Gorge hike in the primeval Carpathian wilderness

Itinerary

• In the Veľký Sokol valley, we climb up to the plateau following the S marker (Glacká cesta junction).
• On the plateau, turning left at the P marker leads us back to our starting point via the Malá Poľana and Palc junctions.

Detailed description of the route

Introduction to the primeval Carpathian wilderness in the undisturbed Veľký Sokol valley

We start from the mouth of Veľký Sokol (Great Falcon valley) following the S marker from the middle section of Veľká Biela voda (Great White Water valley). The area surrounded by substantial forest lies far from villages and main roads, where logging played a major role in the last century. Thanks to national park protection, the forest is now home to natural ecosystems. This is one of Europe's oldest protected areas, as Archduke Coburg protected these forests already in the mid-19th century, initially to preserve timber. The logged trees were replanted, and the forest was managed progressively for its time. Since the national park establishment and especially the designation of protection zones from the 1990s onward, the area's natural communities have been strictly preserved. Those seeking a natural experience in the mountains will indeed find the right place in Veľký Sokol.

Our route to this place, the Veľká Biela voda valley, is already stunning, but from here we gradually reach deeper into the undisturbed wilderness. Initially, we walk on a broad bulldozer road at the edge of the forest with glades alongside the Sokol (Falcon) stream. The road is clearly squeezed by the forest as the mountains hug the valley more tightly. With a one-kilometer introductory walk, we reach the junction of the Small (Malý Sokol) and Great Falcon valleys, from where the path leads onto the uneven gravel edge of the floodplain of the stream. A footbridge made of boards laid on logs ("log plank") crosses the stream (this solution is the most common in the valley), the path leaves the comfortable road cut, and from here we weave upward among the lush streamside vegetation on the limestone gravel valley floor.

When the water is low, we may walk up to the narrowing of the gorge in the streambed, as the thick limestone gravel layer absorbs most of the stream’s water. In many places, water seeps under the gravel as an underground stream. More and more driftwood appears in the bed, brought by floods from the wilder part of the valley. This is defining, as the winding gravel streambed winding like a white ribbon shows, during spring snowmelt and summer downpours and floods, the stream wildly swells. Driftwood and fallen trunks play an important role in the ecosystem, home to animals such as the nationally protected rare species the beetle Ladderspotted Longhorn with its yellow-striped back and body-length antennae, a funny little creature that plays a key role in decomposing dead wood. The surrounding gorge forest is also guarded by more and more rotten trunks on the mountain slope, but the healthy forest is characterized by the balance of old trees and natural regeneration. The cavities of standing decaying trees are excavated by the black woodpecker searching for larvae and beetles that inhabit decayed wood, thereby providing homes for many protected bats and birds. The rare and strictly protected Eurasian pygmy owl, the smallest owl species in Europe, lives and nests in old trunks. It is hardly bigger than a thrush and loves to perch on the tops of fir trees.

As we wind along the narrowing streambed, in some places where obstacles back up the water flow or riparian trees have fallen, we can see through the canopy waving over us. Above the gorge, the massive dolomite mass of the karst plateau towers with white walls, with inaccessible endemic forests on its sides. Here, where humans could hardly set foot, typical mosaic forests are formed by black and red pines and smaller rowans. The rocks and solitary pine trees are favorite resting places for the peregrine falcon and the short-toed snake eagle, two rare and valued endemic birds of prey nesting at unreachable heights.

Adventurous paths in the narrow rocky canyons

The walls press closer to the valley floor until they seem to "plunge" into the stream in mossy monumental rockfalls. The narrowing gorge path is increasingly forced into the streambed, making it almost impossible to pass dry-footed at high water unless well equipped for the hike.

The thinning forest initially lets enough light through in some places for the undergrowth, forming a continuous green blanket of the wood-sorrel's nodding umbrellas along the stream or on the hillside. Under one of these marshy carpet-like areas flows water: the porous structure of the freshwater limestone creates vaulted layers. This is karst water seeping from the mountain cracks precipitating dissolved lime. The karst water, which dissolves limestone inside the mountain, deposits it in front of the mountain springs as "limestone ridge," coating everything with a muddy-colored calcareous crust along the path due to pressure decrease and carbon dioxide escape.

