Skamieniały Wędrowiec and Łamańce Rocks

Where road 773 meets the road to Ojców, limestone crags rise from the left side of the Prądnik valley. Seen from the opposite bank of the stream, one of them looks like a walking man – hence its name, Skamieniały Wędrowiec, the Petrified Wanderer. Next to it stand the steep walls of Łamańce. These are the first rocks of Ojców National Park you pass when driving from Skała.

How they formed

Both groups are made of Upper Jurassic massive limestone. Their shapes come from karst erosion and from the fact that different parts of the limestone resist weathering unevenly – harder blocks remain while softer rock is washed away. The Petrified Wanderer belongs to a larger unnamed rock mass which, together with Pochylce on the other side of a side valley, forms a rock gate – one of many in the Prądnik valley. Officially the rocks lie within the village of Stoki and the town of Skała.

What to see

• The wanderer's silhouette – best seen from the far side of the Prądnik; close up it is just an ordinary crag.
• Łamańce – very steep walls on the valley side. They carry xerothermic grassland with rare lime-loving plants and the protected dwarf steppe cherry. In 2004 the park cleared trees that were overgrowing the rocks to save the grassland, once kept open by mowing and grazing.
• The rock gate formed by the Petrified Wanderer and Pochylce.

Trails

The red Eagles' Nests Trail runs below the rocks – the section from Pieskowa Skała down the Prądnik valley to Ojców – and from Łamańce the blue Jura Strongholds Trail branches off through the Ciasne Skałki gorge to the Będkowska valley.

Tripto tip

This is a good place for a short stop (15–30 minutes) or the start of a walk along the red trail towards the Hermitage of Blessed Salomea in Grodzisko and on to Ojców. The rocks are inside a national park: climbing is not allowed, and leaving the trail damages the protected grassland. The road can be busy – mind the verge when photographing the rocks.