Polish-Czech Friendship Trail

The Polish–Czech Friendship Trail (Czech: Cesta česko-polského přátelství, Polish: Droga Przyjaźni Polsko-Czeskiej) is a public walking path in the Karkonosze Mountains (Giant Mountains). The path runs on both sides of the Czech–Polish border, along the main ridge and crosses or traverses all its summits. The maintenance of the trail is performed by the staff of both adjacent national parks: the Polish Karkonosze National Park and the Czech Krkonoše National Park. The trail is marked red and the signs mostly bilingual. The start point is located on Szrenica and the end in the Okraj Pass/Pomezní boudy; the length of the trail is approx. 30 km; the level of difficulty is moderate. The trail partially overlaps with ski trails.

Until the Middle Ages, the peak area of Karkonosze remained untouched; the first people to explore it were treasure hunters looking for gold, and shepherds. Already in the 18th century ascents to the Sněžka/Śnieżka were fairly common, albeit the forms of organised tourism appeared in the second half of 19th century, along with railway access to Jelenia Góra, Szklarska Poręba and Karpacz. Before the rush time for Karkonosze, Śnieżka was climbed amongst others by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In that period many shepherd's huts were built, called in German Baude and bouda in Czech. Some of them were developed later in mountain huts, which exist even now, e.g. Lucni Bouda. Due to the industrial revolution and the period of prosperity (which corresponds to Victorian times in England) tourism and hiking became popular. This was about the time, when the whole network of roads and trails, altogether ca 300 km, was constructed in both Silesian and Bohemian parts of the mountains. The whole idea was conceived, implemented and managed by two mountain clubs, Austrian Riesengebirgenverein and German Riesengebirgenverein. All the main paths and trails, including these in the alpine area, had been constructed before World War I. The trail, later dubbed Polish-Czech Friendship Trail, was completed before the end of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century the upper zones of the range were a busy tourist region with numerous huts and other facilities.

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