The Way to the Rocks—Changes of Networks of Hiking Trails in Chosen Sandstone Landscapes in Poland and the Czech Republic in the Period of Political Transformation

Abstract

The political transformation taking place in Central European countries at the turn of 1980s and 1990s influenced, among other aspects, the methods of nature protection and making it available for tourism. The changes taking place at that time have been traced in the article on the example of three sandstone landscapes, which belong to the most popular geotouristic attractions of the Czech Republic and Poland: Prachov Rocks Nature Reserve with adjacent fragments of the Bohemian Paradise Protected Landscape Area, Adršpach-Teplice Rocks National Nature Reserve and the Table Mountains National Park. These changes were analysed on the basis of transformations of the networks of hiking trails and development of other tourism facilities within the boundaries of the protected areas. Analysis covers the entire period from the end of communism (1980s) up to present days. According to the study, in the case of all analysed protected areas, the systemic transformation in Central Europe played an important role as a factor affecting the network of hiking trails. In each case, however, local factors were also important. The biggest changes occurred in the Adršpach-Teplice Rocks and the Table Mountains. In the first case, the number and distribution of visitors needed to be controlled, leading to modification of route network. The main reason of its significant reduction was to separate paid routes from those not charged. In the Table Mountains, the network was substantially developed as a consequence of the establishment of a national park there and the political changes at the turn of twentieth and twenty-first centuries which opened the border zone and forced the marking of new tourist trails. In the Prachov Rocks, the existing layout of hiking trails has been largely kept unchanged because the continuous intensive tourist traffic did not allow any reductions, even if these would help to protect the environment. On the other hand, the network was really well developed, that it did not require further growth. Today's networks of tourist trails in the Prachov Rocks and some parts of the Table Mountains seem too developed, taking into account the protective regime of both areas. In terms of interpretation of geoheritage, the most extensive and targeted offer can be found in the Table Mountains National Park. Referring to the methods used, the graph theory cannot be applied easily to tourist trails networks, especially when a dissected landscape is analysed. A simple but very helpful indicator illustrating the development of the network is the density of tourist trails per square kilometre.

The untapped potential of scenic routes for geotourism: case studies of Lasocki Grzbiet and Pasmo Lesistej (Western and Central Sudeten Mountains, SW Poland)

“…In this context, it is regrettable that the idea behind the development of certified scenic routes in Polish tourism (not necessarily in a geotourism context) has not gone beyond academic consideration and that is, unfortunately, mostly quite old (the 11 th volume of the academic journal 'Problems of Mountain Land Development', Problemy Zagospodarowania Ziem Górskich, published in 1973 by the Polish Academy of Sciences, was almost entirely devoted to the topic). The use of landscape for the explaining of geological/geomorphological processes is currently implemented only in some parts of the Sudeten Mountains, the most attractive geotouristically, but also the most frequented by tourists (Giant and Stołowe Mountains; Migoń 2016;Migoń and Knapik 2013;Pijet-Migoń and Migoń 2019;Wojewoda 2011) where there is not necessarily a need to create new tourist routes (see: Kołodziejczyk 2019Kołodziejczyk , 2020b. On the other hand, the remaining parts of the Sudeten Mountains are almost undeveloped in this respect, including areas analyzed in this paper.…”

Tourism management in national parks: Šumava and Bayerischer Wald (Bavarian Forest) in the Czech-German borderland

“…In this way, a schematic picture of the network is obtained, which, thanks to the removal of the winding nature of the actual routes, facilitates analysis and comparison. Referring to works by Kołodziejczyk (2014bKołodziejczyk ( , 2015aKołodziejczyk ( , 2018Kołodziejczyk ( , 2019Kołodziejczyk ( , 2020c, Krakowiak (1997), Styperek (2001Styperek ( , 2002aStyperek ( , 2002b, and Taczanowska et al (2014Taczanowska et al ( , 2017, the following indices were used (Taaffe and Gauthier 1973;Potrykowski and Taylor 1982;cf. Gross et al 2018):…”

Rozwój sieci szlaków pieszych w Górach Sowich po II wojnie światowej = Development of the hiking-trail network in Poland’s Sowie Mountains since the Second World War

“…Rozwój szlaków w Sudetach w latach transformacji ustrojowej i kolejnych jest ciągle słabo zbadany. Więcej prac dotyczy jedynie terenów przygranicznych, w tym integracji sieci polskiej i czeskiej po wejściu obu krajów do strefy Schengen (Potocki, 2009;Bukała, 2011;Chmiel, 2011;Kołodziejczyk, 2020b), oraz parków narodowych (Krakowiak, 1997;Styperek, 2001;Mazur, 2011;Rogowski, 2017;Kołodziejczyk, 2020a). W efekcie sieć tras pieszych w Górach Sowich jest ciągle niedostatecznie zbadana.…”

“…• wskaźnik Kansky'ego β = e/v, gdzie e -liczba krawędzi, v -liczba wierzchołków (im wyższe wartości współczynnika β, tym większa spójność sieci), • wskaźnik Kansky'ego γ = e/[3(v -2)], który wyraża stosunek istniejącej liczby krawędzi do maksymalnej możliwej liczby krawędzi wynikającej z liczby wierzchołków (wartości tego wskaźnika zawierają się w przedziale od 0 przy całkowitym braku spójności do 1, gdy istnieją wszystkie możliwe krawędzie), • wskaźnik α = μ/(2v -5), gdzie μ to liczba cyklomatyczna obliczana ze wzoru μ = e -v + p, przy czym p to liczba izolowanych podgrafów. Wskaźniki grafowe są często wykorzystywane do opisu i analizy sieci szlaków turystycznych różnych rodzajów (Krakowiak, 1997;Styperek, 2001Styperek, , 2002aStyperek, , 2002bTaczanowska et al, 2014;Kołodziejczyk, 2015Kołodziejczyk, , 2019Kołodziejczyk, , 2020aKołodziejczyk, , 2020c. Pozwalają nie tylko ocenić rozwój i spójność sieci, ale także porównywać ich kształt, co może mieć znaczenie przy projektowaniu dalszego rozwoju szlaków na danym obszarze, a także wyposażaniu ich w infrastrukturę.…”