Špičník

Špičník is a mountain standing 1 351 metres high on the Bohemian Forest’s main ridge. It lies seven kilometres south-south-west of Modrava, right on the Czech-German border between Blatný vrch and Luzný. The summit sits inside the Šumava National Park’s strict zone one, where no marked trails go. The nearest point walkers can reach is about 500 metres east of the top, reached by the yellow trail from the Březník solitary farmstead. The mountain’s northern slope holds Blatenská slať, the highest raised bog in the range. This peatland is part of the Modravské slatě nature reserve, which forms the largest blanket bog complex on the Bohemian Forest. Less than two kilometres north-east of Špičník, in the valley of the Modravský stream, stands the Březník solitary farmstead. The writer Karel Klostermann used this remote spot as the setting for his novel Ze světa lesních samot, set along the smugglers’ section of the old Golden Path. From Březník the yellow-marked path climbs gently through spruce forest before opening on to open moorland. The final metres to the viewpoint are across wet peat where boardwalks keep walkers above the bog. On clear days the view stretches across the treetops to the ridge of Blatný vrch and, beyond the border, to the German side of the forest. The contrast between dense woodland and wide, open peat bogs makes the surroundings feel untouched by modern life.