Hi Mummy,
we made a trip to the region Vulkan Eifel, situated in the northwest of the state Rhineland-Palatinate, in the Eifel Mountains , that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of the Vulkan Eifel are its typical explosion crater lakes or maars, and numerous other signs of volcanic activity such as lava streams, volcanic tuffs, and volcanic craters. We visited the Dauner Maare, a group of three maars close to each other.
A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater that is caused by an explosion caused by groundwater coming into contact with hot lava or magma. A maar than fills with water to form a relatively shallow crater lake.
When we parked the car close to one of the maars we read some information signs.
This is Weinfelder Maar, Its diameter is 525 m and it is about 51 m deep.
Soon we reached the next maar, Schalkenmehrerer Maar. Its diameter is 575 m and it is about 21 m deep.
This region is a nature protection area.
We went into this small town Schalkenmehren. Here we saw fantastic statues which made cut with a chainsaw out of tree trunks.
We walked round the maar and went back to Weinfelder Maar.
We walked uphill to have an overlook from a nearby mountain which is called "Mäuseberg" (mice mountain).
Even from half of the height of this mountain we had a great view at the surrounding landscape.
We reached the top of the mountain and rested here for a while.
Here on top of the hill we saw this tower. You can climb onto it.
Here you can see the third one of the Dauner Maare, Gemündener Maar, the smallest one with only 325 m diameter.
We had a look at this sign which is showing the names of the mountains you can see from here.
When we walked back downhill we saw this: a ski-lift.
This was a wonderful trip and I liked to see this fantastic landscape.
Unbelievably the sun was shining when we drove back home.
Bye
Wolle
