The Karlstal is the valley of the Moosalb stream located near Trippstadt in the

Palatine Forest The Palatinate Forest (; ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The forest is a designated nature park () covering 1,771&n ...

in the German state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

. It is registered as a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

- number 335 055 - under the name of ''Karlstalschlucht'' ("Karlstal Gorge").

Location

The Karlstal lies about 10 kilometres south of the German city of

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

near the climatic spa of Trippstadt. There is a

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 Motor vehicle, motorized vehicles, bicycles and horseback, horses. They ...

running through the Karlstal Gorge, a ravine which is roughly 3 kilometres long.

History

Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, who laid out the first

landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "Landscape architecture, landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, r ...

in Germany, was involved in the conversion and extension of the gardens of Trippstadt House in the 1780s. Whilst there, he got to know the nearby Karlstal and described it thus: Subsequently, Sckell undertook alterations over the central part of the gorge, a good kilometre long, and dovetailed a trail with little wooden bridges and a wooden pavilion into the valley, so that its near-natural impression was even more heightened. An iron table at the entrance to the valley refers to a royal visit: Ex-king Ludwig I of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, Grand Duke Louis III of

Hesse-Darmstadt The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt () was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse among the four sons of Landgrave Philip I. ...

and Archduchess

Hildegard Hildegard is a female name derived from the Old High German ''hild'' ('war' or 'battle') and ''gard'' ('enclosure' or 'yard'), and means 'battle enclosure'. Variant spellings include: Hildegarde; the Polish, Portuguese, Slovene and Spanish Hi ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, together with their retinue, visited the valley on 9 August 1862.

Landscape

The rocky gorge, through which the Moosalb flows and which is largely natural, contains a large amount of rock debris from the red

bunter sandstone The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsands ...

of the region, as well as numerous little

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

s and old deciduous and conifer stands. As a result, it is one of those destinations in the

that is promoted by those responsible for

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

. On the left-hand side of the Karlstal valley, is a formerly occupied rock cave which is only accessible on an almost unmetalled path. Above it, on level ground is the Amseldell, an old park-like area from the 19th century that has since been left to decay, but which originally had a maze, a firing range and a hut.Wolfgang Dammbrück (s. Literatur) Other sights in the surrounding area are described in the article on the Moosalb.

Transport

At its western end along the Biebermühl Railway, there was once a halt called ''Karlsthal'', which through lack of profitability was closed. Since its closure the nearest station has been Schopp.

References

Literature

External links

Palatine Forest Tourism, Climatic spa of Trippstadt in the Palatine Forest: ''Das Karlstal''
Nature reserves in Rhineland-Palatinate Landscapes of Rhineland-Palatinate Palatinate Forest Valleys of Rhineland-Palatinate