Signage for proof of location.
I've never been hiking in a really snowy environment, let alone in a real mountain range, so this was a beautiful new world to me. In typical noob fashion I snapped way too many pics of this new-to-me world.
The first sighting of a creek flowing through the valley.
Sarah giving perspective to rocky outcropping.
Interesting new experience - entering a national park on foot and paying for entry. The closest experience I have to this otherwise was paying to bicycle through a park that was part of a detour on my C&O tour a couple years back. No bikes allowed in the park but there was a bike reroute to the right.
Then the valley and sky opened up a bit. I really like this picture of Sarah walking out into the snowy unknown. I might have hung off the sides of that railing to get "the perfect vantage point" for another photo. Thankfully no splashdowns.
Looking up to more rocky ledges
Occasionally the creek peeked through the ice.
There were many recently cut trees along the path. It looked to me like they'd blown over and then been cut to clear the trail. In several places they were piled up and awaiting extraction. I get the feeling these were harvested and cut for lumber or carved. The wood grain is super tight. It looks like really beautiful wood for craftsmen of all sorts.
A closed off cave and nice ice waterfall. We heard these were closed off because of extreme cold inside.
The trail continues up the mountain.
Another peek at the peaks above.
This tree stood out to me at one of the hairpin turns heading up the mountain. The bark is clearly different from others. It was noteworthy.
After inventorying our situation we decided to turn back before reaching the summit. Kind strangers on the trail estimated another 1.5 hours to the top. We both really enjoyed the nature experience. And we were careful of limited gear and balancing other experiences. We peaked out right around 49.26453, 19.95197. We were a bit further up and I just forgot to drop a way point until we'd started back down.
Heading back down the sky really cleared up. Pictures don't do justice to the contrast of blue and white.
Here's one basis for my suspicion of downed trees getting cut and harvested. This root ball completely blocked the trail.
This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. Study it for a moment.
Now check the lower right hand corner. That's Sarah about to cross the bridge. Some perspective on this view.
Avalanche concern was another new experience. Maybe not much of a concern at this point. Shaking a tree still resulted in a nice deluge. It was all pretty and fun until ice and snow slid down my open collar!
I toured Zakopane a bit more rounding up provisions before heading out of town. This hillside was particularly picturesque. Houses in the local style sparsely dotted the slope.
And one final view of the mountains heading out of town.
Saturday night we drove to Oswiecim. The drive was an adventure by itself. We got off the beaten path a bit and saw more countryside and towns. We almost slid through an intersection when a stop sign didn't register soon enough on an icy road.
During the drive I reflected on the beauty of the countryside and connecting, ever so slightly, with the Tatra mountains. Natural beauty and connection transcends time and space.
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