Bieszczady National Park, National park in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland
Bieszczady National Park is a nature reserve in Subcarpathian Voivodeship and covers forested mountain slopes and open summit areas in southeastern Poland. The landscape shifts between deep beech forests mixed with fir and sycamore and the treeless poloniny ridges above the forest line.
The area became a national park in 1973 after large parts of the population were relocated following World War II. The abandoned valleys gradually returned to a wild state, allowing forests to recover and large predators to return.
The name comes from the Bieszczady Mountains, which form gentle ridges with open grassland where hikers walk along exposed crests. Hutsul horses still graze these high meadows, keeping the grassland open as shepherds once did.
The trail network covers roughly 130 kilometers (about 80 miles) of marked paths open to hikers, cyclists and horseback riders. The best months to visit are May through October, when trails are dry and the poloniny are in full bloom.
The open poloniny meadows host around 800 species of vascular plants and provide habitat for lynx and wolves, which are regularly sighted here. These high plateaus lie above the forest line and offer views across the gentle Carpathian ridges that stretch to the Ukrainian border.
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