Today, I’ll look back at a few more hikes from my past, this time from September 2016. Unlike the previous post, these are from the times I had my own pocket camera and thus will be more picturesque.
And right the first hike is quite a fond memory. The first weekend of September 2016 might’ve started chilly, but that is often just right for some harder hikes – it helps me cool down during the initial ascension. The goal was a couple of peaks in a side branch of the Slovakian Velká Fatra mountain range and the main option was a loop around 25km long. Shortly before the hike itself, I was approached by the hike’s leader. “I have a better idea.” And he suggested lengthening the journey a fair amount – to 32km (34km if we included an extra peak). At that point, I wasn’t too far from telling him he’s insane and that it’s unlikely in the timeframe we have for it, but as the options were to branch roughly a third of the way in, I decided to keep his pace and see.
The cold morning had us set out at quite a brisk pace and so we reached the first peak with quite some time to spare. At that point, the plan didn’t look as insane as it did at first. So, I decided to go for it.
From there on, we were weaving up and down, peaks and passes giving way to our legs, first on mostly grassy peaks and ridges, then turning to woods.
The forested part of the trail is one of the least-visited, and we barely met anyone for a good time, mostly keeping a high pace and hoping that there wouldn’t be a bear hiding somewhere in the blueberry shrubs. When we emerged from the woods, with the flat peak in front of us and still an hour ahead of schedule, I knew that we shouldn’t have any issue with making it in time.
During the forested section, my friend was getting to the conclusion that we’ll just skip the final peak. Seeing the time we had, the situation turned around: now it was me convincing him that given we’re here already and have the time to spare, it’d be a pity to skip. The marker at the chalet told us it’s 40 minutes to the peak and 20 minutes back. And, as you can see on the photo below, it’s not a gentle slope…
Despite being on the trail for over 6 hours already, I almost flew up the hill. I made it in 17 minutes up, instead of 40, though I was thoroughly soaked after. The view was well worth it as I waited for my friend. Given the lack of other people around, I got rid of my T-shirt for a moment to let both it and myself dry up (which was the first time I was publicly shirtless, as a boring fact).
From there on, it was back down to the chalet, then a winding path to the valley (likewise free of other people) and a long stretch through the valley itself towards the village where the bus was to pick us up. In the valley, we were mostly keeping a mechanically stable pace to avoid cramps, and managed to reach the village with 30 minutes left, enough to grab some cold beverage.
Tired but happy, I expected to fall asleep soon. Well, it turned out that my body refused to cool down and I struggled to fall asleep even when I got home. As far as I remember, I finally managed around 3:00.
The second memorable hike of September 2016 happened two weeks later. It was, once again, typical autumn day – gloomy and damp. And some parts of the hills have started turning towards their autumn garb already. The hike back then led me to a valley that I’ve visited again this year – so if you saw my posts, you might recognize the place.
At first, it was only cloudy, which was good because the trail following the stream can be slippery. And it’s easier to enjoy the scenery without rain. That said, getting to the nice part was an hour’s (mostly easy) walk before the trail started to rise and the stream jumped over the rocks.
And while the small pools of water below these miniature waterfalls would look inviting in summer, they were something I definitely didn’t want to fall into on a chilly morning.
But the minor risk wasn’t enough to stop me from taking photos from up close as much as I could.
Especially the fronds turning towards brown and the grasses towards yellow gave it an autumnal feeling despite still being late summer.
Unfortunately, soon after we made it towards the plateau above, it started to rain. Light at first, but slowly intensifying. The woods provided some degree of cover, but any chances for further photos were gone – in the cloudy weather, there were no far sights to admire. So, I spent the rest of the day weaving through the woods towards the village where we were to meet up without further photos taken. But the sights I saw at the beginning were more than worth it.
That said, I can provide a few more photos from the area as I visited a different side of the mountain a month before that.
As well as some sights from the general area.
So, that’s it for today with another window to my past hikes.
Tomas - the wandering dreamer 