Hike + Scramble: Kuźnice - Boczań - Murowaniec - Granaty - Krzyżne - Wielka Siklawa - Roztoka - Wodogrzmoty Mickiewicza - Murowaniec - Kuźnice

This route intends to take you on a tour of the northernmost section of the Orla Perć secured trail from Skrajny Granat to the Krzyżne pass with a start and finish in Zakopane via varied paths that allow to see more of the area than just retracing your steps. After entering the national park in Kuźnice you take the yellow colour path through the Jaworzynka valley and cross its elongated meadow before reaching quite steep and rocky forest ascend to the pass between the Kopas’ summits. From there you continue to the Murowaniec mountain hut on the blue colour path and ascend further (all the time on the blue path) up to the Black Gąsienicowy Pond. You start to circle the pond until the blue path crosses with a yellow one that is leading sharply upwards to the East and indicates Granaty. You follow the yellow path through swathes of mugo pine and up boulder fields. After 1 hour the path becomes a scrambe on rocky plates and boulders and you have to be careful not to lose it – the markings are made on rocks that are sometimes covered in snow. Some of the more difficult sections are secured by metal chains and railings. You reach the top of Skrajny Granat after some 2.5 h of ascent from the pond shore. From that point you move north-east on the red path – the Orla Perć secured trail - and scramble through the damaged and crumbling rock in serious exposure. The path is secured only in some sections and the screes on the northern slopes can be icy, snowy and wet throughout entire summer. The rock is very crumbly, and the path can be covered in scree after rainfall and storms. You move through the wild and picturesque passes, gullies and crags where you have to pay serious attention and remain vigilant especially when passing tourists moving in the opposite directions. The cables and chains are present only on some sections. You move through and/or traverse: Granacka Pass, Orla Pass, Orla Tower, Jasińskiego suspended meadow, Buczynowe Crags, Nowickiego Pass, Buczynowa Pass After some 90 minutes the terrain starts getting easier and after another 30 mins you reach the Krzyżne Pass. From Krzyżne you descend southwards taking the yellow path on a crumbly and partially destroyed slope along a stream and then traverse to the south to reach the crossing of the routes near to the 5 Polish Ponds mountain hut (you can take a quick detour of 10 mins to have a lunch there). At the crossing you take the green path and descend along the Wielka Siklawa – the biggest waterfall in Poland. You reach the bottom of the Roztoka valley and follow it on the green path to the Mickiewicz cascade. After a couple hundred meters downwards on the asphalt road you take the red path and move left and upwards through a forest slope. You continue on the red path through the forest until you come to a crossing with a green path leading west and upwards. The green path takes you back to the Murowaniec mountain hut from where you move north on the blue path that takes you to the Kopas’ pass and further down on the Kopas’ ridge and the forest slope down to Kuźnice and Zakopane.