📸 Visiting the Falkenstein Cave

The Falkenstein Cave is located on the Swabian Alb about half an hour by car from where I was at my last trip to the Celtic burial mounds. The Falkenstein Cave is one of the many water caves of that region. Rain water which seeps through the Karst of the Alb plateau collects in water-bearing, interconnected caverns and often-times exits through a cave. The Swabian Alb hosts a vast labyrinth of water connections below the surface of which only the smaller part has been explored to date.

If the weather was dry for a week or so the first 20 meters can be entered with a flashlight. Beyond that it becomes extremely risky and thus obligatory to book an official guide. Main risk being a sudden change in weather which can quickly fill up the cave with water, blocking the exit for those without a proper diving gear. In summer 2019 two visitors got trapped for exactly that reason inside the cave. Luckily both could be rescued alive but it took a 90 person team to accomplish that.

For me personally, the queasy feeling started already in the entrance area of the cave. No need on my part to go further into the black hole than daylight was able to illuminate. The face of the cave didn't help shake off the uneasy feeling either :D

In 1980 the legendary Jochen Hasenmeyer went 5000 m deep into the Falkensteiner Cave. Five kilometers from the entrance and he still didn't reach the end of it. Absolutely mind-blowing. Hasenmeyer put forward the controversial thesis that the water caverns of the Swabian Alp are part of a gigantic water network that reaches hundreds of kilometers towards the south, all the way to the Alpes.

Long times ago, it were such caves which provided shelter and some comfort to our ancestors. In the youth novel Rulaman the Falkenstein Cave is described under the fictitious name Huhka Cave as the dwelling place of a Stone Age tribe. I loved that book back in the day.

So let's go have a look!

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The little creek Elsach shows the way to the entrance of the cave.

A few twists and turns up the karstic terrain.

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And there it is! The entry to a dungeon of immense dimensions.

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Can you see the face?

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Who dares to enter?

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In Minecraft, now would be the time to craft some torches. For me, my cell phone light will have to do.

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Deep enough for me. As one can see, big blocks fall down from the ceiling from time to time. I won't take my chances :D

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Back into the daylight.

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Dawn is about to set in. Time to head back to the car.


Thanks for following along and see you back next time 👋.


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Photos recorded by myself with an iPhone 13 Pro. All rights reserved.

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I love this kind of adventure thrill, when you never know what's waiting for you, trying to check if there's anything that can kill you and you overcome.😂

Yes, it's the perfect location for a live roleplay ;)

live roleplay sounds exciting😆

Great location and pics.
@tipu curate

Seeing these pictures of the cave takes me down memorial lane, i loved history as a subject then until it was time for exam😁

Nice shot @shaka

I remember this place from the LMAC contest 118

Spelunking sounds like a lot of fun during the summer months. Much too cold for me right now but I really enjoyed your photography and journey in this post. Maybe one day I will be able to visit the Falkenstein Cave 😊

Hermosas 💖 fotografias, felicitaciones aca en Venezuela hay una cueva parecida, se llama cueva del guacharo.

blocking the exit for those without a proper diving gear

!!

The mouth of that cave could give rise to a hundred Grimm's Tales. Really awesome. No, I wouldn't go one foot in there :)

Great pictures, @shaka

Thank you @agmoore!

Can you see the face?

I think I see it.

This looks fun. Would love to be able to travel again.

Cave, I just tried to enter one small cave when I was still young during our youth camping. I don't have any pictures being there because I don't have a cellphone with camera that time.

That cave looks so big and so dark inside.

Thank you for sharing, I put it on my top travel to map! 👍

Wonderful! If I had been there, I would have felt like inside the Lord of the Rings movie, ready to cross the gates of Moria!

!LOL

The pictures are so great
I have never been there but I hope to visit there someday.

Beautiful photos!

Saludos. Es un lugar algo solo, me daría terror estar allí, como te sentiste? estabas solo? la verdad buen sitio para hacer una película, gracias por mostrar este sitio, la verdad ni sabia que existía.

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