The devil - wood sculpture
The beginning of the trail
Rock formations
The Gothic Gate
Rock labyrinth
The orange stream
The trail
A narrow passage
Panorama
"Lovers" rock formation
View point
The trail among the rocks
The rocks
"Mayor and his wife"
Mouse hole
Adrspach Rocks Park from outside
A pine growing on the rocks
History of discovery
It may seem surprising that the shaped by water and wind for millions of years rock town in Adrspach was literally unknown in the world for centuries. Local communities ventured there only in the face of danger or to escape from invaders. The first climbers and foreign visitors appeared as late as at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Quite a few famous figures of the 18th century visited the place, for example: Prussian Queen Louise, the Polish King Friedrich August, the Emperor Joseph II and many others.
However, the maze was still unknown for majority of normal population. Only after the great fire in 1824 the rocks began to emerge from the dense forests that once had grown there. In the nineteenth century, Adrspach rock town became more accessible when the paths and trails were constructed and the first regular visitors appeared.
The trail - The big loop
The trail, in the shape of a big loop will take you to the most important and interesting points in the rock labyrinth. You will notice the first rock formations even before entering the park area. The best time to visit is obviously the summer, however I went there a few days after Christmas, there was no snow at all (which is highly unusual) and the weather was really nice. And, what's most important there were very few visitors so the trails weren't crowded at all.
Rock formations
There are thousands of strange rock formations and some of them, especially those that resemble something have unique names. You will get a leaflet full of information about basically each of them and a map that shows where exactly they are located. Right after the start of the trail, you can admire "The Jug" and "The sugar cone". Then you will encounter The Metuje river which has a beautiful, unusual orange color. Together with the silver rocks it makes quite an outlandish scenery. The stream will lead you to the most amazing part of the rock town (in my humble opinion) - "The Gothic Gate" which looks as if all the walls and the passage was man made. The gate itself is obviously man made. Now you can admire really high rocky facade of the maze while walking along the little river. The whole gate and the walls remind of the rock town in Petra in Jordan, with the exception of the color.
After a few minutes of walking, you will see another natural wonder - a beautiful waterfall surrounded completely by the rocks. Keep going, climb the trail up and you will be rewarded with an extraordinary view of the whole panorama of Adrspach rocks. Then, squeeze through the mouse hole, keep walking and you will get to where you started.
The blue lake
Now, you are back at the beautiful blue lake that you passed when starting the trail. There is an additional loop trail around it and it's also beautiful. It's not a natural lake but a former sandpit that has been filled with water. Nevertheless, it looks beautiful, the water is clear and blue (almost like in the Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia). I was also lucky to visit the place in winter, because the water surface was partially frozen and a beautiful, star-shaped pattern was formed on it.
Clear waters of the sandpit lake
The lake
Clear water of the lake
The lake
The lake - reflection
The small waterfall
The big waterfall
The orange river
The frozen lake
Frozen part of the lake
Yellow moss - looks like paint
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