A circuit in the Hornopožárský forest, starting in Jílové u Prahy: 17 km

• Hornopožárský les is a large protected forest area of mostly beech and oak, situated to the southeast of Jílové u Prahy, bordering the Sázava river. It is an attractive hilly area, with granite outcrops, boulder fields and some good viewpoints. The forest is woven with hiking trails and trips of various lengths can be created from several starting points.
• At 17 km, this is one of the longer circular trips available and starts in the pleasant town of Jílové u Prahy (which is is worth exploring on this or a future trip). Jílové became important in the Middle Ages as the center of a gold mining area. It was already known as the ‘royal golden mountain town’ by the 14th century when given a license to mint gold ducats by King Jan Lucemburský. The town museum has an interesting exhibition on gold mining.
• From Jílové the suggested route heads east to reach the village of Těptín and then climbs into the hills to pass over the highest point, Grybla (514m) . Two viewpoints are worth detouring to: Panská skala, just on the edge of the Grybla reserve and the spectacular Sekaná skála viewpoint, with its steep cliff faces from an old quarry. The walls are now equipped for some pretty serious rock climbing.
• The total route has less than 400m of height to ascend-descend and none of the slopes are particularly steep. It should be a good circuit in all seasons, including winter. There are various refreshment options in Jílové, including a pleasant café, the Kavárna U Zlatého korálku, located within the Radnice (town hall) which originally dates from the 14th century.

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

• Jílové has regular bus connections with the Prague metro (Budějovická station) and the town square has extensive parking spaces (payment required, except on Sunday)
• Starting in the town square, join the BLUE trail heading in the direction of Těptín, which is reached after 5.6 km
• In Těptín, join the RED trail heading in the direction of Panská skála, which is reached after 2.2 km
• At the Panská skála junction follow the red traingle markers to reach the viewpoint after 250m
• Return back to the main trail and turn left onto the BLUE marked path, which is a forest road
• After 2.1 km reach the Horní Požáry junction. Here, if wanting to visit the Sekaná skála viewpoint (which is highly recommended), join the YELLOW trail heading the direction of Prosečnice. The viewpoint is reached after 400m (follow the yellow triangle markers)
• Return back to the Horní Požáry junction and take the BLUE trail heading towards Borek, which is reached after 3.9 km
• At Borek, join the GREEN trail heading back to Jílové, which is reached after 2.5 km