Caching at the Kräppelweiher (Palatinate)

The Kräppelweiher nature reserve is located north of Frankenthal (Palatinate) and is surrounded by agricultural land.
If you come by car, there are sufficient parking spaces at the entrance to the Kräppelweiher. Even if the official car park is currently closed (probably due to the winter break), there are enough regular parking spaces near the barrier.

The circular route around the approx. 14 hectare lake is approx. 1.7 km long. The deepest point of the lake is about 3.5 m. The paths are easy to walk on, but are not suitable for wheelchairs and bicycles. If it has rained in the last few days, you will grow a few centimeters on the back side of the lake. In a good hour you have circumnavigated the entire lake on a single possible route. Even if you collect the caches along the way, you don't need much longer than 1 hour. Altogether there are five lab caches, one associated bonus and three traditional to be found here.

The nature reserve is home to many animals, and eels and other species of fish frolic in the lake. Relaxation, peace and nature can be enjoyed here very undisturbed. Since 1987 the Kräppelweiher has been declared a landscape protection area. It serves as a breeding, feeding, transit and wintering area for numerous bird species.

Even though I've stopped here several times in my car to check a few messages on my smartphone. For a bachelorette party we hung a fishing cache here a long time ago. But unofficially, not found on geocaching.com. Otherwise, this gem was completely foreign to me. For long walks we used the nearby Silbersee, where swimming is also allowed. But now things have changed: there was a question mark on the Geocaching.com map.
See and take a closer look...
For geocachers, the Kräppelweiher means a small, beautiful tour. There are 5 lab caches, which can be easily read from information boards on site. It starts directly at the indicated parking lot. The first question relates to the sign that cannot be overlooked at the start of the circular route. One of the panels is also about the oak processionary moth, which has also settled here. This wasn't a problem in winter, we'll have to wait and see what happens in spring. There is always the possibility to get directly to the water. Guaranteed beautiful photos! It's a pity that swimming is not allowed here in summer. With the fish stock mentioned, of course, understandable and completely correct. If you want to swim, you can switch to the nearby Silbersee.
Currently we always jump from the Adventure Lab app to cgeo on our cache tour, since the two systems are not (yet) connected to each other. Since there were three of us, we were able to split it up. Otherwise, it is rather annoying and is often criticized. Here in the round, however, it is not a problem alone or with a device. The caches are lined up so nicely and the shape of the lake makes it easy to see what's coming next. We run the round - probably as planned - clockwise. First you have to answer a Lab, then the first Tradi follows. We are still unsure about GC942Y9 (The Carp). There is talk of fishing cache, but the rating doesn't quite fit. So once looked the most logical and found the cache. No fishing cache yet... But you had to be bigger, for me alone it would have been a sporting challenge. But there were three of us on the road…. We are the first to sign the logbook, are a little surprised and keep walking. We haven't quite gotten here yet... But the area is beautiful, as I said before, isn't it? It continued with a rennet, before the next Tradi came. Oh yes, the pike has a different rating. Whether fishing caches should have a high T or high D rating - I don't want to lose anything about that here. For us, this was appropriate and coherent and after we had discovered the pike, we soon had it in our hands. Good suspension, you can fish it nicely and then it went on. Now comes the stretch where we grew a few centimeters due to the mud on our feet. But it doesn't matter. The next lab is coming. And always beautiful photo motifs in winter at the lake.
The labs are all easy to answer. There is something to be read, a color to be determined. But all very clear. We have also experienced this differently.
The Eel (GC9430H) is our third Tradi on the tour before we end the lab cache series. After entering the last solution word, we receive the confirmation and with it the coordinates for the bonus. A bonus to a lab cache round is a physical can, where you can also sign in the logbook. This bonus is listed as a mystery in the vicinity of the round and so we often first become aware of the lab caches. This was not the case here, as the bonus appeared later than the lab cache series.
We take a leisurely stroll in the direction of the car and make a small detour to the bonus. The owner _Fritz_ was kind enough to point out in the mystery bonus listing that you have to go fishing. Based on the Scandinavian model, i.e. that's why we had the fishing rod with us. We've also had a different experience where we've stood in front of a lab bonus and thought a hint about a required tool would have been nice. But here it is different. All very solid, very neatly built. Both the suspension of the fish, the route, the idea of taking up the theme of the fish and implementing it for geocachers - a nice round thing that we can only recommend for a short walk.

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