After getting a good night’s rest at PTTK Murowaniec, our next stop was PTTK Roztoki, and then it was off to Dolina Pięciu Stawów Polskich (The Valley of Five Polish Ponds), which is a couple of valleys to the east of where we were. We had a long hike ahead of us, and unfortunately, it was our first day of real rain. We made our way through the forests and valleys, which offered a very different perspective of the mountains compared to previous days.
The initial leg of the journey was much milder than previous days, which came as a welcome break given the need for a waterproof jacket for most of it. Overall the morning was more down than up, but there were enough smaller ridges and rises coupled with the distance to keep things demanding enough.
Whilst the lower paths through the trees and valleys didn’t offer the same wide-open vistas we’d been treated to the previous days, it was still picturesque. Winding through the trees, over streams and bridges we got to see a different side of the Tatras. It also made us wonder about what wildlife we’d see (Thinking bears!), but unfortunately, even the local wildlife seemed to be taking an easier day, avoiding the rain, as we didn’t see much. However, there is one thing that’s guaranteed with trails like that, photographers will stop and take some longer exposures of the streams, and I’m no exception.
At least this gave me some justification for carrying the mini tripod with me (link to tripod at the end), as so far the opportunity for clear night skies had eluded me, and so no starry photos this trip. However, this day did provide ample usage of the tripod, as there were numerous creeks and streams to take advantage of which was also a good way to break up the walking.
We then arrived at PTTK Dolina Roztoki, where we were going to be spending the night, another fantastic hostel tucked away just off the road up to Morskie Oko. The day wasn’t done yet though, we unloaded some of our kit for the night, and headed back out onto the trails to work our way to Dolina Pięciu Stawów Polskich. Originally (pre-snow changes) we were going to be coming back down to Roztoki from there, but with the route change we still didn’t want to miss out on that path as it’s known to be a good one.
This certainly wasn’t going to be as leisurely as the morning though, around 700m of ascent and a 4.5hr round trip. The majority of this trail is quite wide and good under foot (with the exception of the start and end), and provides great views from very early on, running alongside a river. This makes it a good choice for anyone not comfortable with steeper drops and or kids etc (note: not at the end on the black trail though!). Again, more chances to use the tripod and photograph the bridges/river along the way.
I really enjoyed this trail for both the views and it was a good match to the weather conditions we had that day, as there was less thinking needed on foot placement etc unlike when coming down more technical trails. When we got close to the top, we decided to take the black trail up to Schronisko PTTK w Dolinie Pięciu Stawów Polskich (the hostel), with time getting on we made the decision to move fairly quickly, which meant doing the black trail in 20 mins, Vs the posted time of 40. Although that didn’t mean we didn’t have time to enjoy it, the top of the black trail levels out and has a nice drop to the side leaving amazing views, highly recommended! Once at the top, we could see the still partially frozen lakes/ponds, and looking up at the trail we had originally intended on using we knew we made the right call. Unfortunately again, this decision was backed up by the news of more accidents on that trail.
After a brief look around, we turned around and headed briskly back to Roztoki for some warm food, good beer and our final night in the mountains, with the next day being heading up to Kraków.
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Filmed with an Insta360 X3 https://amzn.to/3P3GLpy
Still camera setup Fuji XT5 https://amzn.to/42uMMP1
16-55 f2.8 lens https://amzn.to/3oZTpuT
Peak design capture clip https://amzn.to/3WZq7cz
Manfrotto mini tripod https://amzn.to/3PGVl6K
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