Drachenfels (Central Palatinate Forest)
| Drachenfels | |
|---|---|
The Westfelsen rocks in winter
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 570.8 m above sea level (NHN) (1,873 ft) |
| Prominence | 261 m ↓ Hochspeyer |
| Isolation | 11.6 km |
| Coordinates | 49°25′30″N 8°03′11″E / 49.425°N 8.05306°ECoordinates: 49°25′30″N 8°03′11″E / 49.425°N 8.05306°E |
| Geography | |
 Drachenfels
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| Parent range | Palatine Forest |
| Geology | |
| Mountain type | Bunter sandstone |
| Climbing | |
| Access | 1873 (Remnants of a Roman fortification) |
The Drachenfels ("Dragon Rock") is a hill in the northern part of the Palatine Forest in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate) on the forest estate of the county town of Bad Dürkheim. At 570.8 m above sea level (NHN), it is the highest point of the Palatine Forest north of the Hochspeyerbach - Speyerbach line. The Drachenfels area has been designated as a nature reserve.
The hill lies in the west of a triangle whose sides are about 14 kilometres long, formed by the Isenach valley (B 37) in the north, the German Wine Route in the east and the valleys of the Hochspeyerbach and Speyerbach streams (B 39) in the southwest.
Other tourist destinations in the area of the Drachenfels include the Siegfriedsbrunnen spring, the unoccupied forester's lodge of Kehrdichannichts, the ruins of the Murrmirnichtviel and Schaudichnichtum forester's lodges, the Lambertskreuz cross, first recorded in 1280 and the oldest wayside cross in the Palatinate region, the managed Lambertskreuz Hut, the Saupferch forest inn and the leisure and wildlife park of, the Kurpfalz Park.
The summit plateau, made of Bunter sandstone and about 13 hectares in area, which, from the Rhine Plain is clearly higher than the hills in front of it, has its highest point in the northeast. It was made a nature reserve in 1972. Until 1920, a pair of short-toed snake eagles nested here.
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Wikipedia