Alpine Lookout beneath Bukovec
The Alpine Lookout Point beneath Bukovec is found near the road from Lipka to Borová Lada, not far from the abandoned settlement of Švajglova Lada. Visitors who turn their gaze towards the valley are rewarded with a panoramic view of the wooded peaks, meadows and pastures of the Bohemian Forest, the valley of the Teplá Vltava (Warm Vltava), and in nice weather, the mountaintops of the limestone Totes Gebirge, which in fact are 150 kilometres away, with the majestic peak of the Großer Priel.
The attractiveness of this spot does not derive from its view alone. Several protected plant species can be found in the vicinity – marsh orchids grow in the more humid parts of the meadow, and one can find broad-leaved helleborines on the forest edges. The yellow petals of mountain arnica, a medicinal herb, catch the visitor's eye in the more arid parts of the landscape. Typical animal species in this forested landscape include red deer and the black woodpecker; the area also serves as the territory of the protected Eurasian lynx. The waterlogged parts of the meadow are the nesting grounds for common snipes. Where the soil is warmed by the sun, it draws out the only poisonous snake in our latitudes: the European adder.
The Vlčí kámen (Wolf's Stone), a memorial dedicated to the last wolf shot in Czechia in 1874, the spring of the Volyňka River, and two generously proportioned memorial trees – a European beech and a large-leaf lime – are all worth a visit.
The Bohemian Forest chapter of the ČSOP restored this lookout point within the NET4GAS Closer to Nature programme in 2018, adding a number of new elements. You can find a table with benches, an info panel with interesting site-specific facts and a board with a panoramic photograph on the site.
Endangered plants:
