Zywiec Beskids: Soblowka -> Mount Wielka Rycerzowa

Ladies and gentlemen, this is nothing short of a drama and a scandal all in one. It's mid-August, and this is our first time in the mountains this year! Seriously, I had to check my photo archive because I couldn't believe it. The hiking season has always, and I mean always, started in April, but we've had such a delay. You know how it is—first the weather played tricks on us, then some "incredibly urgent" matters popped up out of nowhere, then some celebrity virus laid us flat, and then there was a competing photography event that only happens once a year. But finally! A sunny weather window opened up, and we hit the ground running.

And the trail? Oh man, what a trail it was! Wielka Rycerzowa and the surrounding mountain pastures are the very definition of the word "idyllic." You'd think we knew what to expect; after all, the mountain hut at Przegibek, which we've visited several times, is just around the corner. And yet, the mountains can still surprise you! And there, on Wielka Rycerzowa, the Bacówka mountain hut was waiting for us, and inside... them. Bilberry pancakes that tasted as if angels had come down from heaven just to fry them. The pancakes, I mean, not the angels. It was a true pancake frenzy—during our short break, almost everyone who came into the hut ordered them. It would have been a sin not to join the cult. Add two non-alcoholic beers to that, and the day was made.

But Wielka Rycerzowa also has its own little, rusting secret. Just below the summit, literally a few dozen meters from the hut, we stumbled upon a bizarre metal structure. It looks like a set piece from a post-apocalyptic movie, but in reality, it's the remains of an old T-bar ski lift. In the rightly bygone era of the Polish People's Republic (PRL), the Border Protection Troops (Wojska Ochrony Pogranicza) used to train their soldiers in skiing here. What's left are some wheels, the remnants of an engine, and a concrete foundation, all picturesquely devoured by rust. The best part, however, is the tree that has brazenly grown right through the middle of a metal grid, as if it wanted a closer look at this relic of a quirky system.

The map of the route we took is here. And here we parked for free.