Virtual hike: Hiking in the Eliaszówka Valley, Poland
Route: St. Joseph’s Spring (303 m a.s.l.; 50.161888, 19.632796) – St. Elisha’s Spring (310 m a.s.l.; 50.161888, 19.632796) – Monastery of the Discalced Carmelites in Czerna (376 m a.s.l.; 50.168704, 19.634183) – Elijah’s Spring (336 m a.s.l.; 50.172875, 19.639939) – Kulenda Gorge (340 m a.s.l.; 50.173158, 19.640464) – Devil’s Bridge (321 m a.s.l.; 50.165885, 19.634875) – Parking lot near the Devil’s Bridge in Czerna (328 m a.s.l.; 50.165914, 19.634326)
Trail designation: yellow trail, red walking trail
Length: about 5.2 km
Walking time: about 2:00 h
Sum of approaches: 220 m
Sum down: 208 m
00:00:20 Eliaszówka Stream
00:01:17 St. Joseph’s Spring
00:04:58 Eliaszówka Stream
00:06:18 St. Elisha’s Spring
00:07:25 The ruins of the bridge
00:09:50 Chapel
00:17:49 Chapel
00:18:09 Monastery of the Discalced Carmelites in Czerna
00:20:02 The Way of the Cross
00:35:45 Chapel
00:37:23 Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Scapular
00:37:56 Image of Our Lady of the Scapular
00:39:49 Water from the spring of St. Elijah
00:47:10 Chapel
00:47:28 Eliaszówka Stream
00:51:11. Eliaszówka Stream
00:51:46 Elijah’s Spring
00:54:07 Kulenda Gorge
00:58:44 Crossing of trails
01:11:14 Limestone Mine Czatkowice
01:21:06 Siedlec Gate
01:32:16 Former monastery gate
01:35:20 Devil’s Bridge
01:35:32 Eliaszówka Stream
01:40:10 Parking lot near the Devil’s Bridge in Czerna
Eliaszówka Valley – a valley in the Olkusz Upland, part of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, stretching between the towns of Czerna and Paczółtowice. The Eliaszówka Stream, officially named Czerniówka, flows through the valley’s bottom. The stream rises on the southern slopes of Kominki Hill, at an elevation of 368 m a.s.l.
The valley’s slopes are steep, composed of gray Lower Carboniferous limestone. Karst processes have created gorges, rock outcrops, caves, and shelters in the valley. The left branch of the valley, slightly above Eliasz Spring, is the Kulenda Gorge. On the slopes of the valley are caves and shelters: the Cave under the Beeches, St. Hilarion’s Grotto, the Eaves under St. Hilarion’s Grotto, the Shelter at St. Hilarion’s Grotto, St. Onuphrius’s Grotto, and the Cave Beyond the Seven Thresholds. Several springs emerge in the valley: Elijah’s Spring, Elisha’s Spring, and St. Joseph’s Spring.
The valley is covered with forest. The valley slopes are covered with Carpathian beech, thermophilic beech, and oak-hornbeam forest, while the valley floor is covered with alder-ash riparian forest. To protect nature, the Eliaszówka Valley Nature Reserve was established in 1989, covering an area of 109.57 hectares.
The hermitage monastery of the Discalced Carmelites of St. Elijah was founded in the valley in the 17th century. Founded by Agnieszka Firlejowa, née Tenczyńska, the Voivode of Kraków, it covered an area of 80 hectares and was inaccessible to outsiders. In the 19th century, the monastery changed its character, and today, the “great enclosure” remains, scattered throughout the forest, of fragments of walls, of the hermitages where the hermits lived centuries ago, of the monumental eremitic bridge connecting the monastery hill with the village of Siedlec, which was part of the monastery’s endowment, and of fragments of the Siedlce gate.
The yellow-marked John Paul II Jurassic Valleys Trail, the green-marked Olkusz – St. Elias Spring hiking trail, and the red-marked walking trail around the Eliaszówka Valley run through the valley.
Hike recorded on May 28, 2025.
