Why come here
An unassuming hill with a few surprises
A hill most people pass by on their walk hides varied broadleaved woodland. Crags and boulders near the summit. A small pond with amphibians lower down. And meadows where the corncrake calls.
Hill and meadows • Rožnov pod Radhoštěm • 554 m a.s.l.
Rysová
An unassuming hill with a corncrake you are more likely to hear than see.
A summit of foreign rock
The wooded ridge between Tylovice and Hážovice looks from a distance like any other hill. But its summit is formed by a nappe outlier – hard flysch thrust over a softer base that it is now sliding down. And in the meadows below the wood, the corncrake calls at night.
When to come
Into the woods in spring, to the meadows at dusk
The broadleaved woods are at their best in spring, when the ground flora is in flower. In summer, once the canopy closes, they look nothing like it. You will hear the corncrake on late spring and early summer nights, from the path.
What not to miss
The blocks strewn down the slope
Sandstone slabs with a brown-grey weathering crust lie in the wood like scattered dice. This is the summit rock breaking apart – Rysová is a nappe outlier.
The story of Rysová
A summit from other mountains, and slopes sliding out from under it. And a name a village borrowed from the hill.
A piece of foreign mountains
A summit that came here from elsewhere
Hills are usually made of the same rock from top to bottom. Rysová is not. Its summit is formed by the coarsely rhythmic flysch of the Křivé beds – sandstones, in places conglomeratic, belonging to the Rača unit of the Magura nappe. The slopes and foot below it are of quite different, softer material: the claystones and marls of the Silesian unit.
The explanation lies in the movement of the whole Carpathians. The Rača unit was thrust over the Silesian one – and when erosion then wore away the nappe around it, all that was left in the landscape was an isolated island. That is exactly what geologists call a nappe outlier: a piece of rock that stands above its surroundings because it is of harder material, which came here quite literally from elsewhere.
The Czech Geological Survey lists Rysová as an important geological site of great educational value.
Gravitational collapse
A hard slab on a soft base starts to move
A hard body on a plastic base is an unstable combination. The firm sandstones of the summit press on the soft claystones beneath them – and those flow under the weight. The summit of Rysová therefore breaks apart at its edges and slides down the slopes: geologists speak of the gravitational collapse of a nappe outlier.
On the northern, south-western and north-eastern sides the summit is bounded by the main scarps of extensive landslides that cover the slopes. The sandstone blocks you trip over in the beech wood are pieces of the summit rock on their way down. It is precisely for this display of slope deformation that Rysová is in the database of geological sites – and the Czech Geological Survey gives “instability of the ground” as its main hazard.
- the summit (spot height)
- 554 m
- of the summit with landslide scarps
- 3 sides
- of the flysch belt, one over the other
- 2 units
What you will see on the ground
Blocks in the beech wood
At the top is beech wood – and in it stones that by any ordinary logic do not belong there. Sandstone slabs and blocks lie tilted, cracked and moss-covered, some of them taller than a person. Shade and damp hold under the overhangs, and gaps and grooves open between the blocks.
The wood itself is worth attention too. The varied broadleaved woods flower in spring – before the canopy closes, the flowering ground flora lights up the floor of the beech wood.
The mark of the sandstone here is its brown-grey porous weathering crust – the surface of the blocks looks quite unlike a fresh break in the stone. Around them, crumbling claystones lie in the scree and fall apart in the hand; that difference in hardness is the whole story of Rysová in a single handful.
The ground is broken and unstable – landslide scarps, hollows, slippery roots. No waymarked path leads to the summit. Anyone going there goes on their own account and with care; the red waymarked route from Rožnov pod Radhoštěm to Hážovické díly skirts the hill along its flank and is quite enough for most visitors.
The name
The hill a whole village was named after
Hážovice and Tylovice had always been two separate villages on either side of one hill. In June 1960 they were merged into one, and the new village was named after the hill between them – Rysová.
It lasted twenty years. In 1980 Rysová was joined to Rožnov pod Radhoštěm and split again into two districts under their original names. The name Rysová stayed with the one it had belonged to from the start – the hill.
The stone from the area carried it too: in Tylovice there is a disused Rysová quarry, today a geological site with well exposed beds of sandstone. Small old quarries can be found on the slopes of Rysová itself as well.
The corncrake
A voice you hear long before you see anything
In the meadows that wrap around the hill nests the corncrake – a strongly endangered bird in Czechia, whose survival depends on one thing alone: when the meadow is mown.
The corncrake is smaller than a pigeon, rust-brown, a phantom of a bird. It lives out of sight and only its voice gives it away. The males call at dusk and in the night with a dry, rasping crex crex that carries across the meadow and repeats to exhaustion. In tall grass it treads out runs, almost tunnels, through which it moves in a flash, so that a call from two places may still be one bird.
The birds return from their wintering grounds in south-eastern Africa at the turn of April and May and nest on the ground in tall grass. That is precisely the trouble: the corncrake needs meadows mown only in summer. It cannot get away from a mowing machine in time.
A bird that was once common is now protected across Europe for its rarity. That does not make it everyone's favourite: because of it farmers cannot dry their hay in time, and on Rysová its presence long blocked house building. From the lowlands the corncrake has all but disappeared since the mid-20th century, and its stronghold remains the middle and higher ground, which includes the meadows of the Rožnov area. Where farmers put the mowing back (and are compensated for it), the corncrakes stay.
