It is a relatively short and easy route where you will see some of the most beautiful panoramas in the Bieszczady Mountains, and along the way you will also pass a shelter where you can eat inexpensively and well. Sound great? To top it off, there is an additional attraction waiting for you – a visit to the tri-junction of the borders of three countries!
Wielka Rawka (1304 m) and Krzemieniec (1221 m) are peaks in the central part of the Bieszczady Mountains, protected by a national park. They are sometimes crowded in high season and at weekends, so it is worth planning a trip during the week or in the quieter spring or autumn. Especially in autumn, the views of the mountains densely covered with red beech forest look simply phenomenal!
Route length: 13 km / 5 hrs.
Elevation gain: about 700 m
Start – with a visit to the shelter
We start our trip at Przełęcz Wyżniańska. Here you will find a parking lot (paid) and a ticket office of the national park (7 PLN). There is also a bus stop, but there are regular connections only during the holiday months.
From the parking lot in 20 minutes on a wide dirt road running amidst blooming meadows, we reach Bacówka Pod Małą Rawką – one of the most charming mountain shelters in the Bieszczady Mountains. The intimate building was built in the 1970s as a typical shelter in the format of a shepherd’s hut. Inside you can eat and stay overnight (the facility accommodates 30 people).
From the shelter we follow the green trail to Mała Rawka – according to the signs we have an hour’s walk ahead of us. At first the route leads through a beautiful beech forest, on the right you can see a stream. The trail is steep, but very comfortable, with wooden steps laid out in some sections.
On tops
The summit of Mała Rawka (1267 m) is covered by a small mountain pasture, which is also an excellent vantage point for viewing Tarnica, as well as the Wetlińska and Caryńska mountain pastures.
Next, we take the yellow trail towards the Wielka Rawka (1304 m), whose characteristic ridge with two peaks and an obelisk in the middle can be seen from here like on the palm of your hand. We cover the route between “Rawkas” in about 20 minutes. This is one of the most beautiful sections of our trip, the path runs along an open ridge through the mountain pastures.
Since our destination is Krzemieniec, we descend from the summit to the southern slope, where the Polish-Ukrainian border runs. Further along the border posts, following the blue signs in about 45 minutes we reach Krzemieniec (also called Kremenaros – 1221 m). The top part of this mountain is forested.
This is the place where the borders of Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia converge (a tri-junction). A black granite obelisk with the emblems of the countries and the names of the summit was placed here. On the Ukrainian side, a “time capsule” was placed in 2016.
We return to the parking lot along the same road.
