This mountain village in the valley of the Jelení stream has a well known technical monument - the tunnel of the Schwarzenberg Canal. The settlement of Jelení forms a part of the municipality of Nová Pec. It lies at the territory of the Šumava National Park, 6 km to the north-east from Trojmezí (Three Borders) - common border of Bohemia, Germany and Austria. The village formerly called Jelení Vrchy was founded in 1794 by the Prince Joseph II von Schwarzenberg and its history is closely connected with woodcutting and the Schwarzenberg Canal enabling timber and logs floating from the Šumava to Austria.
The car-park beyond the village is a starting point of the tour to the Plešné Lake and to the peak of the highest Šumava mountain Plechý (1378 m), as well as of the Bear path (Medvědí stezka) and of the trip to the Jelení Lake, at the upper edge of which there is the Neo-Renaissance stone portal from 1823, terminating the 389 m long floating tunnel of the Schwarzenberg Canal.
The exhibitions of timber floating in the canal length of approximately 2 km are held here  each summer, sometimes linked with local folklore shows. We can also find here an ancient wood-ranger's house (No. 13), in front of which there is a confluence of the Jelení chute with the new canal. Mr. Ing. Čestmír Hrbek, the wood-ranger's house owner, bestowed its barn to the municipality of Nová Pec that has established here an exposition dedicated to the floating canal.