Page Type: | Mountain/Rock |
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Lat/Lon: | 49.08815°N / 22.56712°E |
Activities: | Hiking |
Season: | Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter |
Elevation: | 4006 ft / 1221 m |
Kremenec (SK) Krzemieniec (PL) Кременець (UA) Kremenáros (H) Until 1920 known as Kremenáros (this name is still in use as an alternative to the Slavic name), this humble summit was the highpoint of Zemplén county within the Kingdom of Hungary. But the borders and the neighboring countries have changed. After World War II, during the communist era, the summit was a T-junction of the borders of Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Soviet Union. Since the disassembly of the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia in the early 1990s, the borders of Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine converge here. Kremenec is the highest summit in Slovakia's part of the Bieszczady Mountains (called Bukovské Vrchy by Slovaks), as well as the easternmost point of the Slovak Republic. It is also a junction of the parts of a trilateral protected area: Poland's Bieszczady National Park, Slovakia's Poloniny National Park and Ukraine's Uzhanskyi National Nature Park. In the actual fact, the tripoint is located at a lower summit of the mountain at 1208 m, while the main summit at 1221m rises about 250 meters eastwards, traditionally providing a meeting place for ecologists. |
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Krzemieniec shoud not be mistaken for the second highest peak in the Western Bieszczady, Krzemień, rising farther east, between Tarnica and Halicz. Unlike Krzemień, Kremenaros is completely covered with forest - no great views from the summit then. Its south face forms perhaps the most beautiful primeval beech-fir forest in the Carpathians named "Stuzhytsia". Extending from the Eastern Slovakia to Western Ukraine, this very old forest reserve (established in 1908) is now registered as part of UNESCO's World Natural Heritage. Being one of the most valuable pieces of the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians, for the nature lover Stuzhytsia offers an exclusive insight into the wilderness - under the canopy of gigantic firs over 400 years old which reach 1.5 meters in diameter and nearly 50 meters in height! No wonder that these wild slopes of Kremenets summit are the best habitat for large carnivores. The fact that brown bear dens are localized here proves the remoteness of the area. The primeval beech-and-fir forest of Stuzhytsia is accessible via the red stripe trail running from Nová Sedlica in Slovakia, or a newly established red-striped interpretive trail from the village of Stuzhytsa in Ukraine. (Please see the table below.) | |||
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