28 October 2005
In the evening we took an all-night train to Zakopane. The train was quite full, but ok. Unfortunately, the window of our compartment did not close very well, so Ervin got a bit cold. This will have its effects later:)
29 October 2005
We arrive to Zakopane early morning and in front of the station we find a minibus, which is heading to Polana Palenica, exactly where we want to get. No idea anymore about the price of the ticket, but it must have been somewhere between 10-20 zl.
After we arrive to Polana Palenica we start our hiking towards the Dolinie Pięciu Stawów Polskich Shelter (a bit long name for a shelter:)). The hiking is not difficult and it should take around 4/4 and a half hours. The shelter is beautifully located on the shore of a small lake called Przedni Staw Polski. The shelter has numerous facilities and you can also sleep here. If you visit this place, remember to try the Szarlotka (apple pie), which is delicious.
After a tea and a bit of looking-around we continue our way to the Murowaniec shelter. We are not in hurry; we enjoy the cold and sunny autumn and the beautiful afternoon. In the meantime, we climb the highest peak of the day, which is the Swinica (
In the freezing coldness we put up our tent and we are just happy that we have sleeping bags for extreme temperature (down to minus 12-15 degrees). At night, we are warm and sleep like babies.
30 October 2005
The morning is a bit of a shock: getting out from the warm sleeping bag to the minus temperature, which is outside, is not exactly our favourite.
After we pack out tent, we walk up to the Murowaniec shelter, where we drink tea and continue our hike. From the shelter we head to the Kasprowy Wierch (
31 October 2005
We have a good night sleep and in the morning as we look out the window, we see a huge deer grazing grass in front of the house. Later we have breakfast and this is the moment when Ervin feels quite bad and with fever, so we need to decide if we are going to hike today or simply just descend and catch a train to
As we start to ascent strong winds hits us, in the beginning, it is very uncomfortable, but later we get used to it. The wind does not stop all day, but maybe this is what made the day special. We climb Kondracka Kopa (
The shelter is very nice, with two common showers, bathrooms, and hot water in the evening, but lack the warm atmosphere we experienced last night in the Kondratowa Hala shelter.
1 November 2005
After a goodnight sleep, tea and breakfast we start our way to Zakopane. On the way down, we look into some of the caves, but we cannot go deeper because of our backpack and due to the fact that we have only one headlight.
As we reach the main road, we take a bus, which takes us to Zakopane. In Zakopane, Ervin starts feeling very bad and with high fever, so we rush to a pharmacy and buy enough medicine to last until