Stauffersberg

The Staufenberg rises 577 metres above sea level near Bonstetten in southern Germany, a densely wooded hill that towers roughly 100 metres above the surrounding countryside. It is the highest point for ten kilometres in every direction, with the Alps only reappearing ten kilometres to the south. The name comes from the medieval word for a high-standing rock, found in many local peaks. Geologists value the hill because its summit carries the oldest surviving cold-period gravels of the northern Alpine foreland. These quartz, sandstone and radiolarite pebbles were washed north by the ancient Ur-Iller river during the Biber cold period about 2.5 million years ago. Excavations for the Bonstetten water reserve and a communications tower revealed the thin gravel layer resting on older molasse rock, preserving the hill while nearby softer layers eroded away. Paths cross the wooded slopes, including a geology trail with panels that explain how the gravel cap shaped the landscape. A wooden survey pyramid built in 1810 once stood at the top, later replaced by a US military relay tower that was dismantled in 2007. Today a 135-metre concrete transmission tower stands on the summit, its base reached by local foot and cycle routes.