Table Mountains National Park

The Table Mountains are not really peaks but the remains of a sandstone seabed lifted up and left as a flat plateau, then split by weathering into blocks, corridors and towers. Two places show it best. Szczeliniec Wielki, the highest point at 919 metres, is reached by a long stone staircase from Karlow and then explored on a marked circuit that squeezes between rock walls and out onto platforms with views into the Czech Republic. Bledne Skaly, a few kilometres away, is a labyrinth of house sized blocks with passages so narrow that the route runs one way only and walkers have to turn sideways in places.

History

The landscape began to form 70 million years ago and was shaped by long erosion into rock labyrinths and formations such as the Hen, the Camel and the Giant's Head. The original beech and fir forests were cut and replaced with spruce around the turn of the 19th century, a peat bog was made a strict reserve in 1959, and the national park was created in 1993 (Wikipedia, Stołowe Mountains National Park).

The landscape

• Szczeliniec Wielki - the summit plateau, reached by a stone stairway of several hundred steps from Karlow.
• The rock corridors - deep, cool clefts on the summit circuit where the path passes between vertical sandstone walls.
• Bledne Skaly - a maze of eroded blocks with one way passages, some barely shoulder width.
• The plateau edge - flat sandstone terraces with views across the Klodzko valley and into Czech territory.

When to go

May to October covers the walking season, with June and September offering the best balance of weather and space. Arrive before nine or after four in July and August, since both sites operate ticket and access limits and the queues build sharply in the middle of the day. The Bledne Skaly access road is normally closed through the winter months.

Good to know

Both main sites are ticketed and both queue: the Szczeliniec staircase backs up on summer weekends and the road to Bledne Skaly can hold cars for a long time. The passages are genuinely tight and not suited to larger bodies, small children or anyone uneasy in confined spaces. Sandstone gets slippery when wet, and the summit weather is often colder than the valley.

Nearby

The spa towns of Kudowa-Zdroj and Duszniki-Zdroj are close, and Karkonosze is about ninety minutes north west.

Key facts