Torfhaus

Radau is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is right tributary of the Oker. It rises in the Harz range, leaves the mountains at Bad Harzburg, and discharges into the Oker near Vienenburg.

The Dehnenkopf in the Harz Mountains of central Germany is a summit about 775 m above sea level (NN) near Torfhaus in the unincorporated area of Harz in the county of Goslar in Lower Saxony.

The Dyke Ditch (German: Dammgraben) is the longest artificial ditch in the Upper Harz in central Germany. Its purpose was to collect surface runoff for the operation of the Upper Harz mining industry from precipitation-heavy regions a long way away (particularly from the Bruchberg and parts of the Brocken massif). It was laid in 1732 and continually extended eastwards until 1827. Its original length was about 25 km; this was successively shortened by water tunnels between 1820 and 1861 to around 19 km. It is a central component of the Upper Harz Water Regale. Its takes its name from the Sperberhai Dyke which is, in fact, an embankment on top of which the Dyke Ditch runs in an aqueduct in order to cross a depression.

The Oderteich is an historic reservoir about seven kilometres northeast of Sankt Andreasberg in the Upper Harz in central Germany. It was built by miners from St. Andreasberg in the years 1715 to 1722 and, today, is an important component of the water supply network known as the Upper Harz Water Regale (Oberharzer Wasserregal). Moreover, for 170 years, from the time it was completed to the end of the 19th century, the Oderteich had the largest dam in Germany. The dam lies at a height of 725 m above NN by the B 242 federal highway, about a kilometre west of its intersection with the B 4.

Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern edge to Bad Harzburg and Ilsenburg on the northern slopes. 95% of the area is covered with forests, mainly with spruce and beech woods, including several bogs, granite rocks and creeks. The park is part of the Natura 2000 network of the European Union. In its current form, the park was created on January 1, 2006, by the merger of the Harz National Park in Lower Saxony, established in 1994, and the Upper Harz National Park in Saxony-Anhalt, established in 1990. As the former inner German border ran through the Harz, large parts of the range were prohibited areas, that apart from the fortifications had remained completely unaffected for decades. Today the park covers parts of the districts of Goslar, Göttingen and Harz. Rare animals of the Harz National Park include the white-throated dipper, the black stork, peregrine falcon, the European wildcat and especially the Eurasian lynx. The last lynx in the Harz Mountains had been shot in 1818, but in 1999 a project for reintroducing was established. Since 2002 several wild lynxes gave birth. An attempt to return the western capercaillie (Auerhuhn) however did not succeed.

At 927 m above sea level (NN), the Bruchberg in the Upper Harz is the second highest mountain in Lower Saxony and the third highest in the Harz mountains in North Germany. It lies between Altenau and Torfhaus in the middle of the Harz National Park. The Bruchberg is more like a plateau and has no real summit. This plateau is partly covered with trees, but on the sunny southern slopes the trees have largely died as a result of bark beetle infestation (see photograph below). Following this insect destruction, a new natural forest, rich in its variety of species, is now growing in the heart of the Harz National Park.

The Dreieckige Pfahl ("Triangular Post") is a historic boundary stone, about 1.35 metres high and made of granite, located southwest of the Brocken, the highest mountain in the Harz Mountains of central Germany. The stone, erected before 1866, marked the border between the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick. Originally this spot was a tripoint. During the division of Germany the border between the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany ran past the Dreieckiger Pfahl. Today it marks the border between the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony, the post lying just within the Lower Saxon side. During the Cold War it was accessible from the west. The historic stone stands at an elevation of about 870 metres, around 2.5 kilometres east of a car park on the B 4 federal road between Torfhaus and Oderbrück. The first recorded mention of a boundary stone being located here dates to the year 1727. On a map of the Upper Forest of Braunlage (Oberforst Braunlage) is the note "drey Eckjer Pfahl anno 1698". From a description of the Harzburg Forest (Harzburger Forsten) the original stone is described thus: Solcher Pfahl ist auch nach Communion Seite zur linken Hand mit Nr. 1 und einer Wolfsangel, nach Braunlagischer Seite mit drey Hieben und auf Elbingeroder Seite mit Nr. 1 und einem Kreuz ingleichen mit der Jahreszahl 1698 gesetzt und hat dabei seinen Namen erhalten. ...which translates roughly as... Such a post was also erected with a No. 1 and a wolfsangel inscribed on the left hand side facing Communion, three gashes on the Elbingerode side, and a No. 1 and a cross with the year 1698 inscribed on the Braunlage side; hence its name. The boundary markers were subsequently replaced on a regular basis. In 1736 a wooden post was erected and, in 1791, one made of stone. In 1844 a new post was made in oakwood. The present triangular stone was erected before 1866. It bears the No. 1 and, on its northeastern and southwestern sides the letters KH for Kingdom of Hanover, and on the southeastern side the letters HB for the Duchy of Brunswick (Herzogtum Braunschweig). The original triangular shape was retained. In 1894 a railway station was planned at the site of the Dreieckiger Pfahl. Engineer Louis Degen, who had drawn up plans for a Harz railway running on the territory of Brunswick from Walkenried via Wieda to Braunlage (later called the South Harz Railway), envisaged an extension of the line to the most northerly point of this piece of Brunswick terrain – the district of Blankenburg. Previously, in 1892, the construction of a road requested by several parishes in the West Harz, which would have branched off at the Dreieckiger Pfahl from the road from Torfhaus/Oderbrück to Schierke and run to the Brocken Road, had been refused by the Chamber of the Principality of Stolberg-Wernigerode. The station was to have been equipped with a run-around loop. However the railway was only built as far as Braunlage. A goods track ran to the north of Braunlage to the granite quarry on the Wurmberg mountain, but it never reached the Dreieckiger Pfahl. Until 1945 there was a small restaurant at the Dreieckiger Pfahl, which was mainly frequented by hikers to the Brocken. The building was burnt down by American troops in April 1945, because SS and Wehrmacht soldiers as well as Hitler Youth had been hiding in huts in this area. The pub was never rebuilt. Today, there is a rest area for hikers and mountain bikers in the vicinity of the Dreieckiger Pfahl as well as box no. 168 on the Harzer Wandernadel network of hiking checkpoints.

The Kalte Bode is the left-hand headstream of the Bode in the High Harz Mountains in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is 17 kilometres (11 mi) long.

The Sonnenberg is a ski resort in the Upper Harz surrounded by the Harz National Park. The settlement of the same name located there is part of the borough of Sankt Andreasberg.

At 925 m above sea level (NN), the Achtermannshöhe (also just called the Achtermann) in the Harz National Park is the third highest mountain in Lower Saxony and the fourth highest in the Harz mountains. It lies in the unincorporated area of Harz between the Harz-Heide route (B 4) and the old Inner German Border about 6 km north of Braunlage. Its summit, covered with loose boulders, stands proud of the surrounding trees and offers a superb all-round view. Equally its characteristic rounded hilltop or Kuppe is visible in good weather from many other points in the Harz. The Achtermann may be accessed by paths leading from Oderbrück and Königskrug.

The Muxklippe is a granite rock formation in the Harz National Park in Germany.