We have recently decided to hike the so called Crown of Polish Mountains – the highest peaks of all 28 mountain ranges in Poland. Even though they really are not the highest. The authors of the whole “Crown of Polish Mountains” idea used their own criteria which don’t always match the real mountain ranges division or the real height of the mountain. For example, they measured the height of Chełmiec in Wałbrzyskie mountains including the 18 meters high observation tower instead of the height of the mountain itself. Lubomir mountain is geographically located in the Island Beskid mountain range while it is considered to be the highest peak of Maków Beskids.
But it doesn’t really matter for me. Hiking all of the summits isn’t really a physical challenge – half of these mountains aren’t even higher than 1000 meters and only three of them exceed 1500 m. What really does matter is the opportunity to discover the popular places in Poland. Before I got interested in the “Crown of Polish Mountains challenge” I haven’t even known half of these mountain ranges. Even though I hike quite often and I love Polish mountains. I think that this is an amazing opportunity to get to know such places which I wouldn’t visit otherwise.
To begin with, we hiked Czupel (933 m), the highest peak in Little Beskids.
We set off from Międzybrodzie Bialskie and took a red trail. The trail isn’t well marked at the beginning and we had to look for it. It’s also quite steep and I must say that it wasn’t so easy in the summer heat… 😉
A view over Międzybrodzkie Lake
Red trail to Czupel
The trail goes through the forest almost all the time but it occasionally offers beautiful views over Międzybrodzkie and Żywieckie lakes. Getting to the top takes around two hours. The peak itself is full of beautiful beeches (so they say – I know nothing about plants :))
Red trail to Czupel
The peak of Czupel
The peak of Czupel
From the peak we took a blue trail towards the mountain hut on Magurka. There were sooooooo many blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and other forest fruits on the way! I think they should make separate signs indicating the time required to get to a given place – one for blueberries’ season and the other off season!
From the hut we took a yellow trail down back to Międzybrodzie Bialskie. Just then it turned out that our Scottish hiking companion had a huge bottle of Scottish whisky in his backpack… Have I mentioned that I love hmmm, getting to know other cultures? It’s very developing! 😀
Have you ever taken any travel, sport or mountaineering challenge? Let me know how was it!
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[…] your hike to Wysoka! Check why it’s worth hiking the Crown of Polish Mountains, what respect lesson I got from another peak from the crown– Babia Góra and what surprised me on […]