*A circular route along the Černá Desná stream with its cascade of waterfalls: 10 km*

• One of the most beautiful series of waterfalls in the Jizerské mountains is found on the Černá Desná stream as it flows down from the Souš reservoir into the town of Desná. Four separate falls cascade over natural (tectonically created) granite steps, creating deep pools and gushing rapids.
• The walk up to the waterfalls from Desná on the hiking trail which follows the course of the stream is not long – less than 3 km – but a nice circular route can be created by starting in Desná town center, hiking up past the waterfalls to reach the Souš reservoir and then returning to Desná through the cottage settlements on the slopes above the stream.
• In Desná town, there is also an option to visit the unusual Art Nouveau villa built for the Riedel glass-making family at the end of the 19th century, which was confiscated from the family in 1945. The villa today houses the town information center and an interesting small museum. On the hillside above the town is the scenically situated neo-Gothic Riedel family chapel and tomb. There is a short education trail leading from the villa to the chapel, with information boards describing the history of the buildings.
• The full circular route (including the detour along the Riedel educational trail) is 11 km, with 360m of height to ascend-descend. Excluding the Riedel detour the route is 10 km long. None of the paths are difficult, but in wet weather the ascent and descent paths can be slippery as the paths are quite rocky. There are various refreshment option in Desná and in Souš near the reservoir try the Restaurant Chata Na Souši or in the summer season the garden restaurant u Raka.

Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’  to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.

Directions

• Desná can be reached by train from Liberec and bus from Tanvald. There are various parking areas in the town center
• From the town center, join the RED hiking trail heading up the main street in the direction of Pod Souší
• After 500m, the Riedel villa museum is on the left. The (optional) education trail leading to the family chapel and tomb starts here. If not taking the Riedel trail, continue up the main road for 600m and just before the petrol station, turn left, still following the RED trail as it meets the Černá Desná stream
• Follow the stream past the waterfalls to reach the Pod Souší trail junction in 2.9 km (if wanting to visit the Chata Na Souši restaurant it is 200m to the right along the road)
• At the Pod Souší junction, turn left onto the BLUE trail heading in the direction of Desná (the u Raka pension is shortly on the right side)
• After 150m the BLUE trail turns left starting the route back to Desná, but if wanting to see the reservoir, continue up the road for 300m before returning back to the BLUE trail
• Follow the BLUE trail all the way back to Desná, which is reached in 5 km