Miners' Trail

Description:

At the beginning, a small exhibition room offers insight into the 50-year history of the former coal mining industry. The newly constructed tunnel timbering at the mouth of the “Klausriedlstollen” and 22 information boards along this miners' trail show the economic significance of mining, the living and working conditions, and the social circumstances of the miners and their families.

Hiking trail: E47

Directions:

From Restaurant RAU, walk about 200 m along the road towards Großraming, then turn left and ascend towards the Kohlgraben saddle beneath the Rabenreithkogel. This route leads not only to several sinkholes (funnel-shaped depressions caused by the collapse of the Rainer, Klausriedl, Barbara, Franz, and Ignaz tunnels) but also to the site of a coal washing plant and a miner’s house, spoil heaps with inert rock, a trial excavation from the post-World War II period, and a pond whose cool water has disappeared underground due to mining activities.

You will learn much about the area's geology, land ownership, the origin of the tunnel names, the mining patron saint Barbara, and the farm whose produce fed the miners.

Beautiful orchards round off the hiking enjoyment, and at the end, nature delivers a geological climax: the moss-covered granite cliffs of the Buch Monument, named after the geologist Leopold von Buch (1774-1853), lie like stone cuckoo eggs in the limestone of the Northern Limestone Alps. Why? Presumably, they were torn from the underground during the Alpine orogeny.

The shorter route leads north of the Kohlgraben back downhill; the longer one, marked no. 6, goes to the saddle between Höhen- and Arthofberg, turns left towards Buchschachen or Waldbauer, and also includes the remarkable fuchsia exhibition of the Schwarzlmüller family.

Tip:
Buch Monument: The moss-covered granite cliffs, named after the geologist Leopold von Buch (1774-1853), lie like stone cuckoo eggs in the limestone of the Northern Limestone Alps. Why? Presumably, they were torn from the underground during the Alpine orogeny.