Hiking the Tatra and Pieniny Mountains in Poland | Trackin' Dirt

[Music] [Music] [Applause] while a large part of Poland is relatively flat or covered with lush rolling hills the southern end of the country is where things really turn vertically which is why my Polish journey begins in the artsy and trendy city of Krakow although I could easily spend a week exploring the town I'm here because it's the Gateway to the southern mountains to show me around I'm meeting up with Mateus a local guide who knows the P&A region as well as anyone so that's the peak that were this why don't we try to get to this one in the middle yeah very cool yeah we just climb along disgorge of the pass from this pass we will attack the pig who attack the peak I like your style thank you I'm try let's go so we entered into the National Park and here this is the oldest in Poland the oldest yeah it was established around 90 years ago in 1942 but simultaneously it is the smallest yeah it is like 23 24 square kilometers so it's quite small but extremely diverse it's a steep hill trail but it's super cool again these mountains just like spring up how do these beautiful kind of green valleys [Music] Wow that's a nice view so Matteo was just pointing out the Tatra mountains off in the distance and we'll be heading out there for an adventure can see looks like there's a storm moving its way in unpredictable weather in the mountains as always but see what we get hopefully the weather holds out [Music] potato-chan I have made it to the top of silk elite so which high five pronounce that correctly means Falcon Rock and it's just this awesome promontory of limestone sticking up over this awesome Gorge it's beautiful I'm learning about Poland I had no idea that Poland has this many beautiful mountains and see the Tatra mountains that we're gonna be exploring as well so this place is rad having a great day and I'm overlooking these rafters that are currently going down the rapids and I get to do that shortly and so basically I'm very excited about my polish adventure here so life is good the mountains of Poland are famous for the highlander culture which remains a vibrant part of the way of life here to give me a little taste of that culture matteo shows organised a bit of a get-together back in town so this band of Highlander musicians came along and it stops to play for us so we've gotten some bratwurst or some type of sausages cooking up on the fire and these guys are jamming away and we've got a little bit of libations going on as well here in true Polish style so anyway we're having a good old time here and a little bit of a party here tonight so having fun inspired by the music and filled with sausage and spirits the following day we head out to explore the peony mountains it's a very lush and green land and the heavy clouds and rain we see in the distance would explain why but not someone who has ever deterred by the idea of getting wet we push on hoping for the best next to the tree yeah let's hide under the tree there's some one shelter here this one's starting to come down pretty good so what you teach me the rain song yes locate Highline Highlander yeah song just propose to me okay nearly dystonia Lee yell each Italy oh yeah oh sir yeah you later sir yawn it's cover Lisa no leads it's good but it doesn't work yeah interesting the spell you can see it's brighter though it is brighter oh we did it baby maybe no okay so today we are jumping on one of these traditional boats and doing some rafting through this amazing Gorge through the National Park on the border of Poland and Slovakia notation I are going to be jumping in with one of these guys that's doing the traditional pole style rafting they take these boats all the way down to the sea it's a little bit rainy hopefully the weather holds out for us not sure what to expect but at least it's going to be cool you remember to income patients I don't remember the incantation I think we might need it today though you want to try it yeah nearly disowned yeli yeli the stool any torture - nyet Seba boneyard chest nirvana hey this is sweet here we go it's got a good little pace here all right we're humming along while we're floating through the main part of the gorge right now you're in the peony nae it's been raining pretty much since we got on the boat we have just a little moment of clearer weather right now or at least not rain but I'm hearing all the river stories from our guides and just getting the float through here it's pretty special it's beautiful place and it feels like I'm participating in a little bit of history geology and culture all at once so it's beautiful loving it and having fun potato shooters relaxed yeah now I have many girlfriends as well one freak show feeling pretty authentic here as we reach the end of our trip I can't help but think how fitting it is that the traditional way of rafting here in Poland is with poles yep well that jokes still a work in progress thank you very much that was awesome no that was wonderful thank you so much done I slept I go dinky dink ooh yay so they're preparing the ships now for milking and our hosts esvet me to wait a couple of minutes and in the meanwhile he will give us a try give us some cheese to try okay walk through any market or eat in any restaurant in Poland and you'll quickly discover how important cheese is to the way of light fear the very best of that cheese is still made the traditional way with hand milk goats and sheep small batch processed and smoked in small huts [Music] so this is award-winning cheese in different products and what are the yes [Music] those two is a kind of cottage cheese brinda another Kivar yeah this one yeah and this is smoked yes it's like a yeah there's brain bring the cheese okay yes that's very nice and it's very nice together cuz this one's so strong then you go to something a little bit more smooth and mild to stay off so the bacon that's been smoking away over the fire the whole time one of the first things I noticed when I walked in we're getting to try that as well it's been smoking over the fire for a week yes mmm-hmm it goes we've got Erlich as well yeah mm-hmm that's