Trail Designation System
The Trail Designation System used in the mountains of Poland is unified by the Polish Country
Lovers' Association (PTTK) and therefore identical in all mountainous areas.
For hikers, trails are marked with the sign shown here
The trail marker consists of a rectangular white plate with a coloured stripe running from left to
right through the centre. Stripes may be red, blue, green, yellow or black. They are painted on trees,
stones or placed on special signposts at trail crossings.
The most significant hiking trails are designated red or blue; less significant are green or yellow;
least significant are black-stripe trails. Colour does not indicate difficulty. This summer designation
system is helpful in snow-free conditions but during a snowstorm it is impractical to look for
coloured stripes, therefore an auxiliary winter hiking trail designation system is also in place. This
system takes the form of special wooden poles standing along the main trails, which are able to
indicate direction even in thick fog and blizzard conditions; the hiker may pass from one pole to
another in order to find the way to the nearest refuge. Always use this system in winter. Winter
trails are coursed far away from cirques edges (cornices) and in avalanche-free areas.
Springtime:
Between 1 April and 31 May the following trails are closed by the Karkonosze National Park
Director due to this being an endangered species' protective period.
Tourist trail colour |
Direction |
blue |
the Okraj Pass (in Polish - Przełęcz Okraj) - Skalny Stół |
green |
Bronek Czech Meadow (in Polish - Polana Bronka Czecha) - crossing
with red trail |
green |
the Karkonosze Pass (in Polish - Przełęcz Karkonosze) - Black Crowberry Rocks (in Polish - Ba?ynowe Ska3y) - crossing with Petrovka black trail. |