Imsbach: Kupferweg 1 of the Mining Experience World

The starting and end point of the circular route is the Palatine Mining Museum in the center of Imsbach. From here, the 'Kupferweg 1' (marking K1) leads along the village street north to the junction with Lützelbachstraße. The large corner house, village street no. 6, is the Protestant parsonage.

The hiking trail turns right here onto Lützelbachstraße. Now we enter the old district of Imsbach, characterized by formerly quite small houses from the 19th century. After about 200 meters, Lützelbachstraße sharply turns to the right. At this corner stands an old miner's house, which has largely been preserved in its original form.

Now we leave Lützelbachstraße and follow the K1 straight ahead on Bergschmiede-Straße into Katharinental. Here, too, on both sides of the street, besides new houses, there are numerous old houses. The owner of no. 20 has beautifully renovated his two adjacent little houses.

Right next to them, steep rocks reach down to the street. They consist of rhyolite, the hard magmatic rock from which the Donnersberg is built.

After about 300 meters, on the right side of the path, you reach the so-called August-Erbstollen. At its entrance, which miners call 'Stollenmundloch', a board tells of its history.

Opposite the tunnel is the old 'machine house' of the mining company 'Gewerkschaft Palatina', which previously operated mining in Imsbach.

Shortly above the machine house, Kupferweg 1 leaves the built-up area of Imsbach. On the left side, a small stream, the Lützelbach, accompanies the now gravel road. Above the machine house, it runs through concrete pipes on which crusts of green copper minerals have formed from the water in places. This is not surprising as it is mainly fed further up the valley by mine waters from the former copper mines Katharina 1 and 2.

After a short distance, the path reaches the edge of the forest and a small hiking car park. On the western side of the Katharinental, volcanic rock andesite was quarried in the quarry next to the parking lot. It is a dark, basaltic rock that flowed here as glowing lava shortly after the formation of the Donnersberg to its edge.

From here, the Kupferweg runs along the left side of a small artificial pond. This was created many years ago as a fish pond. However, the high heavy metal content of the incoming water (especially copper) caused this plan to fail, which is why the pond is also called 'Kupferweiher' (copper pond) by the people of Imsbach today.

The path leads to the upper end of the lake, where it meets Kupferweg 2 coming from the north. The inflow of water for the 'Kupferweiher' comes from the approximately 500-meter-long Erbstollen (so-called 'Blanchesstollen'), which collects the mine waters of the former copper mines Katharina 1 and 2.

Together with Kupferweg II (K2), K1 now leads back to Imsbach along the eastern side of the valley. It thus follows the route of the former mine railway from Katharinental to the ore processing plant on the eastern edge of Imsbach, the so-called 'Rollbahn'.

After about 500 meters, on the roadside lies the 'Teufelsstollen', which was established at the beginning of the 20th century for manganese ore exploration.

After a short path section, you pass two more today-filled tunnel entrances. These, too, were once created for manganese ore exploration. In front of one of the two tunnels, a bench invites you to rest and enjoy the beautiful view over Imsbach.

Soon thereafter, the path sharply bends to the left and meets the remains of the last phase of copper mining in Imsbach, the 'Theodor Shaft'. A large information board records the history of this shaft and the associated mines.

Right next to the Theodor Shaft, the 'Rollbahn', and thus also the Kupferweg, crossed a bridge to the other side of the valley. This bridge, of which only the concrete pillars remain today, was rebuilt in 2005 by a group of mining-interested locals from Imsbach based on old pictures.

From the bridge, we can follow a forest path about 50 meters to the left to the spoil heap of the Friedrichstollen. Above the heap, remains of the tunnel are still visible in the hillside. Back at the bridge, the path continues a short distance on a well-developed forest road before a narrow path branches off to the right, leading back onto the old Rollbahn. Here you soon reach the shaft and tunnel entrance of a former manganese ore mine. Both are now filled in but still clearly recognizable as depressions.

The following section of the Kupferweg is very interesting because it follows a partly rock-cut section of the old 'Rollbahn'. From the edges of an almost vertical rhyolite cliff, you look down on the houses of Bergschmiede and into Katharinental.

The path soon leads back to the forest road and after about 150 meters, you reach the edge of the forest and the first houses of Imsbach. Here lies the today largely filled-in entrance of the former coal mine 'Ernst-Zeche'. In a tunnel, where copper ore veins were actually intended to be developed in 1911/12, coal was found instead.

Both Kupferwege now run for a short section along Kupferberg-Straße before they meet Lützelbachstraße again and follow it steeply down the hill to the local history museum. From here, the path leads back to the Palatine Mining Museum on the already known route.