Velký Blaník is entangled in a mystery. According to an old legend, a large army has been sleeping inside the mountain, ready to ride out and help the Czech nation in case of dire straits. Old beech trees line the path atop the hill. It seems as if their huge, greyish, smooth and straight trunks grow directly from the rock. Their roots are ingrown among the metamorfite boulders searching for moisture and nutrition in the shallow ground. The vegetation is also penurious on the rocky ground, and only rough species survive here. On the other hand, the sweet marten flourishes in the rocky debris, and the tawny owl seeks hollows in the tree trunks; you can hear its ululation at dusk.
Mushroom enthusiasts storm the forests in the Blaník area in the autumn. Various types of mushrooms grow in the spruce forests at the foothills, and tree fungus can be found higher up on the fallen trees. Dead trees provide a home to beetles and ants too. In fact, one such trunk is somewhat of a Babylon of various animals that will gradually decompose its trunk. Thus, huge tree trunks will slowly merge with the soil, giving it back the nutrition and strength it borrowed from them for some time.