Visiting Panekelka Ecotrail

The ecotrail was established in 2014, but it continued to be outfitted with information stands, observation platforms, boardwalk and recreation sites into 2019. Visiting Panekelka is an information tour that does not include an overnight stop in the specially protected natural area.

The trail begins at the village of Fryunino, runs across overgrown fields, a mixed forest in the Tabachny Rog area and the raised bog near Lake Rogovskoye, the Tupichniki River and the Venishnik mineral island.

The tour is equipped with a map of the nature reserve, wooden boardwalk, observation tower and platform, benches, information boards, toilet, table and sealed garbage container.

Highlights

• Fryunino, a deserted village
• Overgrown fields, ecological succession
• The road to Tabachny Rog, the tracks of animals living in the reserve
• A mixed forest in Tabachny Rog
• A meadow at the site of a former farmstead, a large glacial boulder
• The mineral shore and green mosses: features distinguishing them from sphagnum mosses, formation and types of bogs
• The observation platform: types of bog plants and their adjustment to different conditions
• Venishnik mineral island
• Pines growing in a bog, types of longleaf pine
• An old winter road across the bog, fragile and vulnerable mosses
• The observation tower built for nature observation and to keep watch over forest fires
• A clearing, with explanations of different types
• A black alder forest near a bog
• An overgrown field used for animal studies: a station set up in 2003 to monitor the population of small mammals
• The remains of an old road and wartime fighting positions in the Kholmsky District