Biała Woda Nature Reserve

The Biała Woda valley in Jaworki looks today like a wild, meadow-filled corner of the Little Pieniny mountains, yet until 1947 a Rusyn village stood here. After its people were deported in Operation Vistula – the forced resettlement of Ukrainian and Lemko-Rusyn communities – only house foundations and feral fruit trees remained, surrounded by limestone crags, a stream with small cascades and plants that in Poland grow elsewhere only in the Tatras. The walk is easy, almost flat and free.

A reserve in four pieces

The landscape reserve was created in 1963. It covers 33.71 ha in four separate sections along the Biała Woda stream and its tributary, the Brysztański Potok, and is managed by the Krościenko forest district. It protects limestone rocks and towers from the Jurassic and Cretaceous, a rocky stream bed with cascades and deep plunge pools, and rock-dwelling plants. Most of it is open land – meadows, junipers and grassland.

History of the valley

From the second half of the 14th century Vlach shepherds arrived here with their pastoral culture. Later the village of Biała Woda was home to Rusyns who lived from grazing, farming and small crafts – they were known for mending broken clay pots, gluing them and binding them with wire. By the early 19th century the village was badly overcrowded. In 1947 the inhabitants were deported and the buildings burned. Remains of foundations and old orchards are still visible by the trail.

What to see

• Czubata Skała – just past the reserve entrance, on the left.
• Smolegowa Skała with the Międzyskały gorge – relict plants, including the rare eight-petal mountain avens (Dryas octopetala), grow on its north face.
• Czerwona Skałka, nicknamed the Sphinx, and opposite it the Konowalskie Skały forming a rock amphitheatre.
• Kociubylska Skała where the Brysztański Potok joins, with information boards.
• Bazaltowa Skałka – a natural monument about 200 m from the reserve, left by magma that broke through to the surface about 100 million years ago.

Tripto tip

Red and yellow trails lead from the centre of Jaworki towards Biała Woda. There is a paid, self-service car park at the valley entrance (PLN 4 per hour in autumn 2022 – the rate may have changed). A walk up the valley and back takes about 2 hours; at the end you can climb to the Rozdziela pass for the views. It is noticeably quieter than the neighbouring Homole Gorge, about 2 km away. Remember it is a reserve: stay on the trail and don't pick plants.