Turbacz (1,310 m a.s.l.) is the highest peak of the Gorce Mountains and undoubtedly one of the most popular destinations for Beskid hikes. It is known primarily for its vast pastoral clearings, fantastic view of the Tatra Mountains, and a sizable mountain hut. Turbacz belongs to the Crown of Polish Mountains. Due to its location in the central part of the range and a well-developed network of trails, the summit can be reached from practically all directions. From the north, we can reach the roof of the Gorce from Lubomierz (the “trail of twelve clearings”) or from Koninki. From the west – from Rabka-Zdrój via the Main Beskid Trail. Finally, from the south – from Nowy Targ-Kowaniec or from Łopuszna. In this post, I will focus on the last of the indicated variants. We will ascend via the blue trail through Bukowina Waksmundzka and descend via the black trail through Wyżnia. Along the way, we will stop by Hala Długa and the peak of Kiczora. I invite you to the report from my first Beskid trek in 2025!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- A few words about Łopuszna
- The blue trail from Łopuszna to Wyżni Zarębek
- Through Bukowina Waksmundzka to the PTTK mountain hut
- Turbacz – the summit
- Hala Długa below Turbacz
- The pastoral heritage of the Gorce Mountains
- Kiczora (1,282 m a.s.l.) and the descent via the black trail
- Trip map
- Bibliography
A few words about Łopuszna
My companion today is Zuza, who came to visit me for the weekend from distant Pyrlandia. Yesterday, in beautiful circumstances, we conquered the snow-covered Zawrat pass. For Sunday, however, we planned something a bit easier – a peaceful and regenerative trip to the Gorce Mountains.
A quarter before 10 AM, we start from the village of Łopuszna, located 10 km east of Nowy Targ. The village lies on the Dunajec River and is known primarily for the charming Tetmajer manor house, which today is a branch of the Tatra Museum in Zakopane. By the way, it was in this building in 1871 that the initiative was launched to establish an association that would gather all lovers of the Tatra Mountains in its ranks. And indeed, in 1873, the Tatra Society was formed, which took care of organizing the first mountain huts and marking trails. Next to the manor house is another important monument – the wooden church of the Holy Trinity and St. Anthony the Abbot from the 15th century. As for times closer to ours, Rev. Józef Tischner (1931 – 2000) – a highlander, philosopher, great lover of local culture, and author of the famous “Historia filozofii po góralsku” (History of Philosophy in the Highlander Way) – lived and worked in Łopuszna. The village houses a memorial room dedicated to the priest, called “Tischnerówka”.
The blue trail from Łopuszna to Wyżni Zarębek
We leave the car in a lay-by on the public road, near the trail junction (coordinates: 49.49801770037442, 20.138364375418252; approx. 650 m a.s.l.). At the crossroads, we turn left, taking the blue tourist trail. Initially, we walk along an asphalt road through the buildings of the so-called Średni Zarębek. After about a kilometer, the trail abruptly turns left, crosses a bridge over the Łopuszanka river, and dives into the forest. At this point, we face perhaps the most demanding ascent of the day. Up a steep forest path over a distance of half a kilometer, we overcome over 120 meters of elevation gain. In this way, we arrive among the buildings of Wyżni Zarębek (approx. 820 m a.s.l.), the highest hamlet of Łopuszna. A few examples of old highlander architecture have been preserved here, as well as a wooden chapel where Rev. Józef Tischner celebrated mass. To the right, a pleasant panorama of the Łopuszanka valley and the slopes of Wyżnia breaks through.
Through Bukowina Waksmundzka to the PTTK mountain hut
From Wyżni Zarębek, we continue our trip along a wide and comfortable path. The trail now leads through a dense spruce forest, which to a large extent remains the private property of highlander farmers. The approach has a very gentle character – we gain the next 300 meters of elevation over a distance of three kilometers. About an hour and a half after leaving the car, we finally emerge from the forest into the small Wachowa clearing (approx. 1,050 m a.s.l.). And there? There we get a “wow effect” in the form of a beautiful panorama of the Tatra Mountains. At this point, we don’t yet know that this is just the beginning of today’s excellent views. Just a dozen or so minutes later, we check in at the inconspicuous culmination of Bukowina Waksmundzka (1,103 m a.s.l.). A dozen or so meters past the summit, the blue trail joins the green trail leading from the Kowaniec district of Nowy Targ. We are now walking along a wide, gentle dirt road, still leading through a fairly dense spruce forest.
