Top 10 Caves around Ratshausen

Smugglers' paths It is documented that goods were smuggled for traders across the customs borders guarded by the police until 1835 in the area. Caves are said to have been the starting point and warehouse for the nightly smuggling and theft. In 1698, almost a ton of steel ingots were smuggled. In 1750, the donkey miller from the Winterlinger Bannmühle bought 130 bushels of spelt from Meßstetten and Hossingen and had it smuggled across the border into Switzerland. As 1000 bushels were also bought and smuggled from Hechingen, there was a grain shortage. Coffee smuggler Haux was hit by a bullet from the Meßstetten police on July 21, 1831 in the Pfaffental and died. The author Gerd Stiefel[28] also describes the smuggling business in his novel Via Bologna. The starting point of the historical crime story is an actual murder in the winter of 1843. The perpetrator, Jakob Egle, used a path that leads from the Lautlingen area to the Meßstetten smugglers' cave (♁48° 11′ 18.68″ N, 8° 57′ 46.23″ E) to escape and fled across Europe. Smugglers also supplied underground Protestant believers with Bibles and Protestant writings. To minimize the risk of discovery, the title pages were removed. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lautlingen

Location: about 100 m northwest of the northwest end of the Meßstetten residential area of Bueloch, accessible on foot via a narrow path from Freithofstrasse via Kirchlesfels and Schreifels; 901 m above sea level Size: 27 m long, entrance height 1.50 m, entrance width 1.30 m The cave is quite narrow and low. Until 1835, goods for traders were smuggled across the customs borders guarded by country hunters between the Duchy of Württemberg (Meßstetten) and the Free Imperial Knighthood (Lautlingen). The cave is said to have been the starting point and warehouse for this. Source: https://cojote-outdoor.de/schwaebische-alb-2/hoehlen-schwaebische-alb/schmugglerhoehle-messstetten/ Cave - smuggler's cave - beautiful rock formations - Meßstetten - Zollernalbkreis

Lemberg Tower, mega view of the Swiss snow-capped Alps.

small cave, if you look inside you can see light at the end, the exit. do bats live there?

Maidenhole At around 1000 m above sea level. NHN on the northeast slope of Lemberg lies the cave or crevice known as Jungfrauenloch in the White Jurassic rock. The name can be traced back to a local legend. Around the year 1170, the county of Hohenberg, to which the district of Gosheim belonged at the time, and its lord Burkhard I of Habsburg were mentioned for the first time. Around 1230, the future Roman-German King Rudolf I of Habsburg married the daughter of Count Burkhard III of Hohenberg, Gertrudis of Hohenberg. Her loyal Gaus, also known as “Gotso” in Middle High German, carried out the planning tasks and the organization of finances for her. The name of the community of Gosheim is said to have come from Gaus. After marrying Rudolf von Habsburg, Gaus stayed with the countess' niece, Gertrudis von Oberhohenberg, for whom he also managed the business excellently. But the young woman's brother was so angry and jealous about the popularity of Gertrudis and Gotso that he set the castle on fire at night in the absence of Gotso, who was hunting. Only Gertrudis is said to have escaped the terrible fire with all her jewelry and money and is still hidden today in the “Jungfrauenloch”, a deep crevice in the rock on the Lemberg. Only a key word can free her from her captivity to the dark forces. The story of Gertrudis von Oberhohenberg and her loyal friend Gaus is performed every five years as a village play at Fasnet. There are also legends surrounding the so-called “Giant Forest” on the Lembergsattel. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemberg_(Schw%C3%A4bische_Alb)

A small cave. You can search through them. However, very low. But it's definitely worth it.

Small, approx. 25 m long cave that you can crawl through. From the entrance you can see the daylight at the end. However, the height of the cave is very low.

Small highlight on the Hochalb path - cave to walk through