Czarny Staw pod Rysami (Black Lake below Rysy)

Czarny Staw pod Rysami, the Black Lake below Rysy, lies 188 metres higher than Morskie Oko, in a rocky cirque enclosed by the Kazalnica wall and the ridge running to Rysy. A short but steep climb leads up from the mountain hut. The water looks almost black, hence the name, and it is the southernmost lake in Poland.

A lake in a glacial cirque

The lake covers about 20.6 ha and is 76.4 m deep, the second-deepest in the Tatras and fourth in Poland. It sits at 1,583 m above sea level in the Rybi Potok valley. On the Morskie Oko side it is closed by a sill of smooth, glacier-polished rock known as roches moutonnées. The lake drains over this sill in small cascades, forming the Czarnostawiańska Siklawa waterfall.

The dark colour comes from the shadow of the peaks and from cyanobacteria living in the water. Directly above the water rises the 576-metre wall of Kazalnica, and the cirque is ringed by peaks including Mięguszowiecki Szczyt Czarny, Wołowy Grzbiet, Rysy, Niżnie Rysy and Żabi Szczyt Wyżni.

What to see

• The view from the sill down to Morskie Oko and the hut on the moraine on the far side.
• The iron cross on the shore, cast from Tatra iron at Kuźnice and erected in 1836. It originally stood by Morskie Oko.
• The Kazalnica wall, one of the best-known climbing walls in the Polish Tatras.
• The trail junction: from here the red trail continues to Rysy and the green one to Kazalnica and the Mięguszowiecka Pass below Chłopek.

Interesting facts

From 1883 attempts were made to stock the lake with trout from Morskie Oko, without success. The water is extremely poor in nutrients and in summer reaches only 7–11.5°C. The lake usually freezes in October or November and does not thaw until between May and July. In 1804 Stanisław Staszic, a pioneer of Polish geology, measured its depth and water temperature here. Nineteenth-century guidebook writers called it the gloomiest lake in the Polish Tatras. The first winter visit was made on 31 December 1910 by Father Walenty Gadowski, Bolesław Łazarski and Jakub Gąsienica Wawrytko.

Tripto tip

The hike starts at the Palenica Białczańska car park, more than 20 km from Zakopane. First comes the 8.5 km asphalt road to Morskie Oko (about 2 h 20 min), then about 50 minutes on the red trail along the eastern shore of the lake and steeply up to the rock sill. Entry to Tatra National Park is charged: a standard ticket is PLN 11, reduced PLN 5.50, and in season it is worth buying a parking ticket online in advance as well. Allow 6–7 hours for the round trip from Palenica. Bring a warm layer even in summer, as it is noticeably cooler by the lake in the shade of the walls. In winter and spring check the avalanche bulletin, because the steep slopes above Morskie Oko can be dangerous then.