ROUTE VIII Powiatsuski 10 February 2022

ROUTE VIII

przełęcz Krowiarki (1011 m amsl) – Babia Góra (1725 m amsl) – przełęcz Brona (1408 m amsl) – polana Markowe Szczawiny (approx. 1180 m amsl) – przełęcz Krowiarki (1011 m amsl)

Walking time: 5 hrs 05 mins

The most popular route to the peak of the ‘Queen of Beskid Mountains’ – Babia Góra. Unforgettable panoramas, a lesson in the altitudinal zonation, a trail with a high-mountain flavour and at the same time – in favourable weather conditions – not too difficult, accessible to every moderately advanced amateur mountain hiker. In short, a must for every active tourist visiting the area described in the guidebook!

 

The route starts at the Krowiarki Pass separating the massif of Babia Góra (1725 m amsl) from the Polica Range. There is a monument commemorating the fact that young Karol Wojtyła, a member of the Junackie Hufce Pracy (Youth Work Units), worked on the construction of the road running through the pass in 1938; a commemorative plaque Zenon Klemensiewicz, an outstanding Polish linguist who died in 1969 in an air crash near Polica; and a ticket office selling tickets to the Babia Góra National Park, through which the entire route of our trip runs.

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From the pass the route follows the red trail signs (Main Beskid Trail) to the west and begins a long, steep ascent through a dense spruce forest. After less than an hour the route reaches the viewing platform on a prominent ridge of Babia Góra named Sokolica. It is a very good view point, especially for the subsequent humps of the ridge which we are about to cross and also for the spectacular northern slope of Babia Góra.

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From the pass the route follows the red trail signs (Main Beskid Trail) to the west and begins a long, steep ascent through a dense spruce forest. After less than an hour the route reaches the viewing platform on a prominent ridge of Babia Góra named Sokolica. It is a very good view point, especially for the subsequent humps of the ridge which we are about to cross and also for the spectacular northern slope of Babia Góra.

Still following the red signs, we continue along the ridge on which the European watershed runs – the streams flowing to the north belong to the Baltic Sea drainage basin, while those on the southern, Orava side of the peak – to the Black Sea drainage basin. Until the 18th century, this was the Polish-Hungarian border, during the partitions of Poland – the Galician-Hungarian border, and during World War II – the border between the German Reich and Slovakia, and its remnants are the old border posts which can be seen from time to time on the path (nowadays, they serve as steps in some places). We go over the upper borderline of the forest and wandering between clumps of dwarf mountain pine we reach another scenic ridge called Kępa.

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From Kępa the route initially descends almost flat through a ridge section named Zarubane and then through successive ridge humps it reaches a more distinct ridge with the original name of Gówniak, passing a characteristic group of boulders just off the trail on the right. The name refers to ‘souvenirs’ left years ago by oxen grazing high below the peak of Babia Góra. All the time we are accompanied by beautiful panoramas which are becoming wider and wider. The route continues along a gently undulating ridge. We are accompanied only by low dwarf mountain pines – we enter the mountain range, which means we are close to the peak. And indeed – soon the route reaches the so-called Diabla Kuchnia (Devil’s Kitchen) among rocky debris and then the main peak of Babia Góra – Diablak.

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From the Diablak we move west following the red and green trail signs. The route descends along a huge rock rubble covering the peak dome and then follows the Polish-Slovakian border on the so-called Pośredni Grzbiet and through a shallow depression of the saddle Przełęcz Lodowa. Just behind the pass, on the right there is a pile-up of the ridge called ‘Kościółki’ (means ‘churches’), covered with dwarf mountain pines and cut with characteristic cleft ditches. The name is associated with a legend, according to which there used to be a village here, which as a punishment for the sins of its inhabitants sank into the ground. Since then, it is said that church bells can be heard ringing underground from time to time, and someone even once reportedly spotted a cross protruding from the surface, crowning the church tower. In the further part the descent becomes steeper. The stony path descends sharply through thick patches of dwarf pine and finally, after a while, it eases up, crosses a narrow strip of forest and reaches the open saddle of the Brona Pass, separating the highest part of the massif of the ‘Queen of Beskid Mountains’ from the Mała Babia Góra.

Here the route leaves the green trail and the state border and follows the red trail signs down very steep stone steps. Lower down, the trail leads through a compact spruce forest to reach the Markowe Szczawiny clearing with the PTTK mountain hostel and a junction of tourist trails.

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The PTTK mountain hostel in Markowe Szczawiny is one of the most popular facilities of its kind in Poland, and also a place of great significance for the development of mountain tourism in our country. The first, small wooden building stood in this place already in 1906 as the oldest Polish hostel in the West Beskid Mountains. The current, new building was put into use in 2009. Next to the hostel stands a smaller building, the so-called Goprówka (in its back part there is a permanent post of the Beskid GOPR group). Inside there is a very interesting exposition of the Mountain Tourism Culture Centre PTTK.

From Markowe Szczawiny we now follow the blue and yellow trail signs southwest. A one-and-a-half-hour walk along the so-called Górny Płaj trail, an old hunting path marked out in the 1880s by the forest administration of the Habsburg family in Żywiec and recently extended and modernised by the Babia Góra National Park. The route passes the place where the yellow trail signs go right to the slope (it is the beginning of the most difficult climbing route on the Diablak called ‘Perć Akademików’), crosses Szumiąca Woda creek and several smaller creeks and begins a long, gentle descent through a forest traverse. The route passes another junction of trails (the green trail signs to Sokolica depart to the right) and reaches the Mokry Stawek (the largest lake in the Babia Góra massif). From here it is another 20 minutes of a pleasant walk to the Krowiarki Pass, where we started and where the trip ends.

 

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