Geoweg Mels

Geoweg signpost

Geoweg route

Blackboard Geoweg Mels

Castels hill

The Geoweg Mels is a historical circular hiking trail near the Castels hill in the municipality of Mels , canton of St. Gallen , Switzerland . It is part of the Sardona Geopark and was opened in 1996.

Routing

The Melser Geoweg leads around and on the hill of Castels, which was already inhabited and wooded in prehistoric times. It is signposted with wine-red signposts and begins on the edge of the village center of Mels at the bridge over the Seez river (point 497).

From there the path leads on the north side of the hill westwards along the Seez to the hamlet of Plons and on the south side of the hill on the military road through the Rossheld gorge (below Schlings). Before the hamlet of St. Martin turn left onto the plateau of the Castels hill for the hill path and back through the hamlet of St. Martin and down in front of the houses of Rüfi zur Seez and along this to the starting point at the bridge in Mels.

For the mountain hike on the 6 km long Melser Geoweg with 150 m difference in altitude, you need 3–4 hours, for a short tour with Mels Tourism 1 ½ hours.

subjects

The inconspicuous Castelserhügel was already settled in the New Stone Age, the Celts and Romans used it as a high fortress. During the Second World War , the artillery fortress Castels with a long corridor system was excavated in the Verrucano rock as part of the fortress Sargans .

Along the way, the following panels provide detailed information on the various topics of the geo path (panels in the order of the tour):

Section Seezufer towards Plons and return via Rossheld Gorge

22 stone carvings carpenter
23 Glashütte Mels (glass production)
1 overview
2 Mining at Castels
3 Plons iron smelter (smelting of ore from the Gonzen iron mine )
4 fortress construction Castels (fortress Kastels)

Mining
Iron smelter Plons: mansion
Military road Rossheld Gorge
Main entrance to the fortress of Castels

Section Hill Castels

5 Castels habitat
6 Settlement history of the Sarganserland (prehistory)
7 local naturalists
8 Millstone quarry (millstone extraction, millstone production)
9–17 Rock garden: geology, primary rocks, Verrucano, Triassic, Jura, Cretaceous, Tertiary, mountain construction in the * Sarganserland, valley fillings (at the highest point 643 m)
18 Verrucano or Melser sandstone