“crex… crex”
- the return from Africa
- April–May
- eggs in a clutch on the ground
- 7–12
- sitting on the eggs
- 16–19 days
How to behave in the meadows
The meadows are private and farmed. The corncrake nests in grass you cannot tell from any other from the path – so do not walk into the sward, especially from May to the end of summer. You can listen from the path; nobody sees more of a corncrake than its voice anyway.
Timeline
From an ocean floor to the name of a village
Late Cretaceous
Sand and mud on the sea floor
Flysch sediments are laid down in the Carpathian sea – sand and clay in turn. From them come the rocks of both units that meet on Rysová.
Palaeogene
The Křivé beds
The coarse calcareous and arkosic sandstones of the Křivé beds of the Zlín Formation are deposited – the future hard summit of the hill.
The nappes are thrust
The Rača unit over the Silesian
In the folding of the Carpathians the Magura nappe is thrust over the softer Silesian unit. The hard slab ends up where it does not belong.
Erosion
An outlier is left
Erosion wears away the nappe around it. The isolated remnant above the landscape is a nappe outlier – the summit of Rysová (554 m a.s.l.).
To this day
The hill is sliding
A firm body on a plastic base collapses under gravity; extensive landslides with main scarps below the summit cover the slopes.
1960
The village of Rysová is created
Hážovice and Tylovice merge into one village. It takes its name from the hill between them.
1980
Joined to Rožnov
Rysová is joined to Rožnov pod Radhoštěm and split back into Hážovice and Tylovice. The name stays with the hill.
2012
Listed among geological sites
Rysová is written up in the Czech Geological Survey's database of important geological sites as an example of a nappe outlier.
Visit
Plan your way to Rysová
Where exactly it is
Between Tylovice and Hážovice
The summit of Rysová (554 m a.s.l.) lies about a kilometre south of Tylovice, on the boundary between the cadastres of Tylovice and Hážovice, today districts of Rožnov pod Radhoštěm. The red waymarked route from Rožnov pod Radhoštěm to Hážovické díly runs along the flank of the hill.
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Map of the area
How to get here
From Rožnov the red waymarks to Hážovické díly pass by Rysová – part of the long-distance KČT route Třeštík – Rožnov. The route does not take the summit; it skirts the hill along the flank above the meadows where the corncrake calls.
- 1
Rožnov pod Radhoštěmstart · kilometre zero
You will find the red waymarks at the Rožnovský nultý kilometr marker near the bridge on Nádražní street. They lead you out of town across Masaryk Square and through the Kramolišov district.
- 2
Out of town along the Žáry valley~2 km · a gentle climb
Beyond Kramolišov the waymarks dip into the valley of the Žáry brook and climb through a landscape of clearings and small woods above Rožnov.
Past Rysová~2.9 km · you are here
The red route passes Rysová along the flank – the summit with its breaking rock stays aside, unwaymarked. From the path there is a view of the meadows below the hill; on late spring evenings you will hear the corncrake from here.
Hážovické dílygoal · ~4.9 km · 650 m a.s.l.
The junction where the red route crosses the blue. Hospoda Na Dílech and a small chapel stand here – and the longer ridge variants begin from it.
- ↓
Onwards from Dílyloops of 7–11 km
From Hážovické díly you can carry on along the ridge – by way of Vigantice, from where you can return by public transport (check the connection beforehand), or as far as Soláň – Čarták.
To the summit without waymarks: landslide ground – scarps, hollows, moss-covered blocks and slippery roots. Anyone setting out for the summit leaves the waymarked paths and goes at their own risk. Do not walk into the meadows around the hill.
What to know before you go
Entry
Free, open at any hour. Rysová is ordinary countryside in the Beskydy Protected Landscape Area – no ticket office, no gate. The meadows around it are private and farmed.
Unstable ground
Extensive landslides cover the slopes; the Czech Geological Survey names “instability of the ground” as the hazard. After rain the moss on the blocks is as slippery as ice.
The corncrake comes first
From May to the end of summer the corncrake nests on the ground in tall grass in the meadows around. Listen from the path, do not walk into the sward and keep your dog on a lead.
When to come
Into the woods in spring, when the ground flora is in flower (and the blocks show best before the leaves are out) or in autumn. For the corncrake, after dark at the turn of spring and summer.
Nearest facilities
Refreshments and toilets are in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm.
Na závěr
Doplňující info a test znalostí
Rychlá rekapitulace
What is Rysová?
A hill (554 m a.s.l.) about 1 km south of Tylovice – a nappe outlier that is collapsing under gravity. The meadows below it are home to the corncrake.
Is there a waymarked path up Rysová?
No, no waymarks lead to the summit and the ground is unstable because of the landslides. The nearest waymarked route (the red KČT one) only runs along the flank.
Why is the hill called Rysová?
The exact origin of the name has not survived. What is certain is that between 1960 and 1980 the surrounding area carried it too: the merged Hážovice and Tylovice became the village of Rysová for that time, named after the hill between them.
Why does the corncrake on Rysová need protecting?
It is a strongly endangered species in Czechia that nests on the ground in tall grass in the meadows around the hill – from the path you cannot tell the nest from the grass around it. That is why nobody walks into the sward from May to the end of summer.
Is the Rysová quarry the same thing as the hill Rysová?
No, the Rysová quarry lies in Tylovice and is a separate geological site – it only shows that the name was carried by the area around the hill as well.
Závěrečný kvíz
Otázka 1 z 6
What is geologically most interesting about Rysová?
Rysík→There is a quiz a little further up. Shall we try it?
A few quizzes and I get glasses, and I will feel properly educated.
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