Dunajec breakthrough
The Dunajec Gorge (Polish: Pieniński Przełom Dunajca ) is an approx. 8 km long canyon of the Dunajec through the mountains of the Pieninen ( Middle Pieninen and Pieninki ) between Sromowce Niżne and Szczawnica . The river meanders through the mountains, whose steep rock faces rise up to approx. 350 above the river bed. The Góralen offer raft trips from Sromowce Niżne through the canyon to Szczawnica and Krościenko nad Dunajcem .
geology
The Pieninen are made of limestone from the Cretaceous Age (approx. 145–120 million years ago). There are several theories about how the breakthrough came about. It is believed that the Ur-Dunajec already flowed through the area before the Pienines were folded and piled up. According to another opinion, the Dunajec broke its way through the already existing mountains in the Miocene about 20 million years ago.
In the past there have been two breakthroughs by the Dunajec through the Pienines. Until 1997 the dam of the Jezioro Czorsztyńskie was built in the higher breakthrough . The first breakthrough is now about 50 meters below the surface of the reservoir.
history
The wood from the Tatras and Gorce was already assembled as rafts in Harklowa in the Middle Ages and shipped on the Dunajec to the Vistula and on to Gdansk , where they were used for shipbuilding on the Baltic Sea . The oldest information about a tourist use of rafting comes from the 16th century. In the old church in Krościenko nad Dunajcem there is a fresco from 1589 depicting this raft trip. Polographs in the Červený Kláštor monastery from the 17th century also deal with rafting. From around the 1840s onwards, the tourist raft trip for the guests of the Niedzica castle and the farm in Czorsztyn as well as the spa guests in Szczawnica became a separate branch of the economy in the Pienines. Originally the raft trip began below the Czorsztyn Castle . Since the construction of the dam, the original pier has been under the surface of the lake and the voyages start in Sromowce Wyżne and end in Szczawnica (15 km downstream) or Krościenko nad Dunajcem (18.5 km downstream). The raft trip takes 2:30 or 2:45 respectively. The breakthrough can also be made in white water kayaking or rafting. You can also hike or cycle along the Dunajec on the Pieninenweg .
literature
- Witold Henryk Paryski, Zofia Radwańska-Paryska: Wielka encyklopedia tatrzańska. Wydawnictwo Górskie, Poronin 2004, ISBN 83-7104-009-1 .
- Józef Nyka: Pieniny. Przewodnik. 9th edition. Trawers, Latchorzew 2006, ISBN 83-915859-4-8 .
- Pieniny polskie i słowackie. Mapa turystyczna 1:25 000. Agencja Wydawnicza "WiT" sc, Piwniczna 2008, ISBN 978-83-907671-3-0 .
