Make Things Happen!

First we hike toward village Stratená. It is a village in the valley of the Hnilec River in the southern part of the Slovak Paradise. In the past, it was a mining settlement, known for its blast furnaces, which were built in 1783 by the Csáky family. Later, they were owned by the Coburg family. The last blast furnace operated until 1927. The population was engaged in logging, building nearby tunnels and working in blast furnaces. The village still preserves customs and celebrations of the Slovak National Uprising and the liberation of the village. The chapel, built around 1800, housed a wooden sculpture of Mary Magdalene from the workshop of Master Pavol of Levoča. Then we hiked between Sokolie rocks to the Stratenský canyon.

Stratenský Canyon is the narrowest part of the deep mountain Stratenská Valley – i.e. a 14 km long section of the Hnilec Valley between Dobšinská Ľadová Jaskyňa and Dedinky in the Slovak Paradise. It has been developing over the last several million years by deep erosion of the Hnilec in places where massive layers of limestone and dolomite have been broken by faults. The result of this development is a valley with a transverse profile of “V” (it does not have a flat bottom), i.e. a gorge with locked meanders, rock walls with twisting pots, numerous caves, sinkholes, springs and waterfalls with peculiar plant and animal communities. “Canyon” – if it were really a canyon, it would have a wider bottom and therefore a transverse profile of “U”, such as e.g. in the section of the Slana Valley between Brzotín and Plešivec in the Slovak Kras – is accessible via a barrier-free nature trail for pedestrians and cyclists along the rest of the asphalt road, which was passable for cars until 1971. At that time, this complicated section was replaced and shortened by the 326 m long Stratená road tunnel. David was 5 years old at that time.