Trekking in Bieszczady

The Bieszczady have no peaks worth the name and it does not matter. What they have is połoniny — open grass ridges where the forest stops for no reason anyone has fully explained — and a landscape emptied of its villages after 1947, so you walk past orchards and church foundations with no houses around them.

Go in February instead and the same ridge becomes a wind-scoured white plateau with no tree cover for hours, crossed on snowshoes with nine hours of daylight. This is one of Europe's densest wolf populations. You will read their story in the snow constantly and never see one.

The Bieszczady have no peaks worth the name, and it does not matter — what they have is połoniny, open grass ridges where the forest stops for reasons no one has fully explained, and a landscape emptied of its villages after 1947, so you walk past orchards and church foundations with no houses around them.

The classic line links Tarnica, Caryńska and Wetlińska over several days, with long stretches above the treeline and no shelter. This is one of Europe's densest wolf populations; you will read their tracks in mud or snow constantly and almost never see one.

In winter the same ridge becomes a wind-scoured white plateau crossed on snowshoes.

A national-park entry ticket is required and wild camping is prohibited, so plan nights around the huts — Chatka Puchatka sits right on the ridge and is unheated, which is rather the point of it.

The main trekking season is May to October; a February crossing is a serious winter undertaking on snowshoes with only nine hours of daylight, for experienced parties only. Base around Ustrzyki Górne or Wetlina.

Come with hill fitness and self-sufficiency: the połoniny have no shelter and little water, and help is far off. Carry layers for the exposed ridges, where the weather is the main variable.