On the fourth and final full day of our vacation in the Giant Mountains, we decided to go for a change of scenery: take the train to Szklarska Poreba (Schreiberhau), walk up to Pramen Labe (Elbquelle / spring of the Elbe river), and then, depending on time of day and our appetite for more, either take the train back to Karpacz or walk back there across the peaks of the Giant Mountains. Unsurprisingly, we ended up walking the 20km or so from Pramen Labe back to Karpacz, and I can only say that that was the best decision we could have made.

• KD D62 Karpacz (09:00) → Jelenia Góra (09:18)
• KD D6 Jelenia Góra (09:24) → Szklarska Poreba Górna (10:15)

Pramen Labe

Szklarska Poreba is a comfortable little town, and seems like less of a tourist attraction than Karpacz. Only downside: it's located in a valley, with the train station where we got off sitting on the hills on one side and the Giant Mountains on the other. So, we first had to lose some precious elevation only to climb back up again on the other side. Apart from that, the way up went as usual: it started out relatively smooth and even, and then got steep and stony. There were some more stone formations and water streams, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Pramen Labe was pretty crowded, so we didn't stay for too long (13:30 to 14:00 or so). The spring itself is your typical ordinary spring, augmented with a nice list of some of the towns and cities it passes before it finally flows into the North Sea. It's located on a relatively large plateau, so from the spring itself, you don't have that much of a view into the surrounding mountain- or countryside.

The Ridge

The first peak we passed was Violik / Łabski Szczyt (Veilchenstein / violet peak). Apparently, its granite rock is slowly ground down by freezing water, leading to its slightly unnatural look as if someone had used a large shovel to pile up a heap of stones. It was also home to some prime specimen of some kind of moss, possibly Trentepohlia iolithus (Veilchenmoos) or Psilolechia lucida (Schwefelflechte).

Up next were Vysoká pláň (high plain), a small peak located on a wide plateau that sits at about 1,400 metres above sea level, and the neighbouring Śnieżne Kotły (Schneegruben / snow pits). Vysoká pláň features the former Schronisko „Nad Śnieżnymi Kotłami” (Schneegrubenbaude / shelter “above the snow pits”), which used to offer rest to hikers and mountain climbers. These days, it is instead used as a radio tower: Radiowo-telewizyjny Ośrodek Nadawczy Śnieżne Kotły. Śnieżne Kotły tend to be a repository for not-yet-molten snow late into spring, but were absolutely devoid of it when we passed them in early August. In any case, the view from the upper side of the cliff was quite spectacular. We spent a few minutes admiring the views, and continued at about 15:00.

We continued around Vysoké kolo (Hohes Rad / high wheel), whose peak consists entirely of broken granite, towards Špindlerova bouda (Spindlerbaude / Špindler's hut), a former shelter that now serves as a hotel.

The peak of vysoké kolo really is quite impressive – I only have pictures of the hiking path around it; see the Wikipedia links for more. Some of the rocks on the path are loose and there are no handrails or anything – do be careful where you step.

The remainder of the way towards Špindlerova bouda provided more granite heaps, mountain pines, and other kinds of rock formations. Also, Špindlerova bouda itself actually features a bus stop, located at convenient 1,198 metres above sea level.

Descent

From here on, continuing the path along the peaks would have taken us to Słonecznik, which we had already visited two days ago. Instead, we descended to the north. We had actually planned to make our descent before Špindlerova bouda, however, it turned out that that path was closed to hikers.

At this point, the clock was reading 17:00, we still had quite a few kilometres left to go, and the shadows were already growing longer. We had the sun at our backs and got some nice views across the Polish lowlands, plus the usual selection of rocks, more or less forested areas, and marsh lands. We reached Polana - Kotki (Katzenschlosslichtung / cat castle glade) at 18:45, and got back to Karpacz at around 20:15.

See lib.finalrewind.org/Pramen Labe for more pictures.