The Milovská nature trail including a visit to the Čtyři palice rocks: 7 km

• Close to the Milovksý pond (a popular swimming spot in the centre of the Žďárské vrchy mountain area) is an unusually varied nature trail that is worth exploring. The trail starts just north of Milovy village and passes through an important 19th century glassmaking area, with some fine examples of rural architecture.
• The route passes below the impressive Čtyři palice rocks and a short detour leads directly to the foot of the rocks, which are well worth visiting (see the picture below). The distinctive four spikes were created by frost weathering of the metamorphized granite rocks during the recent ice ages.
• The trail is completed with a section along the meandering Svratka river. This is a protected nature reserve due to the unique flora and fauna in the wetland areas. The information boards on the trail highlight the nature of the area (in Czech only).
• The nature trail itself is around 5 km in length, but adding the approach from the nearest village (Milovy) and the diversion to the see the Čtyři palice rocks takes the full trip to 7.5 km, with 100m of height to ascend-descend. None of the paths are difficult, but the sections near the river can get very wet and muddy.
• There are are couple of restaurants in Milovy, near the pond (which was undergoing reconstruction when last visited – early 2023 – so empty of water).

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

• The nature trail starts just off the road between Křižánky and Milovy (both of which have bus connections and accomodation), but it is cloest to Milovy – so start from there and walk up the road on the GREEN trail for 1.2km to reach the beginning of the trail
• The trail runs clockwise through the settlement of České Milovy and has 20 information boards. Most of the route is unmarked (apart from the boards) so it is best to follow it using the mapy.cz application or a paper map
• The (optional, but recommended) diversion to reach the foot of the Čtyři palice rocks begins at map point 3, at the point on the nature trail has an information board discussing the rocks. Take the obvious but otherwise unmarked footpath uphill for 500m to reach the rocks and then return back to the same point to continue the main trail
• After completing the loop, return back along the road to Milovy