Bode Gorge

The Schurre (pronounced "shoorer") is a stone run in the Bode Gorge in the Lower Harz near Thale in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The stone run is slowly slipping downhill, the sliding of its boulders being audible especially during periods of heavy rain. Its name has been given to a much-frequented trail, blazed in 1864 between the Bode Gorge and the legendary Rosstrappe site. In 18 hairpin bends the Schurre wends its way up the steep stone run. The trail has been extensively developed and is cobbled in places. Several trees planted along the route, with its extreme climatic conditions, have survived. Negotiating this route uphill from the valley requires walkers to be fit due to its steep gradient and the requirement to climb around 200 metres in height. In May 2010 there was a rockslide that led to the path being closed for several months. The path was also closed in summer 2011 due to another major rockslide.

The Roßtrappe is a 403-metre-high (1,322 ft) granite crag in the Harz mountains of central Germany. The Roßtrappe rises over the Bode Gorge in the Harz. It may be reached from Thale by road, on foot or on via the Rosstrappe Chair Lift. On the rocks is a mountain hotel with an observation terrace as well as the upper station for the chair lift. Nearby is the Winzenburg, a refuge castle 25 hectares (62 acres) in area with a 500-metre-long (1,600 ft) rampart made of stone blocks and earth, which has been used since the New Stone Age as a refuge for up to 100 people. In 1860 the Winzenburg Tower was built there; an observation tower which is now closed. From the Rosstrappe there is a view of the rocks on the Hexentanzplatz, ("Witches Dance Floor") the Steinerne Kirche ("Stone Church"), the Bode Gorge, the Harz Foreland, the town of Thale and the highest peak in the Harz, the Brocken. According to legend, a giant by the name of Bodo once followed the king’s beautiful daughter, Brunhilde, whom he wanted to marry against her will. Brunhilde escaped on a white stallion (German: Ross), but was suddenly confronted by a deep ravine. Her horse leapt in one bound to the rocks on the other side, but her pursuer fell into the depths below. The impression of the horse’s hoof may still be seen today. The giant Bodo gave his name to the small river, the Bode. Scientists suspect that this imprint in the rock is the weathered remains of a Germanic altar basin. From the Roßtrappe visitors can climb down into the Bode Gorge on the Schurre, a path laid in zigzags. The President’s Way (Präsidentenweg), about 4 km, is the recommended path to climb from the gorge to the rock outcrop. The Roßtrappe is no. 71 in the system of check points on the Harzer Wandernadel walking trail network. Since the middle of the 19th century there has been a mountain hotel with the same name at the entrance to the Roßtrappe.

Königsruhe (also Gut Königsruhe i.e. Königsruhe Estate) is a small settlement in the Bode Gorge in the Harz Mountains of Germany, south of the town of Thale in Saxony-Anhalt.

The Hotel Waldkater was a famous hotel in the Bode Gorge in the Harz Mountains of Germany.

The Walpurgis Hall (German: Walpurgishalle) is a hall on the Witches' Dance Floor near Thale in the Harz mountains, Germany, built in the Old Germanic style by Hermann Hendrich and Bernhard Sehring. The hall was opened in 1901 and is a museum today. Whilst Sehring designed the architecture of the building to Hendrich's guidelines, Hendrich himself was responsible for the five large paintings in the interior of the hall. These portray scenes of the Walpurgis Night from Goethe's Faust known as the: Will-o'-the-Wisp Dance, Mammon's Cave, Witches' Dance, Bride of the Wind und Gretchen's Appearance (Gretchen's Tragedy).

The Rosstrappe Chair Lift (German: Rosstrappe-Sessellift) is a 559 metre-long single-seater chairlift built in 1980 by the firm of Chrudrim. It runs from Thale in the Bode Gorge taking eight minutes to reach the rock massif of the Roßtrappe. The Rosstrappe Chair Lift climbs 250 metres over a length of 668 metres. It has over 13 supports. In 2005, the old chairlift was replaced by a new one. The cable used has a diameter of 28 mm and it is driven by a 40 kW engine in the valley station. The Rosstrappe Chair Lift can transport up to 400 people per hour.

The Bode Valley Gondola Lift (German: Bodetal-Seilbahn) is a gondola lift built between 1969 and 1970 by the Czechoslovak collective combine Transporta Chrudim as a joint project with PGH Elektrotherm Quedlinburg in the vicinity of Thale in the Harz mountains in Lower Saxony, Germany. It runs from its valley station at a height of 183 metres (600 ft) above sea level to the top station on the plateau of Hexentanzplatz ("Witch's Dancing Place"), which is 428 metres (1,404 ft) high. The 721 metres (788 yd) long, twin cable, gondola lift has inclines of up to 75 per cent in places. It has a total of 3 pylons, the lowest in the Bode valley having a height of 45 metres (148 ft). The other two pylons are designed for the gondola cabins to run over the top of them because of the steep inclines. The lift has 38 small cabins or 'gondolas', each with a capacity of 6 persons. The Bode Valley Gondola Lift operates all-year round (except for November). The cost is €3 for adults one-way (as at Aug 2011).

The Hexentanzplatz (literally “Witches′ Dance Floor”) in the Harz mountains is a plateau (454 m above sea level (NN)) that lies high above the Bode Gorge, opposite the Rosstrappe in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

The Hubertus Spring (German: Hubertusquelle) is a "healing spring" (Heilquelle) in the Harz Mountains of central Germany whose waters contain radon. It rises on Hubertus Island (Hubertusinsel or Große Salzstrominsel), which is about 2 hectares in area, near Thale, immediately at the exit of the River Bode from the Harz Mountains. It has been well known for about 500 years and, according to oral tradition, was first noticed by foresters and hunters, because roe deer satisfied their hunger for salt here. The first recorded mention of the spring was in 1584. That year the local landlord, Count Martin of Regenstein, granted the right to Augsburg citizens and a Sudmeister ("brine master"), Balthasar Becker, to establish a saltworks on the site of the former Hubertus Baths. However, a combination of annual flooding and ice on the River Bode periodically damaged the works. As a result, salt production in the old parish (Gemarkung) of Behrensdorf (the territory between the present-day Wolfsburgstrasse and Roßtrappenstrasse) was moved and the brine was transported to the new site over wooden pipes. This saltworks initially prospered, but deteriorated after the death of Sudmeister Becker (he was sentenced to death in Blankenburg, because he had killed a smelter in the course of a dispute) and the brine remained untapped.

The Homburg Watchtower (German: Homburgswarte) is an observation tower on the site of a Germanic refuge castle (Fliehburg) near the Hexentanzplatz above the town of Thale in the Harz Mountains of central Germany.

Thale Hauptbahnhof is a station on the Magdeburg–Thale railway in the town of Thale in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The station is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 5 station. The only other station in Thale is the stop at Thale Musestieg, although there used to be three stations in Thale on a branch of the Blankenburg–Quedlinburg railway, which was opened in 1908 and was closed in the 1960s.

Timmenrode is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Blankenburg am Harz.