A small hike in the Polish Tatry

Actually I was in Zakopane for some other activities (even if they were related to hiking). I was there attending the UIMLA General Assembly as a delegate. We spent a couple of days for the meeting and then, as it is done traditionally, we went for a small hike in the Tatra.

During the whole General Assembly, snow was falling, therefore I was kind of worrying about the fact that we might have to do the track. This was in ignorance of some facts.

So, off we go.

First surprise was to see that actually all trails were already packed. The second surprise for me, was to see that many people hiking around. Have you ever been in the Alps ad mid-November? Usually, you do not meet any soul (except maybe for the "high places" like Chamonix or Zermatt). Here, we had to say "Cześć" many times.

So we climbed toward Hala Gąsnienicowa along a small valley in order to reach the plateau and later climbed to Czarny Staw (e.g. the black lake). We were told that when the first skiers came to that place, the locals, based on the track they were seeing in the snow, were thinking that they have been invaded by giant snakes.

On the way back, we stopped at the Murowaniec hut. Again, I had another surprise. It was a surprise to see that a hut was open at this period of time. Second, I was amazed by the number of people being there (we were there at lunch time) and third, surprised by the dimension of the hut.

I had a Żurek (e.g. a soup made from sour fermented rye flour with vegetables, sausages and plenty of other things... delicious).

Back, we did not took the same path than on the climb. We went down along a ridge.

The only thing I have not tried was... grilled Ocsypek...