Obszar (685 m a.s.l.) is one of those Beskid peaks that surprises you with its solitude — an island-like massif surrounded on all sides by deep valleys, as if the mountain had quietly stepped away from the rest of the range to stand on its own. If you are looking for a peaceful corner of the Low Beskids, this is it.
The massif is remarkably compact, covering roughly 1 by 1.5 km, and hemmed in on every side. To the northeast lies an undeveloped valley of an unnamed stream flowing from the site of the now-vanished village of Banica; to the south runs the Zawoja stream valley; and to the west a farmed lowland holds the village of Krzywa and regional road 977 connecting Tarnów with the Konieczna-Becherov border crossing. This isolation gives the area a quietly mysterious feel throughout the year — fresh and birdsong-filled in spring, ablaze with beech and fir colours in autumn.
How to reach the summitHiking around Obszar is as much a journey through history as through forest — the overgrown orchards and empty hillsides of the Low Beskids quietly tell the story of the Lemko people who once called this borderland home.