Wolf Gorge

The hike along wolf gorge is perhaps the least visually spectacular but most fascinating of the three main areas in the Adršpach-Teplice rocks.

If you enter it from the southern (Teplice rocks) end, Wolf Gorge begins as a gentle sandy path through a wide valley that has little business calling itself a gorge. There are occasional glimpses of rock formations through the trees and a tiny golden stream runs roughly parallel to the path.

Rivers of beer

It’s pleasant but unspectacular until you get about 20 minutes along the path and the stream starts to turn to beer. A river of beer? That got your attention didn’t it? The deep bronze honey colour of the water is caused by the peat bogs in the area and the foam that collects around the rocks and at the top of the small natural dams is caused by the plant Mydlice, which is a natural soaping agent that was used in the Middle Ages for washing clothes.

Walkways of wood

The rock walls of the valley get closer and closer to the path here and this is where it really becomes a gorge. It’s certainly narrow enough that you wouldn’t want to come across a pack of wolves. The sand trail tapers off here and you start walk along raised wooden walkways across marshy land and the peat bogs themselves. The water in this part of the gorge is close to black and the walkways are in places so narrow that you wonder if you might be falling into it sometime soon.

Bogs of peat

It’s apparently quite rare for peat moss to grow in sand and this is the only place in the Czech lands where the phenomenon occurs. Peat itself is an interesting plant. 90% of it is dead and lies under the water level, but even the dead part is capable of absorbing moisture and nutrients. The bogs are a fragile ecosystem and the park rules strictly forbid leaving the designated trails. Not that you’d want to anyway-there’s no way of telling how deep those bogs are.

The gorge is much narrower after the peat marshes and there are some short steep sections to climb. When you cross the walkway across on end of the small lake, you’ve ended your hike through wolf gorge and come to the southern end of the Adršpach rocks.