Eastern Ore Mountains

The Eastern Ore Mountains (German: Osterzgebirge) form a natural region of Saxony that covers the eastern part (in area almost the eastern half) of the Saxon Ore Mountains range. Together with the Western and Central Ore Mountains, it is part of the larger Saxon Highlands and Uplands region. Its southern continuation beyond the German border covers an area of roughly the same extent in the Czech Republic.

Natural regions in the Saxon Ore Mountains

Geography

The region is bounded in the west by the valley of the Flöha river, itself part of the Central Ore Mountains region. In the northeast it borders on Saxon Switzerland, the German (northern) side of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, at Bad Gottleuba. The boundary with the Ore Mountain Foreland to the north is rather unclear, roughly running from the town of Flöha along the Tharandt Forest to Tharandt. In the south, the crest of the mountain range closely follows the state border with the Czech Republic.^[1]

The highest point in the German (Saxon) region is the 905 m (2,969 ft) high Kahleberg. The highest peak on the Czech side is the Loučná (Wieselstein, at 956 m n.m.).

The upper regions of the Eastern Ore Mountains in the district of Mittelsachsen are part of the Ore Mountains/Vogtland Nature Park. The region includes the prominent Geisingberg peak as well as the Georgenfelder Hochmoor protected area.

Settlements

Altenberg Bärenstein Brand-Erbisdorf Bobritzsch Cämmerswalde Dippoldiswalde Eppendorf Frauenstein Freiberg Fürstenwalde Gahlenz Geising Glashütte/Sa. Hermsdorf/Erzgeb. Holzhau Kipsdorf Lauenstein

Liebenau Mulda/Sa. Nassau Neuhausen/Erzgeb. Oberschöna Oederan Olbernhau Pfaffroda Rechenberg-Bienenmühle Rehefeld-Zaunhaus Reinhardtsgrimma Sayda Schellerhau Schmiedeberg Zinnwald

Rivers and lakes

Bobritzsch Flöha Freiberger Mulde Lockwitzbach Müglitz Red Weißeritz Müglitz Valley Retention Basin Striegis Saidenbach Reservoir

Rauschenbach Reservoir Lichtenberg Reservoir Lehnmühle Reservoir Klingenberg Reservoir Malter Reservoir Trebnitz Unterer Großhartmannsdorfer Teich Wild Weißeritz

Nature reserves

The character of the entire Ore Mountains as a fault-block is very clearly seen from the Mückenberg on the Czech side of the range

The upper areas of the Eastern Ore Mountains are part of the Ore Mountains/Vogtland Nature Park and include the following nature reserves:

• Black Grouse reserve of Fürstenau
• Fürstenau Heath nature reserve
• Protected mountain meadows in the Eastern Ore Mountains - a major conservation area with its own unique linear cairns
• Geisingberg nature reserve
• Georgenfelder Hochmoor

Culture and sights

The Eastern Ore Mountains are also called the Crabapple Mountains due to the large numbers of wild apple and crabapple trees.^[2][3]

• Kohlhaukuppe
• The "Cross-border Mining Trail" project from Krupka via Geising, Altenberg and Zinnwald to Cinovec-Dubi.

• 
  The Georgenfeld Raised Bog - a board walk
• 
  Hut on the Schwartenberg (789 m)

See also

• List of mountains in the Ore Mountains
• List of mountains in Saxony
• List of regions of Saxony