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Wutach Gorge
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Wutach Gorge
The Wutach Gorge (German: Wutachschlucht) is a narrow, steep-sided valley in southern Germany through in the upper reaches of the River Wutach with three gorge-like sections, the lowest of which is also called the Wutachflühen. The gorge cuts through the southern part of the Baar region from the eastern side of the High Black Forest heading eastwards to the Trauf the steep, northwestern flank of the Swabian Jura, which transitions to the Randen mountains here.
The 60- to 170-metre-deep gorges stretch for over 33 river kilometres (excluding side gorges) and are notable for many reasons. Their geologically young, prototypical and actively continuing development results in a great variety of geotopes and biotopes that support a correspondingly rich range of flora and fauna. The gorges are very popular with tourists and played an important role in the establishment of conservation consciousness in southwestern Germany. The Wutach Gorge is part of the Southern Black Forest Nature Park.
The ravines start in the valley of the Gutach (the upper reaches of the Wutach) below Neustadt and in the valley of the Haslach below Lenzkirch. After they merge to form the Wutach they run, with small changes of direction, initially generally eastward and end at the village of Grimmelshofen in the municipality of Stühlingen after the Wutach turns sharply southwards in the area of the former mining town of Blumberg on meeting the steep slopes of the Baaralb. Initially, the gorge is bordered by the wooded plateaus of the eastern slopes of the Black Forest. Later, its northern border is formed by the historical Bertholdsbaar with the population centre of Löffingen and the village of Rötenbach. To the south is a similar muschelkalk plateau with the settlements of Bonndorf and Wutach.
Over a straight-line distance of barely 20 kilometres, the Wutach and several of its tributaries have cut a natural profile section through almost all of the strata of South German Scarplands, which fan out a further 200 kilometres to the north, but surface here in close succession. The Mesozoic rock layers were clearly inclined more steeply than usual here (on average 7%) by the uplifting of the southern Black Forest and have been cut through here in succession by the Wutach. Because the Wutach "only" descends through a gradient of around 1% as it flows eastward, increasingly younger rocks are encountered, each overlaid over its predecessor, as one progresses down the gorge. This has created a continuous sequence of rock outcrops from the basement (here mostly granite) through the Triassic to the Jurassic. As these rocks each produce their own peculiar and very different landforms when they are cut by vertical erosion, one of the most diversified and most interesting gorge landscapes in Central Europe has resulted. The gorges often transition seamlessly into wide valleys where it is hard to imagine that steep ravines are so nearby.
Not only do the gorges themselves form their own natural regions, but the plateaux across which they cut have also been given the status of independent natural regional units. So the Central Wutach Region (Mittlere Wutachgebiet) lies between the natural regions of the Baar to the north and the Klettgau Hills (Klettgauer Hügelland) to the south, both of which are similar in terms of their bedrock. The region is also a bridge between the mountains of the Black Forest and the Swabian Jura.
At the exit of the wide bottomed valleys of the Gutach and the Haslach from the eastern Black Forest, which were heavily shaped by the ice age, the streams often cut through narrow gorges as the gradient increases suddenly. In the granite that initially dominates, dark, trackless ravines alternate with short sections where the valley broadens out. The rocky sides of the valley also have naturally high proportion of conifers. Downstream, in the area of the less resistant beds of bunter sandstone, spectacular gorge scenery is absent. The side gorges of this upper section of the main gorge are narrow; several would be impassible without man-made paths being laid through them.
The gorge of the main headstream, the Gutach, begins with a noticeably increased gradient just above the Gutach Bridge (built 1900) on the Höllental Railway, whose stone arches support a span of 64 metres, then the longest in Germany. The deepest point of the Haslach Gorge, which joins from the right, is the Rechenfelsen, a short ravine that is a good 20 metres deep. The Rötenbach Gorge, which merges from the left soon thereafter, culminates in a waterfall with two cascades and a total height of 6 metres. Below the few remains of Stallegg Castle the Wutach is quietened by a small reservoir belonging to the Stallegg Electricity Works and built in 1895. Shortly afterwards the stream passes the covered, wooden Stallegg Bridge, on the old path between the Fürstenberg estates on either side of the gorge. At point where it is joined by the Reichenbach Gorge the river forces itself through the granite schrofen of the trackless Stallegg Gorge (Stallegger Schlucht). It ends at the Räuberschlössle rocks with their ruined castle, the New Blumberg (also New Blumegg). The rocks lie north of the Wutach and are quartz porphyry formation up to 80 metres high that are also called the Nägelefels due to the presence of Cheddar Pinks. Near the mill of Schattenmühle and the road crossing the Lotenbach Gorge (Lotenbachklamm) joins from the right, a granite gorge with four waterfalls up to 8 metres high, as well as a tributary stream that plunges 20 metres into the river.
As the river enters the Lower and Middle Muschelkalk rock, the typical Black Forest landscape ends. The limestones, which have been heavily deformed and made slippery by the leaching of gypsum deposits, have given rise to a slightly wider V-shaped valley with a great diversity of habitats and constantly changing local relief. For example, extensive tufa formations rise above the footpath on the sunny slopes of the Schelmenhalde with its wide, plunging waterfall, whilst, opposite, a Muschelkalk formation called the Drei Zinnen ("Three Battlements"), which was once perforated by cavities and has now collapsed, slips downstream on slippery masses of Middle Muschelkalk towards the Wutach. Deciduous forest communities now dominate, although occasional meadows interrupt the riparian woodland.
