Mioduszyna (632 m a.s.l.) is a peak in the Maków Beskids, located on the western edge of the Koskowa Góra range. A blue tourist trail leads to the summit, running from Sucha Beskidzka to nearby Maków Podhalański. Along the way, it is worth stopping at the viewing platform, which offers a beautiful panorama of the buildings of the capital of the Sucha district and the surrounding mountains. The blue trail continues through the buildings of Maków Podhalański and Grzechynia, leading the hiker to the parallel ridge of Ostra Góra (608 m a.s.l.), which according to the latest regionalization still belongs to the Żywiec Beskids. It ends on the eastern slopes of Magurka, joining the red trail (at a place located just a stone’s throw away from the center of Sucha Beskidzka). The course of the trail therefore makes it possible to create a neat, approx. 22-kilometer loop – starting from both Sucha and Maków. Welcome to the report from a trip around this interesting, yet rarely visited fragment of the borderland between the Maków and Żywiec Beskids!
Table of content
- Start from Sucha Beskidzka
- Ascent to Mioduszyna (632 m a.s.l.)
- From Mioduszyna to Maków Podhalański
- Journey through Maków Podhalański
- The side ridge of Ostra Góra
- Descent to Sucha Beskidzka
- Trip map
Start from Sucha Beskidzka
The blue tourist trail formally begins at the wooden manor house at 38 Adama Mickiewicza Street in Sucha Beskidzka, which houses the headquarters of the local PTTK branch. The building is located about 700 meters from the Sucha railway station, by the town’s main road, opposite the so-called “passage”. Further on, the trail leads along regional road no. 946, turning left at the height of the market square and crossing the tracks and the Stryszawka river.
Next, the route runs past a large market square, located by the Sucha Beskidzka Zamek railway station. The stop was built at a new bypass link, constructed so that trains from Kraków to Zakopane would not have to change direction in Sucha, as had been the case until then. On “regular” days, the place serves as a parking lot, which is why I decide to leave my car right here (coordinates: 49.7434572N, 19.6023250E, altitude: 330 m a.s.l.). Since I planned today’s trip as a running one, immediately after getting out of the car I start a dynamic warm-up. From the parking lot, there is a quite pleasant panorama of the slopes of nearby Magurka, the highest peak of Sucha Beskidzka. The first minutes pass by running under the railway viaduct and crossing a very charming (though at the same time quite wobbly) footbridge over the Skawa river.
Ascent to Mioduszyna (632 m a.s.l.)
Almost immediately after crossing the river, I begin the ascent up the steep, western slope of Mioduszyna. At first, the trail leads through a dense built-up area, but already at an altitude of approx. 360 m a.s.l., the surroundings change into a pleasant, thick forest. After a few minutes of somewhat more intense effort, I arrive at the viewing platform, located at an altitude of approx. 410 m a.s.l. Indisputably, this is one of the more interesting places on the map of Sucha Beskidzka. From the platform, there is a fantastic panorama of the town’s buildings, the Skawa and Stryszawka valleys, and the surrounding peaks of the Żywiec Beskids, the Maków Beskids, and the Pewel-Krzeszów Range (or if anyone prefers the earlier regionalization, the Little Beskids). The most important monuments of Sucha Beskidzka are perfectly visible: the castle, the church, and the Rzym inn.
By the viewing platform, there are two crosses and a wooden table, perfect for a picnic or a break for a second breakfast.
The next half kilometer passes on a moderately steep, forest ascent. The terrain opens up again at an altitude of approx. 470 m a.s.l., when I run into the buildings of the Makowski Dział settlement. The hamlet administratively belongs to Maków Podhalańskiego, and from its upper part, there is a beautiful view of the Polica range and Babia Góra. Diablak looks so majestic from here that you could successfully stare at it the whole, round day…
Up to an altitude of approx. 540 m a.s.l., the blue trail leads along an asphalt road, only to then veer off again into a clear, forest path. I reach the summit of Mioduszyna (632 m a.s.l.) a dozen or so minutes after passing the last buildings and about half an hour after leaving the parking lot. At the summit, there is a spacious tourist shelter and nature boards. The peak is completely forested, so it offers no views. Nevertheless… it is really pleasant here.
From Mioduszyna to Maków Podhalański
Behind the summit of Mioduszyna, a long descent in moderately steep terrain awaits me. The trail now leads along a wide, comfortable path, which makes running in this place an extremely pleasant activity. I return to open terrain about 1.5 kilometers past Mioduszyna, reaching the upper part of another Maków hamlet – Drożdżyna. From this place, too, there is a beautiful view of the stately, snow-capped dome of Babia Góra. In the settlement, it is worth paying special attention to the signs, because the trail leads here in a rather non-obvious way. Then the route climbs up again, traversing the summit of Borysówka (610 m a.s.l.) from the north.