fantastic [Music] this has been really cool to see the Highlander way of life here in southern Poland just got to witness the milking they milk all of these cheap twice a day so it's a lot of work they started like three or four in the morning and then do it again here about three in the afternoon so this is a tough hard way of life but as I've tasted the rewards are pretty sweet so I've just been sitting here sharing a fire with this guy the last milking a bunch of sheep and now he's invited me to share the fire with him and to cook up some bacon over the fire he's talking to me I have no idea what is saying but we're having a good time we're about to share some Bacon's are these ready no resend it up talking with this guy we're just sharing the fire insurance and food together and having a good time that was amazing and everything is just super cool here and the food is amazing I'm loving it I'm just buzzing with excitement so this has been fantastic choking up with all the smoke this has been fantastic [Music] [Applause] [Music] just arrived here into the south of Poland during the doorstep to the Tatra mountains or setting off we're gonna take a gondola up into the mountains close to the top and then from there we are trekking our way through the mountains to some lodges could be doing some Lodge to lives to lodge over the next few nights super excited about it but as you can tell we just have a soaking downpours going on it's gonna be some tough conditions to deal with but we're gonna have some fun no matter what [Music] all right let's do this adventure looking fun out here [Music] is at the top yeah and the border and the border the top of Casper Aviv yeah that's it all right right it's pretty good my polish is improving yeah so now from here we have to set out to the lodge yeah that's a good bit we might have some river crossings exactly this would be a good adventure well I'll follow you yeah lead the way this beautiful day I haven't fun still got more to go we'll match across the river worried about this wondering about what we do we'll see we'll see oh geez yeah fun so we've come to our greatest obstacle yet it's not from above it's all this water flowing down from all of this snow melt and rain that we're having it's just totally overloaded the trail here much deeper than our boots so we got to take boots off and just tough it out and go across [Music] whoo buddy what you and your tough polish Ness alright we'll just sit in the snowbank to put our shoes back on now is good you can continue to put cheese back on alright let's do it [Music] well I think this beats camping tonight thank you looks like the creeks are surging today all part of the fun you wanna and I are setting off from the first touch and we're making our way to the second Hut it's been raining all night these creeks are surging with water and that looks like our route to one of the huts might be cut off so we may be having to reroute and go to a different Hut we don't really know we're gonna be finding it out as we hike on the trail today we'll probably do a few more creek crossings along the way so ready for a big day this one looks a little spicier we have come to basically a divergent or a convergent set of rivers and they're both flowing pretty heavily we've got a snow bridge that's crossing one but then we have to find a way to cross the second one so DeWanna is currently looking and also just checking for safety [Music] [Music] [Laughter] perogies yeah yeah big oh yeah after days of rain I'm so excited to finally get some brilliant sunshine you can actually see the peaks in the mountains that are surrounding me and today I'm going to be going to climb and do some mountaineering on beneath it's one of the local beautiful Peaks here in the Tatra mountains so I'm meeting up with a climbing guide Wojtek and together we are setting off on an adventure in the mountains today [Music] that's such a beautiful looking peak from down below I'm excited to get up there we've made it to the first saddle point you know the high point below unique that we're going to be climbing up there the weather is currently holding out it's looking good I'm feeling good seeing how far we've come come up definitely about a thousand feet or so just super happy to have some sunshine blue skies and hopefully these clouds stay away from the peak long enough for us to be up at the top and having a good view [Music] Wojtek and i have just made it to the base of me looks like our weather window is holding out so the clouds are coming in and out but I think it's going to be good super excited it's been a beautiful climb just to get to the base here and now I'm actually excited to be grabbing some rock and getting to the top of this beautiful beautiful peach known for accomplishing tough climbs in harsh conditions the poles have long been recognized as some of the hardiest mountain climbers in the world with a training ground like this it's easy to see why although the Tatras which form a natural border between Poland and Slovakia are only eighty seven hundred feet high their dramatic terrain gives them a much bigger field whoo beautiful first pitch oh man our luck holds as the clouds continue to move out so that we can tackle the final pitch with confidence I may not make it look as easy as Wojtek who leads and sets the route almost effortlessly but I love this style of flying moving through the mountains and pushing my comfort zones I get to experience a place in a way that you will ever get to all of them almost there going on oh yeah oh yeah man what a place well so sick of here just drink it in oh yeah that is satisfying [Music] [Music]

Channel: BackpackingTV

Views: 30,728

Keywords: Poland, hiking, trackin' dirt, BackpackingTV, mountains, perogies, hiking trip, Tatra Mountains, Pieniny Mountains, Southern Poland, travel video, travel, Epic Trails, Eric Hanson, hiking video, hiking in the rain, Poland travel, backpacking Poland, hiking Poland, Poland hiking, hiking tatra mountains, hiking pieniny mountains, Sport, travel and culture, Heliconia

Id: vSLwb9FDTYc

Length: 19min 34sec (1174 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 05 2019