I slept very well last night and had a very nice breakfast
in the hotel restaurant and caught the bus for Krościenko nad Dunajcem to start my hike
through the Pieniny National Park. I
toyed with the idea of making for the raft put in place, but with the morning
forecast for thunder storms throughout most of Poland, I decided to play it
safe.
Fully stocked up with water, two chocolate croissants, and
an apple, I set out on a set of trails that would wend their way through the
park, taking me to several spectacular overlooks and then end at Szczawnica,
where the rafts come out.
I had no trouble finding the trail, but I was surprised at
how steep it was at the beginning.
It
seemed like it was just going straight up the mountain with the only variation
being between woods and meadows.
I was
so glad I brought the extra water, because I sweated out the first liter in
thirty minutes.
Finally after climbing for nearly an hour, I had ascended
over 1000 feet over a distance of 1.25 miles. From here I had an amazing view of the
Dunajec Gorge. I could make out the
small little rafts floating by, way below me.
Here's the video I shot of the panorama:
The weather continued to be good: sunny, few clouds, and not so humid, with the occasional cool breeze. I decided to try for Mt. Sokolica. At first, I thought I missed the turn to it as I had to climb down a steep stone staircase and switchbacks. After descending over 400 feet, I then had to reascend 325 more feet to the top of the mountain.
In Polish national parks they don’t tell you how far
anything is, but rather how long it will take to get there.
The last 10 minutes were straight up a stone
staircase with a metal railing for support.
The ledge overlook was steep and narrow, with almost no comfortable
places to sit or stand. Still the view
was amazing.
Here you can see on the rock outcrop on the right in the distance where I was standing when
I enjoyed the first overlook.
After enjoying the view and eating my apple and last
croissant (and drinking another half liter of water), I began to make my way
Szczawnica. It was even steeper
descending than it had been on the path I took up. This time, though, they needed to add
switchbacks and stairs.
After about a
half hour I could see Szczawnica in the distance.
Finally I reached the river where the trail came to an
end. To continue I had to take the ferry
across, so I sort of got a raft ride, though it was much shorter.
Even though the weather continued to be good
through the afternoon, I don’t regret my choices. Had I taken the path to the raft put in site
I never would have seen the vistas I had on this trail. I’ve been on the river but had never seen the
Gorge from above.
My guidebook mentioned there’s a nice restaurant in Stary Sąnz: Restauracja Marysieńka. Located above the rynek, the book praised its
friendly service and good food. I
ordered the żurek, a sour rye soup,
and their special pierogi, made with
forest mushrooms and served in a cream based mushroom sauce. Although the combination resulted in a rather beige meal.
I really liked the pierogi
(the żurek, on the other hand, was
just ok). My only problem with the
restaurant was getting my waitress’ attention to pay. On the plus side, it had a very nice view of the rynek.
Afterwards, I walked over to the cloister and convent
established by the local saint in the 13th century, but they were
having mass so I walked back. I tried to
buy a new SIM card for my phone, but the girl at the store selling them
couldn’t figure out which card, if any, would work, so I left and caught the
bus back to Nowy Sąnz. Now for some coffee and dessert as a treat
for all the hard work.
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