After a dozen or so minutes, we leave the forest again and emerge onto the beautiful Długie Młaki clearing (1,180 – 1,220 m a.s.l.). The local panorama of the Tatra Mountains is even more magnificent than the one we admired earlier from the Wachowa clearing. The views make an even greater impression because in winter the optics are somehow different: the Tatra peaks seem closer and sharper than in summer. You can also see Kiczora from here, which we intend to visit later today. At the clearing, we notice an information board indicating that we are on private land and we should respect the fact that the field owners have allowed tourist trails to run through their estates.
After crossing Długie Młaki, we disappear into the forest again, only to emerge from it a dozen or so minutes later by the Władysław Orkan PTTK mountain hut (1,283 m a.s.l.). The facility is one of the highest situated mountain huts in the Polish Beskids, second only to the shelters on Hala Miziowa, Hala Rysianka, and Hala Lipowska. The current building was constructed in 1953-1958 and was designed by engineer Anna Górska. Interestingly, the same person created the designs for the modern mountain huts on Polana Chochołowska, on Hala Ornak, and in the Valley of Five Polish Ponds. You have to admit that if you look closely, there is indeed a strong resemblance between the buildings. The shelter on Turbacz is a very large facility: it has over 110 beds (and if they run out, it is possible to sleep “on the floor”) and a dining room for 60 people. In front of the building is the largest junction of tourist trails in the Gorce Mountains and a viewing platform facing the Tatras.
Turbacz – the summit
The road from the shelter to the summit leads along a section of the Main Beskid Trail marked in red. The section is about 500 meters long and practically flat, so it takes us literally a few minutes to cover it. Thus, shortly after 12:00 PM (approx. 2.5 hours after leaving Łopuszna), we arrive at Turbacz (1,310 m a.s.l.). On the inconspicuous summit dome, we find a stone obelisk with geographical coordinates, an information board, and a small metal cross.
Turbacz is not only the highest mountain in the Gorce, but also the central point of the entire range. It is an orographic knot from which as many as six different mountain ridges branch off in all directions (the layout of the ranges thus somewhat resembles a starfish). The name of the peak itself comes from the Vlach word “turbat“, which means “furious, mad”. Twenty years ago, a massive windstorm passed through here, completely destroying the spruce forest that once covered the summit. On the one hand: a sad event, but on the other: thanks to it, today there is a beautiful view of the entire Tatra Mountains from the summit as well.
After a short break for photos and admiring the views, we leave the summit of Turbacz and return to the nearby shelter. This time we stay here longer, savoring the delicious highlander-style potato pancakes (placki po zbójnicku). Although the facility is very crowded today, taking orders and serving meals goes very smoothly for the staff, and the atmosphere is really pleasant. Full and rested, we set off on our further journey a dozen or so minutes past 1:00 PM.
Hala Długa below Turbacz
From the shelter, we take the red trail running towards Krościenko nad Dunajcem. At this point, it only takes a dozen or so steps to cross the border of the Gorce National Park. It is worth knowing that the national park covers neither the summit of Turbacz, nor the shelter located below it, nor the blue trail from Łopuszna. This is also the reason why the highest peak of the Gorce Mountains can be reached completely legally with your four-legged friend. With a dog, you can also visit, among others, Hala Długa and Kiczora, thanks to a dispensation granted by the GNP (you can find the entire list of trails allowed for dog walkers here). On a less pleasant note, when entering the Gorce National Park, remember to buy an admission ticket. A reduced one costs PLN 4, a regular one – PLN 8. Tickets can be purchased online here. The Gorce National Park was established in 1981, and its main goal is to preserve the remnants of the primeval Carpathian forest and the biodiversity of numerous lower montane clearings. According to the official GNP website, forests make up as much as 94.3% of the park.
From the shelter, we walk straight onto the massive Hala Długa. Initially, we walk along its western edge – the Wolnica clearing, and after a few minutes we arrive at its most spectacular part – the Wzorowa clearing and the Wierchy Zarębskie clearing. Hala Długa offers an incredible view of the Tatra Mountains, the interior of the Gorce (including the summit dome of Turbacz), as well as the peaks of the Island Beskids looming in the north. It is one of the most naturally valuable clearings in the Gorce National Park, known for the occurrence of numerous species of orchids. In spring, crocuses adored by all hikers appear here.
