Austria
June 17 - July 14, 2009
Tuesday, June 23 - Lamprechtshoehle
This morning we went to Uri's to pick up the car. Rain again, so another cave on the agenda... the Lamprechtshoehle. Before leaving, Rubby and Sam went to use Hansi's internet to send an email to Grandma and check up on Grandpa who's last web update placed him somewhere past Saskatoon.
On the map, our destination didn't seem so far, but driving took longer than expected given the curvy roads and all the villages we had to go through. The kids enjoyed the numerous tunnels that allow traffic to be directed under the towns instead of through them.
In Lofer we stopped shortly to do some groceries and we picked up a geocache at a little rest stop just before Vorderkaserklamm. There was a cute little waterfall there... too bad the weather wasn't cooperating for a picnic. Vorderkaserklamm itself is the site of a water recreational area with a gorge and nature paths, but it was closed today, probably due to heavy rains and high water levels.
Then it was on to the main destination for today - the Lamprechts cave earthcache near Lofer. The Lamprechts cave is a natural cave created by water. Visitors can view 700 m of the cave and although in total some 50.5 km of paths have been mapped, the official length of the cave has been assessed at 16 km. It is the highest alley cave (ie having a separate entrance and exit) in the world. The first time someone went all the way from the bottom to the top was in 1991. The elevation difference from the bottom to the top is 1632 m. Year round the temperature in the cave is between 5 and 7 degrees Celsius. The rock is a mix of Trias limestone and Dachstein limestone. The rocks of the cave are approx. 22 million years old.
The cave is even said to contain a legendary treasure! According to the legend, near Lamprechts cave, at the castle of Saaleck, lived a knight named Lamprecht. After his death in the 14th century, his two daughters shared the huge treasure they inherited. Senta the greedy one betrayed her blind sister Ursula by given herself a full scoop of gold, but only giving her sister as much as would fit on the overturned scoop. To hide the treasure she had so dishonestly acquired, she entered the darkness of the cave. But neither maid nor treasure were ever seen again. Now the betrayer must watch over the treasure with her black dog and a dwarf until one day a young man comes and frees her.
In the 17th century treasure hunters entered the cave to search for the legendary hidden treasure from Knight Lamprecht. However, several of the people never returned. At the beginning of the 18th century 14 skeletons were found. Their locations are still marked with black crosses on the rocks.
We had fun touring the cave, although we started wondering if it was still pouring rain outside as we saw all the water inside the cave and the warning signs about flood waters! The signs seemed even more ominous as we saw the black crosses! But the warning lights stayed dimmed and we made it to the top and back without any incident. We also didn't find the treasure so since the rain had subsided by the time we got out, we decided to get a different treasure in the area... a geocache!
But the kids didn't make it far and opted to sit and snack while Rubby got the cache himself. Then it was back in the car and home, taking the route around Hohe Salve to grab a few more of the Kaiserwelt Series of caches along the way. Back at Uri's we were treated to coffee and cake, and Samantha ended up staying for an overnight with Oma.
Sam and Christopher strapped in and ready to go for a day of caving.
First stop, a geocache at a rest stop with a beautiful waterfall.
Since it was raining, we quickly signed the logbook and continued on our way.
Arriving at the site of the Lamprechts cave... the cave was in this mountain!
A map of the 51 km of passages that have been explored inside the cave
(we'll only see about 700m!)
At the cave entrance.
Rubby standing next to a waterfall inside the cave. Rubby owns all waterfalls, but Samantha owns all caves. So Samantha trumped Rubby and she actually owns this waterfall.
Due to high water levels, this way was closed.
Samantha is thinking that it's not much drier inside the cave than outside in the rain!
A look down the stairs (392 stairs in total).
Sam and Christopher are starting to wonder about all this. Good thing they can't read the sign which says: "Caution! Flood water warning! When the red lights are blinking leave the cave *immediately*."
Looking up the cave passage... eventually this would lead all the way up through the mountain, but this is as far as we got to go.
Rubby and Christopher at the top viewing platform.
The show part of the cave has been opened since July 1905 and is leased by the DAV (Deutschen Alpen Verein).
Lots of water coming through the cave
which shows that the cave hasn't stopped developing.
"Namenshalle" (Hall of Names) The oldest writing on the cave walls is from 1823.
This dam was created in 1904 as part of a generator system for the cave lighting. In 1975 the lighting system was modernized and attached to the regular hydro network. In 1999 a new Warning and Safety system was put in place.
From 1905 to 1975, the stream running through the cave was put through a pressure pipe to generate 110 V power for the cave lighting system.
Here's the dwarf from the legend, but where are the girl, the dog and the treasure?!
In case of emergency, this area of the cave is "flood water safe". Apparently more information is available in the emergency box.
Another view of the flooded passage.
Duck!
The little wall next to Christopher and Rubby keeps the stream from flowing all over the walking path.
Knight Lamprecht was on site himself to talk about the cave,
but apparently he couldn't tell us where the treasure was either.
Since we couldn't find the Lamprecht treasure
we headed off to find some geocaching treasure instead.
Forget treasure... it's snack time!
Sammy with her smarties yogurt and Christopher with dinosaur crackers.
This is where Rubby found the cache.
And this was the view from inside.
One last look at the cave entrance... without the buildings and built up entrance,
you'd probably never even notice it from the road!
A quick park and grab on the way home
as we gathered clues for the Kaiserwelt cache series.
Cause she didn't get wet enough today,
Sam had a bath at Uri's and then got to stay for an overnight..