Rezerwat Kamień-Grzyb

Kamień-Grzyb Nature Reserve - an inanimate nature reserve in the village of Połom Duży in the municipality of Nowy Wiśnicz, Bocheński County, Małopolskie Province. Year of establishment: 1962, area according to the establishment act: 1.83 ha. It is located on the land owned by the State Treasury and managed by the Brzesko Forest Inspectorate.

It is located on the northern slope of Bukowiec Hill at an altitude of 380 m above sea level in a depression formed by erosion. It belongs to the area of Wiśnicko-Lipnicki Landscape Park. The reserve was established to preserve a fragment of the Carpathian beech forest and a monument of inanimate nature - a mushroom-shaped Istrian sandstone rock, 7 m high, with a cap circumference of 26 m and a core circumference of 17 m. In fact, the object consists of two rocks - the second one is a large detached boulder, partially buried in the ground.

The Stone-Fungus was formed from what is known as Carpathian flisson - a deposit of gravel, sand and silt on the sea floor brought by rivers. This was over 60 million years ago. Later, water currents moved it several hundred kilometers to the north, and mountain movements uplifted it to form the Carpathian Mountains. The Kamień-Grzyb rocks were formed as a result of later landslide movements on the slopes of the mountains. The narrowed at the bottom shape of the rock, resembling a mushroom was created as a result of the fact that in its lower part sandstones more susceptible to weathering were present. Also, the small cavities on the surface of boulders, the so-called arcade structures and slice structures, are places where sandstones were more easily weathered. The Istebna sandstone, of which the boulders are composed, contains conglomerates made of pebbles of quartz and other rocks, as well as thin layers of slate.

Next to the rock is a large, triangular stone slab. Several Latin names and dates are engraved on the slab and the mushroom cap. These are probably the names of the monks from the former Carmelite Fathers monastery in Nowy Wiśnicz, which they probably engraved during a field trip.

Within the framework of the Malopolska Geotourism Route project, an information board was placed in the reserve, describing in detail the geological structure of the boulders and the mechanism of their formation. The board was prepared by experts from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow.

Under the canopy at the southern base of the rock is the Shelter under the Mushroom.

Hiking trails - blue: Bochnia - Nowy Wiśnicz - Kamień-Grzyb nature reserve - Paprotna - Rajbrot - Łopusze - Rozdziele Pass - Widoma - Kamionna Mountain - Pasierbiecka Mountain - Tymbark.