Kahlensteinhöhle

Kahlenstein Cave

Useful Information

Location:	A8 exit Merklingen, through Nellingen and Türkheim towards Geislingen. Hiking car park at the rim of the plateau. 15 min walk along the rim, signposted "Kahlenstein". Kataster Nr. 7324/01.
Open:	Closed. [2014]
Fee:	Closed. [2014]
Classification:	Karst Cave horizontal cave, Malm
Light:	n/a
Dimension:	L=180 m, A=678 m asl
Guided tours:	closed
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Kahlensteiner Höhlenverein, Im Grund 1, 7347 Bad Überkingen, Tel. +49-7331-66660.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1791	first written mention in the report of a hiker named Michael Dietrich.
1824	cave description by Gustav Schübler.
1842	mentioned in the official inventary of the Oberamt Geislinge.
1890	article in the magazine Blätter des Schwäbischen Albvereins discusses use as a show cave.
05-APR-1892	general meeting of the Geislinger Verschönerungsverein founds cave comission.
28-APR-1892	exploration of the cave results in immediate begin of development works.
12-JUN-1892	show cave opened.
1900	show cave closed, cave stays open.
1971	cave managed by the caving club Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Höhlenfreunde Kahlenstein e.V. Geislingen.
1972	cave closed with door.
1986-1987	resurvey and new plan drawn.

Description

Just above Überkingen, at the rim of the Swabian Jura plateau, is a rock called Kahlenstein (bald rock). This rock provides a beautiful view on Überkingen and the Bluna plant (Bluna is a famous German beverage, which is made here). The rock is formed by the hard limestones of the Malm. Locally this rock is called Weißer Jura (White Jurassic) because of its white colour. Its layers are locally numbered with greek letters, and this layer is numbered δ.

The Kahlensteinhöhle is named after the Kahlenstein, as it is located on top of the rock, only a few meters from the outlook. It is the biggest of more than 50 small caves know in this rock. The cave belongs to the city limits of two towns, Bad Überkingen and Geislingen. At the entrance of the cave a nice terrace with an outlook was built.

The entrance is 1.5 meters wide and 2.2 meters high, and closed by an iron bar gate. From here a passage of about the same size leads horizontally into the rock. Then the visitor reaches a small chamber, only a bit bigger than the passage. The walls are stained black by torches and fireplaces. Now the passage continues to the northeast. It splits in to two passages, which join again after only three meters.

The cave is known for hundreds of years. Unfortunately this led to numerous destruction, people vandalized the cave and made fires inside. In the year 1892 the local tourist club developed the cave with trails and opened it as a show cave the same year. The tours were continued until around 1900. It seems the cave was never closed, so people were able the cave without a tour, and the destruction continued. As it is located at an outlook many walkers came along and visited the cave.

In 1971, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Höhlenfreunde Kahlenstein e.V. Geislingen was founded - later to become the Kahlensteiner Höhlenverein (Kahlenstein Caving Club). They took over the care and protection of the cave and closed it with a massive gate for the first time in 1972. For a few decades, it was opened as a show cave at weekends, then only by appointment for groups. In the 1990s, however, the ceiling became so unstable that guided tours could no longer be made for safety reasons. The cave is very close to the earth's surface and the ceiling is becoming increasingly unstable due to weathering. It is therefore no longer possible to visit the cave, even though various websites claim otherwise. Those pages are outdated.