Sine Wiry Reserve

Sine Wiry means blue whirlpools and the name is descriptive: the Wetlinka cuts a gorge through Carpathian flysch here, running over and between tilted rock shelves in a series of pools and small rapids, and where the water is deep and still it takes a strong blue-green from the mineral content and the light. The reserve covers about four hundred and fifty hectares of the gorge and the beech forest around it. Above the river, a landslide in 1980 dammed a side stream and made Jeziorko Bobrowe, a small lake with drowned trees in it, which is the second thing to walk to. The trail follows the old forest road along the river, easy for most of its length, with fords and washouts where the water has taken sections - the river reshapes the path regularly and the route has changed more than once. It is quiet even by Bieszczady standards.

The landscape

• Blue-green pools - the Wetlinka over tilted rock shelves in a flysch gorge.
• A 1980 landslide lake - Jeziorko Bobrowe with drowned trees, above the river.
• A shifting path - the old forest road repeatedly taken out and rerouted by the water.
• Real quiet - little walked even by Bieszczady standards.

When to go

May to October; low water for the pools. Half a day.

Things to know

The river washes out sections of the path and the route changes - check locally. Fords are impassable after heavy rain. There is no infrastructure. Ticks are a real problem from spring to autumn.

Nearby

Solina lake is west; the Bieszczady poloninas are east.