After about two kilometers, the valley truly becomes gorge-like, bringing us near the stream and cliffs. The valley steepness also gradually increases as we head up the rocky ditch toward the plateau. Finally, the valley floor narrows to only a few meters wide, with more and more mossy boulders and trunks piled on it. Gradually comes the turning point: we no longer walk on stream-worn gravel but on debris falling from the mountainside, climbing more and more until rocks and logs barely leave room to advance. At the most critical points, stair-like carved or boarded logs have been placed, and in a few places, some wooden ladders lean against the rock, allowing passage through what looks like an impassably chaotic pile of stones and logs.

The steepest and narrowest sections are in the upper third of the valley – this part is called Róth Gorge (Rothova roklina). Here, Márton Róth and his companions first crossed in August 1898 and the following month completed the route with a professional photographer. This created the first photographic documentation of the mountain's gorges, popularizing the wild rocky world. A memorial plaque at the canyon entrance and the name honor the explorers. Alongside the Small (Malý vodopád) and Large waterfalls (Veľký vodopád), a metal ladder aids the rounded rock steps, and further in the nearly closed-in narrow rock corridor above us, we proceed on known and tested log steps equipped with footholds.

These wooden walkways lead long across the fissure. The exciting hiking trail, the incredibly narrow ditch, eventually softens as we approach the stream's spring areas. We reach the turning point of our long walk, where the stream branching out again is surrounded by lush poplar leaves, but the surrounding mountains scarcely rise above us, and sunlight breaks through the branches.

Cooling-down section on the plateau road

After a few hundred meters, we say goodbye to the adventurous Róth Gorge and join the Glac road (Glacká cesta) and the P marker running on it (to the left). This path skirts valleys and rounded peaks nearly levelly, and we begin our return along the plateau edge. The previously shady gorge forest here becomes sunnier and changes into dryer beech forest. This phenomenon is called climatic inversion: as temperature rises with altitude, plants typical of otherwise higher elevations survive in the valley below. The surrounding beech forest is home to our hemisphere's orchid species with the largest flowers, the lady's slipper orchid with yellow and brown petals, which can be rarely discovered in the least disturbed beech woods. In the marshy clearings around the stream springs grows the Siberian ash possessing yellow tufts: the largest population of this endangered plant in Europe lives within the Slovak Paradise National Park.

We climb nearly another 100 meters up the Glac road on the namesake plateau side, eventually reaching a clearing edged with pine forest with a covered resting place. Although the road forks, we continue along the P marker mostly level. The road winding through patches of forest and clearings stretches for good kilometers on the plateau, then curves back towards our starting point on a narrowing ridge. At the edge of Malá Poľana (Small Meadow), we take one last glance at the final pine-groved clearing before returning to the forest realm. The plateau narrows into a ridge between the deeply cutting valleys of Piecky and Veľký Sokol but remains at elevations between 900 and 1000 meters. The alternating pine and beech forests define the gently undulating terrain. In some rockier spots, the surrounding mountains can be glimpsed, but the area offers little in the way of views.

Midway, we overcome one last small ascent, but the mountain top finally "gives up the fight" against the destructive water work, and we descend along visible rock ribs towards the valleys. After a sharp left turn, we descend through rocky pine forest to the stream level. The sun-loving pasqueflowers favor the warmer, dry, and sunny spots opening up in the breaks. Their local variety, the Slovak pasqueflower, adorns with purple, fluffy flowers. This red-listed, endangered flower appears in the national park's emblem, though it blooms quite early in spring and later only the fluffy seed heads bow in the clearings. On the final descent, after covering about 200 meters of elevation, we arrive at the Veľká Biela voda (Great White Water) valley, our starting point, closing a long but eventful circular hike.