*A circular route in Česká Kanada, via the Rožnov bison farm: 15 km to 19 km*

• Česká Kanada is a 283 km² nature park located in south Bohemia, to the southeast of Jindřichův Hradec. It was formally established as a protected park area in 1994, but the name was created in the 1920’s by the journalist and author, Jaroslav Arnošt Trpák, who was inspired to promote his home region after a tour of Canada.
• Like Canada, this corner of South Bohemia comprises a relatively unpopulated expanse of mixed forests on rolling hills, interspersed with many ponds and small lakes. It is a cool and relatively wet region, which nevertheless attracts its fair share of tourists, drawn by the intriguing name as well as some interesting historical sites and very attractive countryside.
• The hills rise in places well above 700m and catch sufficient snow for there to be marked cross country trails during cold winters. Those trails become excellent walking paths from spring to autumn. Marked in the map below is a nicely varied 19 km loop, which can be shortened to 15 km by taking a side trail if desired.
• The route passes a couple of beautiful small ponds and has a nicely varied mix of forest paths (great for mushrooming in autumn) and open heathland, giving some nice views. There are also some classic highland granite rock formations along the route, including the highest point in the area, Vysoký Kámen (732m) with is topped with a trigonometry point.
• On the full 19 km route, there is 250m of height to ascend/descend and all the paths are easy.The route passes by two of Česká Kanada’s popular refreshment spots, the first being the Rožnov bison ranch. The striking animals roam the nearby fields, which may put off some from sampling the meat in the farm restaurant – but there are other choices available. On a much smaller scale, but equally worth a stop, is the well regarded Občerstvení u Vodníka in the village of Kaproun which has an attractive pondside location. It is only open seasonally.

Note: click ‘Show on map’ above to go to a full screen version directly on the mapy.cz site. This can be used for online navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file

Directions

• The walk can be started either in Kaproun village (which has occasional bus connections and a few parking spots) or from the bison farm, which has a large parking area (for customers or residents of the pension). The route can be done in either direction but the directions below are from Kaproun heading in a clockwise direction
• From Kaproun, head northwards on the RED trail for 1.3 km to reach the Pod Vysokým kamenem junction. Here, if wanting to visit the Vysoký Kámen rocks, turn left onto the YELLOW trail. The rocks are located 300m along this trail
• Return back to the Pod Vysokým kamenem junction and continue on the RED trail for 2 km to reach the Mostecké polesí junction
• At the Mostecké polesí junction, turn right onto the the BLUE trail, heading towards Rožnov. After 4.7 km reach the bison farm
• Continue on the BLUE trail for a further 700m to reach two small ponds (one is featured in the header photo). Just after the pond an unmarked forest track branches to the right. Take this track if wanting to reduce the walk to 15 km – it joins up with the RED trail used for the longer version set out below
• For those continuing on the longer version, continue on the BLUE trail for a further 1 km to reach the U Studnice junction
• At the U Studnice junction, turn right onto the GREEN trail heading towards the U Potoka junction, which is reached after 2 km
• At U Potoka, turn right back onto the RED trail, heading in the direction of Kunzák. After 6.3 km reach the starting point in Kaproun