Parks and nature
a raised bog in the Bystrzyckie Mountains with dwarf birch, an Ice Age relic dating back 7,600 years
a broad peak in the Bystrzyckie Mountains with stone screes and a dense network of forest roads
Parks and nature
a peat bog at 720 metres with bog pine and sundew, opened up by a 400-metre educational trail
a spruce-covered peak of the Bystrzyckie Mountains on the watershed between the Baltic and the North Sea, with no marked trail
Mountains
the highest summit of the north-western Bystrzyckie Mountains, covered with spruce forest
an 816-metre summit of the Bystrzyckie Mountains covered in spruce forest, skirted by the Justyna Trail
Mountains
a dome-shaped hill in the Bystrzyckie Mountains, 745 m above sea level, with mouflons brought from Italy in the 18th century
Mountains
a peak in the Bystrzyckie Mountains in the Central Sudetes, covered with spruce forest
Nature in Szczytna: a peat bog reserve, Niknąca Łąka, mountain forests and mouflon. Eight places for nature lovers and quiet.
Above all on the peat bogs. The Torfowisko pod Zieleńcem reserve was set up in 1954 by order of the Minister of Forestry and Timber Industry. It lies on the western slope of Biesiec at about 760 metres, on the watershed between the Baltic and North Sea basins. The peat is in places over 8 metres thick. It is one of the few fragments of raised bog in Poland, with vegetation typical of a much colder climate, including the dwarf birch, a relic of the Ice Age.
Niknąca Łąka is an ombrogenous bog at 720 metres in the Red Waters Valley east of Karłów, in the Table Mountains National Park. Bog pine, sundew, cloudberry and peat mosses grow here. Until 1993 the area was protected as a separate reserve. In the 19th and 20th centuries drainage and spruce planting degraded the habitat, and a 400-metre educational trail with boards explains how peat bogs form.
Most summits are covered with planted spruce forest, with a little beech and sycamore, for example on Smolna (869.7 metres), Biesiec (833 metres) and Zbójnicka Góra (828 metres). It is a landscape of commercial plantings from decades ago. On Wolarz (854.93 metres) the spruce stands mix in places with acidophilous mountain beech forest and distorted patches of fertile Sudeten beech forest, and stone block fields lie on the slopes.
On Ptasia Góra (745 metres) live mouflon, brought to the area from Italy in the 18th century. The dome-shaped hill is covered with lower montane spruce forest with some broadleaf trees, and the lower parts of the northern slope are mountain meadows. The slopes of Zbójnicka Góra lie on the watershed, and the source streams of the Bystrzyca Łomnicka and the Dzika Orlica flow from them. Kuźnicka Góra (816 metres) is built of granite gneiss and sandstone, and almost all of it is covered with lower montane spruce forest.
The reserve and the national park have their own entry rules, so check them on the spot before you go in. Keep a dog on a lead and stay on the paths where rare bog vegetation grows. All the objects on this list carry the "Nature" and "Free" tags. Add ideas from the lists of mountains in Szczytna, free places and great views. The full picture of the commune is on the Szczytna attractions page, and nature from the whole region is on the Nature page.
