Szpiglasowy Wierch from Five Lakes

Szpiglasowy from Five Lakes is a loop from Palenica, not a walk up and down Ceprostrada. The summit is the same (2,172 m). The chain is only on the Five Lakes side.

The tiles and map are a full day: 24.2 km, 9 h 22 min, 1,480 m. Direction: chains up, wide path down. The other way is possible — worse for the head.

Trail description

Start at Palenica Białczańska. Red to Wodogrzmoty Mickiewicza, as for Morskie Oko. You turn here.

1. Roztoka (green, about 1 h 30 min from Wodogrzmoty): Forest, stream, then steeper. This is the approach on the Valley of Five Lakes page — here you do not turn around at apple pie.
2. The hut (black, about 40 min): The map skips Siklawa from below. You are above the lakes around hour three. If someone is finished at the hut — you go back down Roztoka. Szpiglas does not start on the bench.
3. Chains (yellow, about 1 h 45 min to the pass): From Niżnie Solnisko. A short rock section, not Orla. On dry rock a fit hiker will go up. Wet rock or a fear of heights means you do not “go on because we are already here”.
4. Summit: 15 min from the pass. Two valleys at once: Five Lakes, which you climbed out of, and the well of Morskie Oko, which you will descend into.
5. Ceprostrada (yellow, about 1 h 50 min to Morskie Oko): A wide path, Mnich from behind, no chains. Then tarmac to Palenica.

Panorama

This is why the loop exists. From the summit you see both valleys, which you cannot put in one frame from Ceprostrada in one direction. At the bottom you still join the crowd from Morskie Oko.

Warnings

• Chain: short. Walking down it is worse than going up — that is why the map does not start at Morskie Oko.
• Distance: more than 24 km from Palenica. A bus to Morskie Oko does not shorten Five Lakes.
• Winter / avalanches: yellow from the lakes and Roztoka can be avalanche terrain. This is not a loop “for the first snow”.
• Storms: there is no shelter on the pass. Dark clouds over Wołoszyn mean you turn around, even 20 minutes below the chains.

Descent and logistics

From the summit, Ceprostrada is the simplest descent. Returning down the chains to Five Lakes only makes sense if the car is at Palenica and the weather dies on the Morskie Oko side — and you still count the legs.

Palenica parking, TPN ticket, no dogs. Water: the hut in Five Lakes and at Morskie Oko. Nothing between the chains.

Segment times

From the map:

• Palenica – Wodogrzmoty: 45 min
• Wodogrzmoty – Five Lakes hut: 2 h 10 min
• Hut – Szpiglas Pass: 2 h 20 min
• Pass – summit – pass: 25 min
• Pass – Morskie Oko: 1 h 50 min
• Morskie Oko – Palenica: 1 h 50 min

9 h 22 min is walking time. A holiday day with the tarmac queue and coffee in two huts is 11 hours.

Other approaches

• Ceprostrada out and back — no chains, one valley twice.
• Five Lakes only — if you do not want the chains and the lakes are enough.

In winter

Yellow from Five Lakes and the Ceprostrada descent are different avalanches, not “the same loop in a hat”. Sections get closed. If you do not read the TPN notice before you leave, leave Szpiglas for summer.

Who this is not for

Not for a first day in the High Tatras. Not with someone who is already sitting down in Roztoka. Not with a fear of heights “because the chain is short”. Not the other way round if walking down rock freezes you.

If you only want a wide path with no chain, stay on the Szpiglasowy via Ceprostrada page. Five Lakes is there so you see the second valley, not so you “bag a chain while you are at it”.