Stone Age Giant
The quartzite rock "Graue Lei" between Heinzerath and Gonzerath, the rocks near Rapperath, Hunolstein, and at Dörrwiese are among the most impressive natural monuments in the region and form a section of a large quartz vein that begins north of Saarburg and ends at Graue Lei. It runs parallel to the ridges of the Idar and Haardt forests with a variable thickness that reaches up to 30 m in the Dhrontal and even 100 m at Graue Lei.
The composition of this rock, made of pure silica (SiO2), gives it a relatively high hardness, making it resistant to weathering influences. For this reason, the surrounding slate layers were eroded more quickly, and the quartz rocks were shaped into their current form in the landscape. The formation stories date back over 300 million years (Carboniferous). The quartzite rocks can be encountered on the Ausonius hiking trail and the dream loop Jakob-Maria-Mierscheid path.
