--- title: "Crossing the Iron Mountains, or rescuing the princess. A guys' trip, light and heavy" description: "A detailed day-by-day report with photos from the crossing of the Iron Mountains. The route starts and ends in Slatiňany and it's a 75 km loop." canonical_url: "https://gramino.com/blog/crossing-the-iron-mountains" last_updated: "2020-07-27" --- # Crossing the Iron Mountains, or rescuing the princess. A guys' trip, light and heavy Authors: David Czempka Date: 2020-07-27 A detailed day-by-day report with photos from the crossing of the Iron Mountains. The route starts and ends in Slatiňany and it's a 75 km loop. Eight guys escape the coronavirus madness to the Iron Mountains. Packed light and heavy alike, each the way he likes it and as his means allow. The May Day holiday has to be put to good use, and what's better than heading out with a group of friends on a 3-day crossing? Even more so when it's the beautiful Bohemian-Moravian Highlands with castle ruins, reservoirs, and lookout towers. - **Route length:** 75 km - **Total elevation gain:** 1 338 m - **Route map:** [mapy.cz/s/dosojobobe](https://mapy.cz/s/dosojobobe) Our energetic friend Tomáš took on organizing and planning the route. Nobody else would probably have managed to get such a big group moving. Fun fact: in 2014, right after it opened, Tom and his friend Lukáš hiked the 3 054-kilometer Te Araroa trek in New Zealand, so they were probably the first Czechs to complete the whole route. It resulted in several [reports](https://www.tvnoe.cz/porad/17351-outdoor-films-s-tomasem-sedlackem-na-jeden-z-nejdelsich-a-nejnarocnejsich-treku-sveta)and [articles](https://www.idnes.cz/cestovani/rady-na-cestu/te-araroa-je-nejkrasnejsi-trek-na-novem-zelandu.A140518_151030_rady-na-cestu_hig). So it was clear our crossing wouldn't be boring. ## Day 0 – getting to the Iron Mountains trailhead We get clear instructions, and on Thursday after work our gang gathers at the Třinec train station. We eye the sizes of each other's backpacks and wonder whether we have enough sausages and cans of beer. We board the train toward Slatiňany. Four and a half hours later, still in a good mood, we get off at our destination. Just 5 kilometers to go to the start of our trail and our place to sleep. We camp at an emergency overnight spot next to a parking lot at the edge of the woods. The main task of the evening is to get rid of excess food and lighten our loads a bit. Around midnight we collapse into our shelters, and a few minutes later a downpour starts. Our timing was perfect. On this crossing, I'm testing a new tent, the [Sierra Designs High Route 1 FL](/p/sierra-designs-high-route-1-3000). My first impressions are good – it's roomy, stable, easy to pitch, and it handled several hours of rain with ease. ## Day 1 – castle ruins, a quarry, and Lichnice Castle We pack up and move approx. one kilometer farther to the unique wooden Bára lookout tower. A bit farther on, at the Rabštejn castle ruins, we check out a fantastic hiking shelter where you can spend the night in the loft. Right next to it, we admire the work of local stonemasons who have taken on restoring parts of the ruins. To lend at least a small hand, we drop our backpacks and fetch building stones that have tumbled down the hill below the castle. Along the way, we enjoy the little details in small villages. In the village of Deblo, we watch a local crocodile in a small pond that's been holding its position and its poker face for several minutes. Right above the village, near the Na Chocholce summit (452 m above sea level), is the Petrified Seabed exhibit – a short trip into prehistory with fossils from a prehistoric sea. You'll find trilobite tracks and worm burrows etched into the stone. After our lunch break, we continue through the village of Mlaďoňovice, beyond which we join the red-marked hiking trail. Along the way, we admire the impressive Prachovice quarry. In Prachovice, we restock on essential food at a small grocery store and chill on the curb. It's pretty hot, so we agree that a swim would really hit the spot. We tweak the original plan a little so our route passes some ponds and we can check whether they're total duckweed swamps. In the end, Lovětín Pond won – it even has a swimmer symbol on Mapy.cz! The water was beautifully ice-cold, and that's the best recovery there is. After a quick dip, feeling reborn, we head to the day's biggest highlight, the Lichnice castle ruins. As we reach the castle, a dream comes true for