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Walking Poland | Walks in Tatra National Park | ||||||||||||||||
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These 3 walks are just exambles of walks in Tatra, there are so many more and one can spend weeks to discover the mountains. The described walks starts in Kuznice so if you walk from Zakopane to Kuznice, you have to add about half an hour to the time schedule. 1. walk: To Kondracki and Kasprowy Wierch. We followed the main trail from Kuznice behind the ropeway station, which is blue marked, up the mountains. The trail is wide and well used in the begining but then it splits up in two, that later ends up the same place, but the pressure eases a bit. The one to the left is bit longer and goes in a lower altitude. We followed the trail to the right that lead to the Hotel Na Kalatowkach. After about 1 km there was a trail (black marked) leading westwards and once again the pressure eased, when some of the ramblers chosed to follow that trail. It took about 40 min to reach the hotel, Na Kalatowkach. It's open land here and you can see the ropeway working a few hundred metres to the east. Into the wood again and further uphill on a stony and rocky footpath. About one hour later we arrived at Polana Kondratowa, and the mountain hut Na Hali Kondratowej located in 1355 m a.s.l. It's in the open and the view is breathtaking - or perhaps it was the last steep part.  Picture: Mountain hut Na Hali Kondratowej. At this point a great majority of the ramblers returns. Sitting in front of the hut looking southwards you'll see the mountain ridge a few kilometres away. You can see the path (green marked) that leads up to Kondracki (1863 m a.s.l.) and a little to the west you see Kopa Kondracka (2005 m a.s.l.). The blue marked trail continues up the Giewont (1895 m a.s.l.) the characteristic mountain seen from Zakopane. It looks impossible from the north side but walking from south it is steep but not impossible. It's a 1˝ - 2 hours walk from the hut up the Giewont and a little less down. We continued uphill the narrow green marked footpath towards Kondracki. It took about 1˝ hour. The walk is just about 2 km and the ascent 500 m.  Picture: Kondracki (1890 m a.s.l.) and the path deep down. Well at the top of the ridge the view is even more breathtaking and overwhelming. Standing on the ridge and looking south is the hugely Slovakian Tatra. Only a few metres down the side is the Slovakian border and deep down a dustroad in the valley. You can now choose to go either west to Kopa Kondracka and further, still walking the ridge, Czerwone Wierchy, to Malolaczniak (2096 m ab.s.l.). The trail continues.... We walked eastwards and it was a very nice stroll. Easy walking on a narrow path. Down to the one side it is Poland and down to the other is Slovakia. You need to have head for heights!  Picture: The ridge trail to Kasprowy Wierch (left in pict.). You will probably meet a good deal of trekkers on the ridge. The closer we got to Kasprowy Wierch the more the traffic. Hikers of various observans, families with children, some with very small children and now also guided groups of tourist. They came with the ropeway, walked a little out the ridge, took some photos and then walked back to the cafeteria and the cable car. At Kasprowy Wierch is the ropeway station and a cafeteria located. You can take the cable car down or you can walk the green marked trail down from here all the way to Kuznice. It will take about 2˝-3 hours and has a steep descent at the start.
2. walk: From Kasprowy Wierch via Liliowe (1952 m .a.s.l.) and mountain hut Murowaniec to Kuznice. We reached Kasprowy Wierch by the cable car this time and followed the red marked trail towards south east at the ridge to the Liliowe. This red marked trail leads to Swinica (2301 m a.s.l.), Zawrat (2159 m a.s.l.) and Kozi Wierch (2291 m a.s.l.). At Zawrat (2 h.) a blue trail crosses and the south trail leads downhill and pass by four lakes before it ends at the bank of lake Moski Ori (3-3˝ h.). The north trail goes downhill, pass by a big lake and into the valley to the big mountain hut Murowaniec and then continues to Kuznice.  Picture: View towards southeast. It's the trail down from Liliowe you see in the green. It was a miserable weather down in Zakopane when we left for todays walk and no better up here. The mountains were covered in clouds. From time to time they spread for a quick view downhill and then covered it all up again. ... continue next row top |
 Picture: Trail signpost in Tatra. (walk 2 continue) From the Liliowe we walked the green marked route downhill and came beneath the clouds. A magnificient view was revealed and we could see the mountain hut Murowaniec further way downhill. About half an hour later the trail connected with a yellow marked trail from Kasprowy Wierch and a black coming from the ridge close to the Swinica. After about 1˝ hours of walking totally, we arrived at the impressive mountain hut Murowaniec. The clouds were gone, the sun came and off goes the jackets. You can stay overnight and you can have your lunch here. They serve a square meal and cheap too.  Picture: Mountain hut Murowaniec. From this mountain hut the trails leads in almost any directions. 3 trails leads eastwards and by the connections you can walk to the border crossing at Lysa Polana. 2 trails goes northwards down to Kuznice and 4 trails southwards up the mountains. There is a detour up the Kosceielec (2155 m a.s.l.) It looks like a steep walk. The detour starts just by the lake on the blue trail about twenty minutes from the hut. We left the hut in sunshine but after a few minutes of walking the weather changed dramatically into rain and snow storm. Quite a few ramblers were caught without prober equipment and suffered wet and cold the 1˝ hour walk down. It didn't rain for long but the steep parts of the path turned into a floating stream and got muddy and very slippery. We walked out the blue trail (that ends in Kuznice) for half an hour when there was another option. A yellow marked trail running a little higher on the Dolina Jaworzynka ridge, and almost all way down to Kuznice. We chosed to follow that. It revealed a spectacular view and we could see the blue trail down in the valley by a small stream. (Both trails to Kuznice about 1 h). The weather turned for the better again when we strolled out the ridge and life was indeed worth living. The last part of the walk down the slippery rocky paths was quite a challenge.  Picture: Dolina Jaworzynka. South west view.
3. walk: A short circularwalk from Kuznice to Na Kalatowkach then westwards to Dolina Bialego and then northwards back to Kuznice/Zakopane. A walk in the lower altitudes, a walk mostly in wood. Walk the main trail (blue marked) from Kuznice (1. walk) and just before you come to Na Kalatowkach, there is a signpost to a trail to the right towards west going into the wood. This black marked trail follows the altitude of about 1200 m for 7 km before it turns south at the river Koscieliski and goes on. What makes this about 7 kilometre long trail perfect, beside for the walk and the view that appears from time to time, is the possibility to follow one of six paths going down from the mountains. The first one appears after only half a kilometre and leads over the summit Krokiew (1378 m a.s.l.) and ends up 2 kilometres later in the outskirt of Zakopane next to the ski jump.  Picture: Black marked path to Kalatowki. We passed by that trail and continued westwards for another kilometre. Then we followed the yellow marked path downhill to Dolina Bialego. After half a kilometre we came to a small river. The path turned into a wide dustroad and followed the river bank. After about 2 kilometres it ended up at the same place as the first path down, just next to the skijump and not very far from the campsite.  Picture: Tatra, Dolina Bialego
 Picture:Tatra, Dolina Bialego |
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