After another 1.5-kilometer section in the forest, I run out onto the next settlement – Zagórze. In this case, however, it is different in that the panoramas open up mainly towards the north – onto the flat ridge of Chełm (603 m a.s.l.). Near the trail, I notice a monument commemorating the 42 victims of the German pacification of the settlement, carried out from April 4 to 5, 1944. The direct reason for the crime was a report that a partisan, Sergeant Henryk Kowalczyk, was hiding among the local houses.
A moment after passing the monument, I reach a trail junction. Straight ahead runs the black trail, which is a link between the Zagórze settlement and the yellow trail leading from Maków Podhalański to Pcim via Koskowa Góra, Parszywka, and Kotoń. My trail – still blue – turns right, now leading on asphalt. For the next kilometer, I run along a public road – until the signs guide me back onto a forest path. Concrete slabs pierce through the soft litter, revealing that an ordinary sidewalk must have run here once.
Journey through Maków Podhalański
At an altitude of approx. 420 m a.s.l., the signs direct to the stairs leading down to Kościelna Street in Maków Podhalański. I am now running along the cemetery (where, by the way, my great-grandparents lie), and then I pass the impressive building of the church, which is the heart of the local Marian sanctuary. A moment later I am already in the market square, and then I jog through the next streets of the town – 3 Maja, Kolejowa, Partyzantów, Władysława Orkana, Sportowa. Maków Podhalański is, moreover, a very pleasant town, blessed with beautiful views and a specific, Galician atmosphere. The charm is only spoiled by the very high traffic frequency, which is a result of the national road passing through the town. Despite many years of struggle by the residents and plenty of political promises, work on the Maków bypass has still not started.
After covering 11 kilometers since leaving the parking lot in Sucha Beskidzka, I run across the bridge over the Skawa once again. Interestingly, upon reaching the second bank of the river, I also change the mountain range – from the Maków Beskids to the Żywiec Beskids. A moment later, Maków also ends, and Grzechynia begins. I run on asphalt for a few hundred more meters, then turn right, go above the houses and continue on a dirt road.
The side ridge of Ostra Góra
In Grzechynia, the blue trail starts climbing more ambitiously again. From the dirt road I return to the asphalt, and then traverse the eminence of Wątrobowa Góra (470 m a.s.l.). Before the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary Queen of Poland in Grzechynia, I turn right, continuing on a public road. I would describe the current slope as slight for a hiker, but already quite noticeable for a runner. The blue trail now leads through a vast open area, which gives the opportunity to feast one’s eyes on idyllic views of the forested ridge of the Koskowa Góra range (with, among others, Mioduszyna), the buildings of Maków Podhalański, and the Skawa valley.
At an altitude of approx. 520 m a.s.l., the trail turns left – from the asphalt onto a dirt road. Over the course of the next two kilometers, it covers the last 80 meters of height difference, and then I run across the flattened summit of Ostra Góra (608 m a.s.l.). Since there is no sign here, it is difficult to uniquely point to the place that is its highest point. So I fall into a short reflection on the etymology of the name of my current peak. For what guided the local population when they dubbed this flattened fragment of the ridge Sharp (“Ostry”)?
Be that as it may, from the summit of Ostra Góra I run back down to the asphalt road, running through another of the upper settlements of the village of Grzechynia. These Beskid villages are extensive, aren’t they? The road drops to a level of approx. 570 m a.s.l., and then smoothly passes into another ascent – the very last one on my route today. The asphalt reaches up to an altitude of 620 m a.s.l. this time, and then turns into a wide, well-worn dirt road. I am now walking up a fragment of the eastern slope of Magurka, whose summit is the highest point within the boundaries of the town of Sucha Beskidzka.
Descent to Sucha Beskidzka
In this way, half a kilometer from leaving the last buildings, at a level of approx. 700 m a.s.l., I reach the very end of the blue tourist trail. I return to Sucha Beskidzka along the red trail, which bears the proud title of the oldest Polish trail in the Western Beskids. For it so happens that the route was marked out as early as 1906, and its creator was Hugo Zapałowicz – the founder of the Babia Góra Branch of the Tatra Society in Maków Podhalański and the initiator of the construction of the shelter on Markowe Szczawiny. The trail connects Sucha Beskidzka with Zawoja, making it possible to start an expedition to the Queen of the Beskids straight after getting off the train. In addition, the trail is named after Marian Wnuk, another distinguished PTTK activist.
I turn off the trail a kilometer later, turning into the asphalt Podksięże Street. Over the course of the next two kilometers, I run down carelessly, somewhat surprised by the very significant slope of the terrain. In this way, I quickly descend from an altitude of approx. 600 m a.s.l. to the level of the town center and the riverside parking lot (approx. 330 m a.s.l.). I report back to the car a few minutes after 12 o’clock. To sum up, the run takes me about 2.5 hours, which, considering the quite significant amount of elevation gain, I consider a very good result. So I get behind the wheel with double satisfaction: on the one hand – a very good workout, on the other – a chance to discover completely new, very pleasant areas of the Maków and Żywiec Beskids.
Date of the trip: April 4, 2026
Trip statistics: 21 km; 700 meters of elevation difference
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