At the very eastern tip of Slovakia, where the borders of Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine meet on the summit of Kremenec, lies a forest that has been left to itself for longer than anyone remembers. Stužica, in the Poloniny National Park, is one of the most valuable fragments of primeval beech forest in Europe, with trees several hundred years old, fallen trunks rotting slowly on the ground, and an extraordinary richness of fungi, insects and birds. It is part of the UNESCO site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, a transnational listing that started with forests in Slovakia and Ukraine.
The Bukovské Vrchy, the hills around here, are a remote and thinly populated corner of Europe. The villages were home to Rusyns, an East Slavic people with their own language and Greek Catholic and Orthodox traditions, and wooden churches survive in several of them. In the twentieth century, much of the area was depopulated, partly by the construction of the Starina reservoir, which supplies drinking water to eastern Slovakia and led to the removal of several villages. Today wolves, bears, lynx and European bison live in the forests.
Riding into this area means following quiet valley roads from Snina toward the village of Nová Sedlica, the easternmost village in Slovakia, where the road ends. The route passes the Starina reservoir and winds through forested valleys, with gentle curves, some narrow stretches and broken asphalt in places. Traffic is minimal, but watch for forestry trucks, livestock and wildlife. In autumn the beech woods turn gold and the air smells of wet leaves and mushrooms. Winter brings snow and cold, and the area feels truly remote.
The Polish villages of Cisna and Lutowiska lie across the ridge, but there is no road crossing the border here, so treat this as a dead end. Nová Sedlica has a few guesthouses and simple food. Leave the bike at the trailhead, walk into the forest for an hour or so, and listen to the sounds of a place where humans have stepped back. It is a humbling and peaceful experience.