HostelShelter in the Valley of Five Lakes

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Shelter in the Valley of Five Lakes

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temperature: -1°C / -5°C
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Szczyrk – Skrzyczne – Barania Góra – Wisła Czarne

We start the trek in the centre of Szczyrk, and then we go to the bottom station of the chairlift to the Skrzyczne. The ride up takes about 25 minutes, including the change of lifts at the intermediate station of Jaworzynka. The summit can also be reached on foot, but the approach on the blue trail takes about two hours. The green trail leads from the hostel on the Skrzyczne to the Małe Skrzyczne and an extensive Kopa Skrzyczeńska. In bad weather, you should be extra careful, as it is very easy to get lost in this place. After a less than an hour hike you reach a fairly steep approach to the Malinowska Skała, whose characteristic rock hoodoos are visible from afar. It is worth to take a short rest at the Malinowska Skała and have a meal. Further on, after about 150 meters you reach a junction of routes. You should keep going along the green trail, leading you to the Barania Mountain. After passing by the Magurka Wiślana, the green trail meets the red trail coming from the Węgierska Mountain. It is here where the painstaking approach to Barania Mountain starts. On the summit there is a metal tower – a vantage point overlooking a beautiful panorama of the surrounding mountain ranges, including the Beskid Śląski, the Beskid Żywiecki, the Mała Fatra, the Beskid Mały. Continuing the trek on the green trail, in less than an hour you reach the Przysłop Hostel. Right next to the hostel there is a small wooden building, which houses the "U źródeł Wisły” – a  PTTK Barania Mountain Cultural Centre of Mountain Tourism on the Przysłop.
After a rest, you can first follow the red trail, and then the black trail to the Czarna Wisełka Valley. After turning right to the black trail, the route goes along the access road to the hostel, along the bed of the stream. At the end of the trail, it connects to the Biała Wisełka, creating the Czerniańskie Lake. From the point where the lake’s streams connect flows the Vistula River. There is a bus stop which you can take to reach the centre of Wisła.


the Skrzyczne Mountain (1257 m a.s.l.) - the highest peak of the Beskid Śląski Mountains in the Outer Western Carpathians in Poland. As the highest peak of the Beskid Śląski, the Skrzyczne Mountain constitutes a part of the Crown of the Polish Mountains.
Beginning in the late 60s of the 20th century, many small caves and rock shelters - created in sandstones forming the mountain - have been discovered on the slopes of the Skrzyczne Mountain. The largest of them, the Pajęcza Cave (the length of the corridors amounts to 61 m - not available today due to collapse of the entrance) is located southwest of the Hala Jaworzyna, at the altitude of about 1075 m above sea level; its name comes from the rich variety of the found there arachnids.
On top of the Skrzyczne Mountain there is a PTTK hostel, a children's pool, a climbing wall, a shooting gallery (bow, shotgun) and a pitch. You can get there on a two- segment chairlift from Szczyrk. On the slopes of the mountain there are ski runs of various difficulty levels whose total length amounts to 14km.

Time required to cover the whole route: 7h 0m
Length of the entire route: 22,1km