finally reached the highest point of the Volcano Trail. The Ernstberg peak stands at 700 m, is the second highest hill in the Eifel region, and riddled with grottos and caves. But this time of the year they were closed off due to bat season.

The trail was a slippery slope downhill but I managed getting down without going down. I came through small villages surrounded by farmland until I reached the outskirts of Gerolstein, passing the ruin Kasselburg, a castle built in the 12th and 13th century.

Castle ruin Kasselburg

A steep incline lifted me up to the plateau of an ancient limestone cliff, the "Gerolsteiner Dolomiten". Around 380 million years ago, the area was covered by a warm, subtropical shallow sea, in which mighty reefs of stromatoporoids (relatives of sponges or corals) were formed. After dolomitization, and other geomorphological processes such as submersion and rock folding, the Devonian deposits were raised up again.

The plateau has some interesting features to offer, there is an old Celtic-Roman place of worship, a volcanic crater from our recent past (10,000 years ago), a cave where early humans lived and panoramic views galore. What a great finale!

Gerolstein

I reached the central bus station in Gerolstein, fetched something to drink and got on a bus, caught the train, then another train, and another bus, and was home by Saturday night.

The End.

Volcano Trail - half good, half mediocre

Back on trail by 8 o'clock sharp. After crossing Manderscheid, a beautiful trail leads me through meadows and forests. It's really fun! Apart from the chirping of birds and the babbling of a stream, it's totally quiet. Then it goes down to little Kyll creek and on the other side up through the Wolf Gorge (no wolves around). 

The climb takes me to the Mosenberg/Bettenfeld volcano park. Diagrams explain the volcanic landscape of the "Mosenberger Perlenkette", a series of volcanoes whose first eruption took place 80,000 years ago. The next stop is the Windsborn crater, where the water is still as a mirror.

After the town of Bettenfeld, I descend yet again on a single trail to Meerfeld, then climb the crater rim of the Meerfelder Maar, which erupted 30 to 40,000 years ago. After 12 km, I take a half-time break at the Landesblick observation tower and snack on cereal bars and trail mix.

On the descent to the Bleckhausen mill, the quality of the path deteriorates considerably. I continue on farm roads, which unfortunately do not change in quality except for a short stretch before the village Üdersdorf. The mill is private and no longer has a restaurant, but I can get fresh water there on request.

The second section of todays trail offers neither highlights nor places to sit. When I conquered the next hill, a bench would have been really nice. At the top, a gravel/asphalt mixture leads past farms. At the Müller farm, there obviously had been a party, because of obvious remnants. These are from yesterday's wedding reception, and I am invited to enjoy a shandy and get sparkling water while sitting in their garden. How lovely is that?

Refreshed, I tackle the last few kilometers, pass a small fishing pond infested with mosquitoes, and finally reach Üdersdorf. My tireless trail manager picks me up, and has prepared a delicious casserole which is waiting for me at home.