Pae karst area

Location

State: Estonia
Region: Juuru Parish
County: Rapla
Parish: Kehtna

Other references to the location

Pae village, 1,4 km along the gravel road leading from the Juuru-Rapla highway to the South of the Pae village, in a deciduous forest between Sepa ja Lame farms.

Coordinates

lat=58.996314202382, lon=24.908067045766
58° 59′ 46″ N, 24° 54′ 29″ E

Description

Almost 10 ha of karst at the edge of a swamp with a lot of dolines, corries and small caves. Dolines are usually jagged, up to 1,5 m deep. On their slopes and bottoms there are crookedly positioned big pieces of limestone, crannies and small entrances to caves. There are some crannies and entrance holes also in the forest. The caves are up to several metres wide and up to 1 m high. In the Western part of the karst where part of the vege viltutation is missing there are a lot of corries in an area of about 1 ha. Corries are crannies and holes up to 0,3 metres deep that open to the ground and small limestone juts (result of the dissolving impact of precipitation) between them. In the karst area there is also a well-preserved oven for lime-burning.

Narrative

Some cup-marks and fissures in karstic areas have been considered the footprints and claw marks of Vanapagan, a mythological underworld ruler. According to legend, there was a city with iron gates in the Pae karst area and it sank underground. Later church bells were heard ringing. Vanapagan is one of the best-known mythological creatures in Estonian folklore. He is a cross between the Christian version of Satan and a simple-minded nature spirit. Limestone was quarried in the karst area in the past and a former lime kiln can be seen here.

Attraction

Very specific surface feature.

Availability

Hiking trail with trailhead on village road or parking lot.

Infrastructure, management, facilities

Parking lot, hiking trail. Parking for cars or bus.

Local info

Signposts, parking lot, decrepit information board, protected nature monument marker.

Capacity

up to 40

Publicity

Known

Legal Status

Private and state land, nature conservation