Millions of years ago, the Wental – now a dry valley – was the water-filled bed of a tributary of the ancient Brenz River. Today, it is a karstified area with impressive freestanding rock formations. The valley dried up due to the increasing karstification of the subsoil caused by the enlargement of cracks and crevices. Over time, the water disappeared more and more into the subsoil. Now it flows underground and only reappears at the surface at the Brenztopf. Only in times of extremely heavy rainfall and snowmelt does the valley sometimes fill with water.
The rock formations visible to the right and left of the path in this dry valley, which is only 20 to 30 meters wide at this point, consist of dolomite limestone. The mostly cone-shaped formations, which are up to 12 meters high, were washed out by the former water masses.
