Kropfmühl

The mine

There had been mining activity since 1870 at Kropfmühl. Nowadays it is a visitor-mine with a museum and the only graphite-mine in Europe.
Take your time to see all the things worth seeing: pretty old, nostalgic machines, a video clip, shiny minerals, a living mine.
You will be guided into the fascinating world of mining, dressed like a miner with a helmet and working coat (steady shoes and warm clothes are recommended).
Information about tours and opening hours:
http://www.graphite.de/index.php?menueID=53

GEOTRAIL Kropfmühl

The GEOTRAIL Kropfmühl was opened in 1984. Thousands of people have hiked it since its completion.
Total distance of the educational trail (“Graphitlehrpfad”) is 4,5 km. There are educational plates at the given waypoints on which you can find the answers to our questions. You can also reach every stop with your bike – preferably a mountain-bike.

download all waypoints as a zipped GPX-file

Graphite

The mineral graphite, as with diamond and fullerene, is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Greek ??afe?? (graphein): "to draw/write", for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead, as distinguished from the actual metallic element lead. Unlike diamond, graphite is an electrical conductor, a semimetal, and can be used, for instance, in the electrodes of an arc lamp. Graphite holds the distinction of being the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Therefore, it is used in thermochemistry as the standard state for defining the heat of formation of carbon compounds. Graphite may be considered the highest grade of coal, just above anthracite and alternatively called meta-anthracite, although it is not normally used as fuel because it is hard to ignite.

The tasks:

1. How deep is the Erhard-Shaft?
2. How many years has the narrow-gauge railway been transporting the graphite? (Through the Aubach-Valley to Schaibing)
3. What are the mining sinkholes called, reminding of old mining activity?
4. In how many parts is the graphite-deposit split by fault? (Hint: There is a bird's-eye view on one of the plates)
5. Publish, along with your log entry, at least one of these photos:
    - a photo of you in miners clothes
    - a photo of you in front of the „Stollengebäude“ next to the tippers.

Please send the answers per email via my geocaching.com-profile or fill in the online form on our homepage!

A German version of this text is available on our homepage! - Auf unserer Homepage gibt es diesen Text auch auf Deutsch!