Brocken Pond

The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak in the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak in Northern Germany; it is near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt between the rivers Weser and Elbe. Although its elevation of 1,141 metres (3,743 ft) is below alpine dimensions, its microclimate resembles that of mountains of about 2,000 m (6,600 ft). The peak above the tree line tends to have a snow cover from September to May, and mists and fogs shroud it up to 300 days of the year. The mean annual temperature is only 2.9 °C (37.2 °F). It is the easternmost mountain in northern Germany; travelling east in a straight line, the next prominent elevation would be in the Ural Mountains in Russia. The Brocken has always played a role in legends and has been connected with witches and devils; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe took up the legends in his play Faust. The Brocken spectre is a common phenomenon on this misty mountain, where a climber's shadow cast upon fog creates eerie optical effects. Today the Brocken is part of the Harz National Park and hosts a historic botanical garden of about 1,600 alpine mountain plants. A narrow gauge steam railway, the Brocken Railway, takes visitors to the railway station at the top on 1,125 m (3,691 ft). FM-radio and television broadcasting make major use of the Brocken. The old television tower, the Sender Brocken, is now used as hotel and restaurant. It also has an observation deck, open to tourists.

Brocken station (German: Bahnhof Brocken) is the terminus on the summit of the Brocken, the highest mountain in the Harz in central Germany. It lies in the state of Saxony-Anhalt and is the end point of the Brocken Railway operated by the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways.

The Brocken Garden (German: Brockengarten) is an alpine botanical garden on the summit of the Brocken (1,142 m above sea level), the highest peak in the Harz mountains of Germany. It lies within the Harz National Park near Wernigerode in the state of Saxony-Anhalt and has a stock of around 1,600 types of plant. These include species that only grow in the Brocken region, like the Brocken anemone or alpine pasqueflower and the Brocken hawkweed, but its main focus is on alpine plants like the white dryad and the Swiss willow. It is open daily without charge.

The Brocken Transmitter (German: Sender Brocken) is a facility for FM- and TV-transmitters on the Brocken, the highest mountain in Northern Germany. The facility includes two transmission towers. The old tower was built between 1936 and 1937. It is 53 metres high (including its antenna mast, which no longer exists, it had a height of 95 metres) and has an observation deck, which can be reached by elevator. This tower was intended to be used after 1939 for TV transmissions to central Germany, but due to the beginning of World War II, it was transformed into a radar facility. Unlike most modern TV towers, the old tower looks like a block of flats with a square cross section. The arrangement of the windows in the observation deck is similar to those in the restaurant in the Radio tower Berlin. In 1973 a new TV tower was built on Brocken. This 123-metre, freestanding steel-tube tower stands on three legs, which hold shafts for cable and stairways for personnel access. Above the legs are three decks for directional radio transmission aerials. The new TV tower is not accessible to the public. While Germany was divided into East and West, the Brocken transmitter was used for TV and FM-transmissions, even though it lay in the restricted area of the east-west frontier (on the Eastern Side). Its location so close to the border enabled it to be received in parts of the West. In the first half of the 1990s the transmitting aerial of the old tower was removed and replaced by a radome holding air traffic control radar equipment. The Brocken Transmitter is property of Deutsche Telekom.

The Eckerloch is a forested mountain valley, 845 metres above sea level near the village of Schierke in the Harz Mountains of central Germany.

The Heinrichshöhe is a subsidiary peak of the highest mountain in the Harz, the Brocken, and, at 1,040 m above NN, it is the second summit in the Harz Mountains. Today, it may only be visited with permission from the national park authority for the purposes of research or controlling the wildlife population.

The Kahle Klippe is a rock formation in the High Harz in central Germany on the eastern slope of the Brocken above the valley of the Ecker. It lies about halfway between the level crossing over the Hirtenweg path and the Ecker at a height of 1,011 metres above sea level. The rocks cannot be seen from the summit of the Brocken, the highest mountain in the Harz and the best view of them is from the village of Torfhaus. Because the rocks lie in the core zone of the Harz National Park, they may only be visited with the permission of the National Park management. It is one of the most difficult crags to reach in the High Harz. An old forest path runs past the rocks, passing within 100 metres. Below the Kahle Klippe lies the still inaccessible Brandklippe crag. See also: List of rock formations in the Harz

The Königsberg is a neighbouring peak of the Brocken and, at 1033.5 m above sea level the third highest elevation in the Harz mountains. It lies on a long ridge that runs from southeast to northwest about 1.5 km south of the Brocken's summit. Near its summit on the northwest side is the rock formation of Hirschhörner (max. 1,023.2 m). To the east the land descends to the Schwarze Schluftwasser, a small tributary of the Kalte Bode which flows south of the mountain. To the east on the far side of the Schwarzer Schluftwasser is the Heinrichshöhe (1,039.5 m), another subpeak of the Brocken.

The Hirschhorn Rocks (German: Hirschhornklippen or Hirschhörner) are a natural monument in the Harz National Park in central Germany.

The Zeterklippen are a striking rock formation or tor on the 930-metre-high Renneckenberg mountain, overlooking the Ilse valley in the Harz mountains in Germany. The Renneckenberg is an eastern sub-peak of the Brocken. The rocks themselves lie at a height of about 830 metres (2,720 ft) above sea level. They can be reached from the Molkenhausstern after about 2.5 km. The track initially runs uphill through dense spruce forest until the view opens out towards the Hohnekamm and down to Wernigerode. Then the route branches off to the right onto a steep, 0.5 km, path and, after about 200 m, a gentler 0.4 km path leads to the Große Zeterklippe ("Great Zeter Rock"). Immediately below this highest of the rocks is a mountain hut that dates to the time when a botanical garden had been laid out here as a replacement for the inaccessible Brockengarten. The Große Zeterklippe can be climbed using iron ladders. The climb is rewarded with a wonderful view of the Brocken, the town of Wernigerode below and the North Harz Foreland.

The Bremen Hut (German: Bremer Hütte) in the Harz Mountains is a refuge hut and shelter in that part of the Harz National Park lying within the borough of Ilsenburg (Harz) in Harz district in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The Renneckenberg (formerly Rennekenberg) is a mountain, roughly 933 metres (3,061 ft) high, in the High Harz part of the Harz mountain range of central Germany within the borough of Wernigerode in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.