Szklarska Poreba hike - Czech hut

This hike starts in the center of busy Szklarská Poreba – the center of the Polish Western Giant Mountains and at the same time the perfect starting point for crossing the Jizera Mountains. Directly from the city, there is a nice view of the main Krkonoše ridge (which awaits you in a few hours), towering over the city like a wall by 800 meters in height.

If you want to take a look around in Szklarska Poręba before starting the ridge and climb to the well-known Wysoki Kamień (1058 m), you can stay here. There are a number of options here. An interesting option is, for example, Pensjonat Kanion , right in the city center.

The hiking trail starts along the busy international road E65. Here and there you will come across relatively historic houses.

At Krucze Skal there is also a nice view of the wild bed of the Kamienna river. However, you will only walk along this river for a short time.

A short distance from the Circle of Rocks, near the large parking lots, the tourist path disappears into the forest, and you and the huge crowds of Polish hikers will climb through the forest along a wide path towards the biggest local attraction – the Kamieńczyka canyon and waterfall. There is a long staircase leading to the canyon, there is an entrance fee and you also have to borrow a helmet. This is where you pick up some delay while waiting in line

However, standing in line and paying the entrance fee is worth it – the canyon is very nice and you can usually find similar ones in significantly higher mountains than the Krkonoše Mountains.

The most beautiful Krkonoše gorge ends with the most beautiful Krkonoše waterfall – Kamieńczyka.

After enjoying the canyon and the waterfall, you climb back to the entrance and return your helmet, you can refresh yourself in a beautiful cottage at the crossroads. A short distance from there is another view of the waterfall „from above“, but it is not so nice. The wide road continues upwards to the main Krkonoše ridge. For the first few hundred meters you can still enjoy the wild bed of the Kamieńczyk River. In addition, you will still have to pay the entrance fee to the national park

After less than an hour of climbing, you will finally reach the top of the forest and you will have a view of the long ridges of the Jizera Mountains.

The path continues to climb past the large mountain chalet Hala Szrenica (1,200m above sea level). On the horizon you can see the highest peaks of the Jizera Mountains – Wysoká kopa (1,126m above sea level), Smrk (1,124m above sea level) and Stog Izerski (1,105m above sea level).

This very busy place during the day takes on a completely different atmosphere in the early evening without people. However, it is definitely better to take pictures here in the morning.

Finally, you are within sight of the first officially accessible Krkonoše peak from the west – Szrenici (1,362m above sea level), which, however, lies entirely in Poland.

There is a large cottage at the top of Szrenice, a little below the cable car station from Szklarská Poreba, so it is very lively here for most of the day. From here there are classic views of the Jizera Mountains, but also of a large part of the western Giant Mountains, headed by the typical Wawel.

From Szrenice, the path descends to Svinské kamené and further to the turnoff to Vosecká bouda. From there you will come to the main ridge if you follow the variant from Harrachov.

After a short ascent, you are at the well-known Tvarožník rock formation (1,315 m above sea level) with a border stone directly on top of the rock. From there it is only less than a kilometer and a half to the crossroads at Česká budka, where this stage of the Krkonoše crossing ends.