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Wutach Gorge
The Wutach Gorge (German: Wutachschlucht) is a narrow, steep-sided valley in southern Germany through in the upper reaches of the River Wutach with three gorge-like sections, the lowest of which is also called the Wutachflühen. The gorge cuts through the southern part of the Baar region from the eastern side of the High Black Forest heading eastwards to the Trauf the steep, northwestern flank of the Swabian Jura, which transitions to the Randen mountains here.
The 60- to 170-metre-deep gorges stretch for over 33 river kilometres (excluding side gorges) and are notable for many reasons. Their geologically young, prototypical and actively continuing development results in a great variety of geotopes and biotopes that support a correspondingly rich range of flora and fauna. The gorges are very popular with tourists and played an important role in the establishment of conservation consciousness in southwestern Germany. The Wutach Gorge is part of the Southern Black Forest Nature Park.
The ravines start in the valley of the Gutach (the upper reaches of the Wutach) below Neustadt and in the valley of the Haslach below Lenzkirch. After they merge to form the Wutach they run, with small changes of direction, initially generally eastward and end at the village of Grimmelshofen in the municipality of Stühlingen after the Wutach turns sharply southwards in the area of the former mining town of Blumberg on meeting the steep slopes of the Baaralb. Initially, the gorge is bordered by the wooded plateaus of the eastern slopes of the Black Forest. Later, its northern border is formed by the historical Bertholdsbaar with the population centre of Löffingen and the village of Rötenbach. To the south is a similar muschelkalk plateau with the settlements of Bonndorf and Wutach.
Over a straight-line distance of barely 20 kilometres, the Wutach and several of its tributaries have cut a natural profile section through almost all of the strata of South German Scarplands, which fan out a further 200 kilometres to the north, but surface here in close succession. The Mesozoic rock layers were clearly inclined more steeply than usual here (on average 7%) by the uplifting of the southern Black Forest and have been cut through here in succession by the Wutach. Because the Wutach "only" descends through a gradient of around 1% as it flows eastward, increasingly younger rocks are encountered, each overlaid over its predecessor, as one progresses down the gorge. This has created a continuous sequence of rock outcrops from the basement (here mostly granite) through the Triassic to the Jurassic. As these rocks each produce their own peculiar and very different landforms when they are cut by vertical erosion, one of the most diversified and most interesting gorge landscapes in Central Europe has resulted. The gorges often transition seamlessly into wide valleys where it is hard to imagine that steep ravines are so nearby.
Not only do the gorges themselves form their own natural regions, but the plateaux across which they cut have also been given the status of independent natural regional units. So the Central Wutach Region (Mittlere Wutachgebiet) lies between the natural regions of the Baar to the north and the Klettgau Hills (Klettgauer Hügelland) to the south, both of which are similar in terms of their bedrock. The region is also a bridge between the mountains of the Black Forest and the Swabian Jura.
At the exit of the wide bottomed valleys of the Gutach and the Haslach from the eastern Black Forest, which were heavily shaped by the ice age, the streams often cut through narrow gorges as the gradient increases suddenly. In the granite that initially dominates, dark, trackless ravines alternate with short sections where the valley broadens out. The rocky sides of the valley also have naturally high proportion of conifers. Downstream, in the area of the less resistant beds of bunter sandstone, spectacular gorge scenery is absent. The side gorges of this upper section of the main gorge are narrow; several would be impassible without man-made paths being laid through them.
The gorge of the main headstream, the Gutach, begins with a noticeably increased gradient just above the Gutach Bridge (built 1900) on the Höllental Railway, whose stone arches support a span of 64 metres, then the longest in Germany. The deepest point of the Haslach Gorge, which joins from the right, is the Rechenfelsen, a short ravine that is a good 20 metres deep. The Rötenbach Gorge, which merges from the left soon thereafter, culminates in a waterfall with two cascades and a total height of 6 metres. Below the few remains of Stallegg Castle the Wutach is quietened by a small reservoir belonging to the Stallegg Electricity Works and built in 1895. Shortly afterwards the stream passes the covered, wooden Stallegg Bridge, on the old path between the Fürstenberg estates on either side of the gorge. At point where it is joined by the Reichenbach Gorge the river forces itself through the granite schrofen of the trackless Stallegg Gorge (Stallegger Schlucht). It ends at the Räuberschlössle rocks with their ruined castle, the New Blumberg (also New Blumegg). The rocks lie north of the Wutach and are quartz porphyry formation up to 80 metres high that are also called the Nägelefels due to the presence of Cheddar Pinks. Near the mill of Schattenmühle and the road crossing the Lotenbach Gorge (Lotenbachklamm) joins from the right, a granite gorge with four waterfalls up to 8 metres high, as well as a tributary stream that plunges 20 metres into the river.
As the river enters the Lower and Middle Muschelkalk rock, the typical Black Forest landscape ends. The limestones, which have been heavily deformed and made slippery by the leaching of gypsum deposits, have given rise to a slightly wider V-shaped valley with a great diversity of habitats and constantly changing local relief. For example, extensive tufa formations rise above the footpath on the sunny slopes of the Schelmenhalde with its wide, plunging waterfall, whilst, opposite, a Muschelkalk formation called the Drei Zinnen ("Three Battlements"), which was once perforated by cavities and has now collapsed, slips downstream on slippery masses of Middle Muschelkalk towards the Wutach. Deciduous forest communities now dominate, although occasional meadows interrupt the riparian woodland.
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