Naroże

Naroże (on the state Geoportal map Narozie) is a wooded summit about 938 m high (939.5 m per OpenStreetMap) on the main ridge of the Polica range. In Jerzy Kondracki's classic regionalisation the range belongs to the Żywiec Beskids, in the newer 2018 scheme to the Żywiec-Orawa Beskids. The summit lies between Soska (1,063 m) and the Malinowe pass (about 850 m). The boundary between the villages of Skawica (northern slope) and Sidzina (southern slope) in Sucha County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, runs over it; Sidzina is about 4.3 km away and Skawica 6.3 km.

Naroże is a ridge junction: a short ridge with the top called Migasowa Grapa runs south-east from it, flanked by the Jarominów and Migasów streams.

Getting there / trails

The red Main Beskid Trail (GSB) crosses Naroże (about 70 m from the summit per OpenStreetMap) on the section Jordanów – Bystra Podhalańska – Drobny Wierch – Judaszka – Malinowe pass – Naroże – Soska – Krupówka – Urwanica – Okrąglica – Kucałowa pass. Total ascent on this section is 830 m and descent 170 m; it takes about 5 hours (4 h 15 min in the opposite direction). From the Kucałowa pass the trail continues towards the Babia Góra massif.

The shortest approach is from Sidzina: the blue trail via Binkówka climbs to the Malinowe pass (total ascent 730 m, about 1 h 45 min), from where the red trail soon reaches Naroże. On the pass stands an obelisk commemorating partisan fighting in the Second World War, and on the Malinowa clearing on the southern slope there is a chapel of the "Home Army Madonna" and a partisan mausoleum. Further east the Main Beskid Trail passes the PTTK hut on Hala Krupowa, built in 1955 on the site of an interwar PTT hut.

What you can see from the top

The summit is completely forested and the sources describe no views from it.

Nature and name

The names of the neighbouring summits are mixed up on different maps: on the Compass map and in the hiking guide Naroże and Soska are swapped — Naroże, with a height of 1,076 m, is placed where the Geoportal shows Soska, and Soska's position is labelled Naroże. This page describes the summit according to OpenStreetMap and the Geoportal (about 938 m).

The Polica Range

The Polica Range, named after its highest summit, Polica (1369 m), runs for more than 15 km from the Krowiarki pass north-east to the Skawa valley near Osielec; Naroże lies in its eastern, lower part. The range is clearly asymmetric: the northern slopes are very steep, the southern ones gentle. Fields and pastures once climbed high up the slopes; today most of the range is forested and abandoned meadows are overgrowing. The range is part of the Carpathian ecological corridor, one of Poland's two main ecological corridors.

Safety, season and rules

The Main Beskid Trail section over Naroże is an easy forest path that can be walked all year round; in winter the snow is deep, and closer to Babia Góra the weather changes quickly. The summit is not in a national park. Mountain rescue: GOPR, 985 or +48 601 100 300; the general emergency number is 112.