The trail starts in Pape village, next to the Fishery.
Distance: 9.1 km
Mark on trail: yellow marks
Letting your imagination roam, the path of natural processes will take you for a trip within a realm of pristine nature. On tour journey you will have five stops: the lake, meadow, forest, bog and dunes. Each of these stops explains how the beauty of nature-the landscape is formed. It is a tale about natural processes catalysed by, for example, water, fire, wind and the large herbivores.
The landscape, you will see walking along the Path, is not entirely natural. However, try to discern pristine nature among planted forests, drainage ditches and floodgates!
The trail of ecological processes introduces travellers to the lower part of the Nature Park Pape through five eco-systems: lake, meadow, forest, marsh, dunes. There are several stops on the way – each of them telling about the development of the nature landscape influenced by different nature processes.
The nature trail passes the Ķoņu village in the direction of Nida marsh, which is the only marsh in Latvia so close to the Baltic sea and is one of the most valuable marshes in Latvia. There’s a wooden boardwalk that takes you to the viewing platform in the west side of the marsh to observe the area. Moving on, the trail turns to the sea and leads you back to Pape canal in the village of Pape along the incredibly white sea shore.
On your way, visit the fishermen yard Vītolnieki administered by the Latvian Open-air Museum, the Mikjāņi yard and the traditional buildings at Ķoņu village, which is one of the two Latvian fishermen villages that have managed to keep the authenticity of fishermen village construction until nowadays.
In spring and autumn the trail stretch Ķoņciems village – Nida marsh may be wet.