all of us. During the holiday, there's a serving hatch open here – pouring draft beer! Now that's the cherry on top. We spend the rest of the day around the castle ruins, enjoying a gorgeous sunset. We spend the night together in a nearby shelter. ## Day 2 – reservoir views, Oheb Castle, and the Chrudimka River Fortunately, I'm one of the lucky ones who crashed first and also woke up first. The sunrise was worth it. After our morning routine, we descend through the Lovětín Gorge to Třemošnice, where we restock on food. That's where the Iron Mountains are great – there are several places to restock food and water along the route, so you usually only need a day's worth of food in your pack. From St. John's Chapel, a long path leads along the edge of the forest and meadows. Our next stop is the Seč Reservoir. Sadly, here we search in vain for a place that would at least partly satisfy our craving for draft beer, so we gnaw on bread and cheese on our sleeping pads by the water. I definitely recommend not missing the Oheb castle ruins, which offer a truly epic view of the reservoir. But we don't linger long – we want to cover most of the remaining distance today and leave just a few kilometers for the last day. Michal takes off his shoes here and walks a few kilometers barefoot through the forest. Why not, if the terrain and the weight of your backpack allow it. For roughly the next 20 kilometers, we walk alongside the Chrudimka River. After a tough day, with our feet already pretty swollen, comes a long stretch of paved road that wears us all out. A few minutes before sunset, we reach the Celtic oppidum of České Lhotice. Roughly 150–50 BC, in the Late Iron Age, this place was inhabited by the Celtic Boii tribe. A little farther on, we look for a place to sleep, and after dinner, it's finally time to free the princess. Along the way, we've cut off all the dragon's heads (the Božkov, Republica, and Captain Morgan rums), and now it's time to rescue the chosen one – Tatra Balsam 52 special in a gorgeous ceramic bottle weighing a crazy approx. 750 grams, which Tom has been lugging all the way from home. Unfortunately, there's no time for cuddling, because it starts to rain. We put the last of our strength into freeing the princess, and within a few minutes she's free. We lie down content and pleasantly tired, to the sound of rain drumming on the rainflies of our shelters. ## Day 3 – sandstone rocks and the final stretch to the train We're seriously lucky. It rained all three nights, and during the days, barely a drop fell. For the last day, we left a pleasant 14 kilometers. The first four follow the Celtic nature trail, where we enjoy the carved wooden sculptures. Past the hydroelectric plant, we joined a paved road and expected the last few kilometers to Slatiňany to be nothing special and that we'd spend the remaining time the classic way – at the train station. But that's not how it went. We couldn't believe our eyes when we reached the Škrovád sandstone rock area, which offers a perfect setting for rock climbing. Even more surprising was the lovely Bar Kůlna, which had its serving window open. We had 3 kilometers to the finish and 3 hours until our train left. The barkeeper was so friendly that he even tapped a keg of special beer, and that settled where we'd spend the spare time until the train left. At four in the afternoon, we board the train, and around half past nine we're home. I believe everyone was happy and tired. This was the right kind of vacation – the kind you'd ideally need a vacation from! ## Gear for a three-day trek - [Sierra Designs High Route 1 – 3000](/p/sierra-designs-high-route-1-3000.md) - [Sea To Summit Airlite Towel – Small](/p/sea-to-summit-airlite-towel-small.md) - [Liteway Wash Bag](/p/liteway-wash-bag.md) - [MSR IsoPro 110 g](/p/msr-isopro-110-g.md) - [Sea To Summit Camp Cutlery Spork Charcoal](/p/sea-to-summit-camp-cutlery-spork-charcoal.md) - [Sea To Summit Frontier UL Long Handle Spoon](/p/sea-to-summit-frontier-ul-long-handle-spoon.md) - [Sea To Summit Ground Control Tent Peg](/p/sea-to-summit-ground-control-tent-peg.md) - [Gramino Ultralight Sit Pad](/p/gramino-ultralight-sit-pad.md) - [Gramino Trucker Hat](/p/gramino-trucker-hat.md) - [Turbat Scarf](/p/turbat-scarf.md) - [Injinji Run Lightweight Mini-Crew](/p/injinji-run-lightweight-mini-crew.md) This post is also available as [HTML](/blog/crossing-the-iron-mountains). ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](/sitemap.md) for all pages.