The pastoral heritage of the Gorce Mountains
This vast clearing is also one of the most beautiful testimonies to the pastoral past of the Gorce. You must know that even at the beginning of the 20th century, the Gorce Mountains were the largest sheep grazing center in the Western Carpathians outside the Tatras. And it all began in the 14th century, when the Vlachs wandered to us from present-day Romania. They brought with them a unique pastoral culture, their own cheese-making technology, and a whole mass of folk traditions, which to this day form the core of the highlander identity of the inhabitants of the Beskids and Podhale. The basis of Vlach farming was seasonal sheep grazing, carried out from spring to autumn. In the Tatras, it took place in the alpine zone, above the upper timberline. In the Gorce, there is no alpine zone, so here they had to manage differently. The Vlachs therefore began to burn vast clearings, which later served as pastures for sheep. And how exactly did this look? Well, in the selected area, bark was stripped from the trees, up to about human height. When the mutilated trees died, the shepherds started a fire. Everything went up in smoke, and grain was grown on the fertile burnt land for two or three years. And when the soil became barren, it became a pasture for sheep. The clearings in the Gorce Mountains are therefore not an element of the natural environment, but let’s be honest – without them, these mountains would lose a lot of their charm.
Kiczora (1,282 m a.s.l.) and the descent via the black trail
After crossing Hala Długa, we re-enter the charming spruce forest. After a dozen or so minutes of a gentle ascent, we arrive at Kiczora (1,282 m a.s.l.), the third highest peak in the Gorce Mountains. On its southeastern slopes lies Hala Młyńska, from which there is a pleasant panorama of the Lubań range, Lake Czorsztyńskie, and further in the background – the Little Pieniny and the Jaworzyna Krynicka range in the Sądecki Beskids. The Tatra Mountains are also perfectly visible from here. The name Kiczora has Vlach origins and means “a forested mountain”. Original, right? Anyway… Anyone who hikes a bit more in the Beskids certainly knows that dozens of other peaks have been christened with this universal name. On Kiczora, we encounter another Gorce National Park information board, from which we learn that the surrounding forests are inhabited by wolves and lynxes, and sometimes even visited by bears.
The descent from Kiczora is quite steep and for about a kilometer runs along the edge of another scenic clearing – Zielenica (1,090 – 1,220 m a.s.l.). In its lower part, we leave the red Main Beskid Trail, taking the black trail named after Seweryn Goszczyński. He was a romantic poet who visited Leon Tetmajer’s manor in Łopuszna in 1832 and described the Gorce Mountains in his work Dziennik podróży do Tatrów (Diary of a Journey to the Tatras). We are now walking along a wide, stony path running through a dense beech forest. After a few minutes, we reach the restored Gorce National Park shepherd’s hut on the Jankówki clearing (approx. 1,060 m a.s.l.). At this point, the black trail crosses one of the park’s educational paths. By the way, if you have more time, these paths are a quite good option for an interesting extension of the trek. For example, the one to the Jankówki pass leads past rock outcrops near Wyżnia. The local nature trails also lead to Gajówka Mikołaja, a wooden hut with a GNP exhibition, and to the Żubrowisko in the Łopuszna valley, where an unsuccessful attempt was made in the 1950s to settle the European bison in the Gorce Mountains. Today we don’t leave the black trail, because the weather is getting worse quarter by quarter.
So we walk through the beech forest, densely covering the northern slopes of Wyżnia (1,107 m a.s.l.). After walking another kilometer and a half, we reach the Srokówka clearing, where there is a small Pucołowski Stawek (Pucołowski Pond) of landslide origin. In summer it reportedly looks quite charming; today it is covered with snow. After walking another kilometer, we check in on a forest dirt road, and after the next one – we are back at the car.
In this way, our route forms a loop, the leisurely completion of which took us about 6 hours. We are very satisfied with the trek. We feel that we have made good use of the morning weather and rested perfectly after yesterday’s high-mountain wandering in the Tatras. Well then, see you later, Gorce Mountains!
Date of trip: January 5, 2025
Trip statistics: 16 km, 730 meters of elevation gain
Thank you for taking the time to read my post! If you want to stay up to date with new content, I invite you to follow me on Facebook and Instagram! I will be grateful for every like, comment, and share. If you find my content valuable and want to support me, I invite you to buy me a virtual coffee at buycoffee.to.
Trip map
Bibliography
- Gorce. Przewodnik dla prawdziwego turysty, 3rd edition, Oficyna Wydawnicza Rewasz, Pruszków 2020.
- Krygowski W., Zarys dziejów polskiej turystyki górskiej, Sport i Turystyka Publishing, Warsaw 1973.
