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The forecast said that rain was due at about midday, so we wanted to get an early start on our hike at Tatras National Park. We skipped breakfast at Hotel Skalny (it didn't even begin serving until 8:00 AM!) and drove to the big parking lot for Morskie Oko. Along the way to the trailhead, we passed several other smaller parking lots for other trailheads - this area has many hikes in it, and it is too bad we didn't have more days available to do further exploration. But this was our last of vacation, after the hike we were driving back to Krakow, where we would catch our flight early in the morning of the next day. It takes 45 minutes of walking from the parking lot along a wide, paved path to reach the start of the green trail. The green trail goes up the Dolina Roztoki valley and leads to the Five Polish Lakes. Of course, it is uphill all the way, but the trail is not too steep and there are some nice views of what looked like glacier carved peaks. There is a short cut to the Mountain Hut, a black trail that goes straight up the mountain side, but if you go that direction you will miss the beautiful waterfall. Unfortunately, when we reached the Five Polish Lakes, the clouds had descended and blocked most of the scenery. We got glimpses of the nearer parts of the lake, but we were unable appreciate the famous vistas. After our stop at the Mountain Hut, we started up the blue trail. A couple of rain drops fell, and we pulled out our umbrellas and put on the pack covers, but then the drops halted and we remained dry. When we got to the high point of the blue trail, at a promontory called Swistowa Czuba, there was no one else around. We decided to take a victory photo by jumping as high as we could in the air. It was fun. Descending from the ridge on the blue trail leads to Morskie Oko. We started seeing lots of people hiking in the opposite direction. I guess it was because we had an early start that we got ahead of the hiking crowds, and now they were catching up to us. We saw a nun in a full habit hiking up the trail - that must have been cumbersome! At Morskie Oko, we could see the beautiful lake, but not the dramatic peaks that surround it - the clouds were too thick and they were getting lower. A trail goes around the perimeter of Morskie Oko, it takes about an hour to hike, but we decided not to circle the lake because of the expected rain. The route back from Morskie Oko to the parking lot is on the wide paved path. I was astonished at the multitudes of people hiking up the lake. It is a 9 Km hike, and though it is paved, it is uphill. Yet there were numerous people pushing strollers along the way. This is a popular hike, even though it was a weekday, the parking lot was overflowing when we returned. There were a fleet of buses parked there too, so entire tour groups must visit Morskie Oko. The last 30 minutes of our walk back to the parking lot, we were caught in a rainstorm. This was our seventh straight day of hiking on this vacation, and the forecast at the start of the hiking days had said that there would be rain and thunderstorms every day. Yet these last minutes were the only time on this trip that we actually got rained on while hiking. We were fortunate indeed! After Morskie Oko, we drove up to Krakow. This took a few hours, Poland is a much bigger country than Slovakia. We turned in the rental car at the Krakow airport and spent the night at the Airport Hilton. Next morning, we flew to Frankfort and then home. Our trip was over, but it had been a big success! Maps:I took a photograph of a trail map sign at the Zakopane Chalet. The map shows that there are numerous trails in the Zakopane area; it is too bad we only had one day to explore this area. 
This guy has an incredibly detailed trail description He chooses to hike counter-clockwise so that the end of the hike is on the 9 KM of closed road between the Morskie Oko and back to the parking lot. Map showing direct hike to and from Morskie Oko on the closed road Panorama Photos:
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Single Click on any thumbnail to begin the slide show at that photograph Morskie Oko Photos 
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