Stuff happened, and the post is coming a day later than it should, but it’s here. Let’s look at where my steps took me this June.
I started the month in quite a rough way – with how well I was feeling during May hikes, I was thinking about some ways to challenge myself, and the beginning of June was colder, which definitely helped. So, the first weekend, I decided to do something I’ve been thinking about for a while: tackling the two highest peaks in the nearby mountains in one go. This might not sound like a big deal, but they’re both solitary mountains, so it means going all the way up, then all the way down, and then up and down again.
The temperature that day was to be around 20°C, which I considered ideal – I also decided to take it at a brisk pace, which wasn’t easy, as I took the shortest but steepest marked trail up. While I remained a bit behind my best time, I was up in roughly an hour and 15 minutes, and I had the chance to enjoy some nice views.
After a 20-minute break, I started my descent, which was quite fast-paced. With the clear skies, I enjoyed the fact that a good part of the trail was through the woods, so I wasn’t sweating as much. This only lasted until I started ascending the second mountain, and though this trail also leads through the woods, ascending a second steep trail within 3 hours made its mark. The second peak is much more forested, with a limited view, so I only took a small break and headed down to wrap things up. My total time was 5 hours and 25 minutes with breaks included, which is a time many people would need for just one of these peaks. So, I was quite happy about the result, even though it made for a stiff Sunday.
I took the next week off at work – this was planned as my uncle, who lives in the USA, was coming home for a month, and I hoped to get some hiking done with him. Unfortunately, my week off managed to hit the only one week on the month when it rained. So, instead, I took a much-needed break from the busy time I had at work during May. We did manage a short hike, eventually, on Thursday – needing to choose something close and short, in case the weather turned for the worse, I took him to a place I visited with my sister two years ago.
During the initial ascension to the rock gate, it was clear that my regular activity was making quite a difference, and my uncle admitted that this was his first hike this year, so I had to pace myself. This made me glad I chose this place over something harder, especially with the clouds being quite low – in higher mountains, we’d probably see nothing.
We even had a short rain shower, but once that passed, the clouds seemed to be moving on, and while their remains obscured our view of the area for a while, things were slowly changing for the better.
Eventually, we closed the trail by looping back towards the village, at which point the skies started to clear even more.
Just two days later, I went for a hike with the hiking club. The weather was somewhat similar, the day starting cloudy. This was mostly a lowlands walk, so far views were absent, and I took it more as a way to relax and get some activity, than to seek far sights. That said, I did keep an eye out for nice things. Which, given it was mid-June, meant mostly some summer flowers.
As with the previous hike, I was hit by a few quite weak rain showers, after which the skies started to clear up to a warm day.
I reached my destination with plenty of spare time, so instead of going straight to the castle ruins, I took a loop around the castle hill to approach it from the far side. Just as I was entering the first courtyard, there was another five-minute rain shower, but that barely made an impact.
On the upside, the area wasn’t that crowded, so I could walk around the ruins without people getting in the way while I was taking some photos.
Including this patch of stubborn wildflowers growing out of the ancient masonry.
After that, I descended to the town center, where I had a bit of time to read before it was time to be on our way home.
The third weekend of the month had caught me quite indecisive about where to go hiking – by now, we were enjoying some sunny days, and the weather was warming up. Eventually, I decided to go to a place I know well, but not that close to home, utilizing the long day. The trail I chose had some advantages for a warm day – alternating easier and steeper portions – but the start proved to be harder than I expected – the sunlight was already quite harsh in the morning.
Despite that, I managed to reach the chalet below the first peak in a bit over two hours. It was already crowded with people who either took an easier (or shorter) trail or the chair lift. After having a cold beverage to cool down, I headed to the second, higher peak, to enjoy the view and take some photos.
As the third peak is a bit off the main trail, it wasn’t as crowded, though I still saw a lot of people on this branching trail. This rock formation is one of my favorite places in the area, and I’ve visited it almost every year, so some of you might recognize it.
Descending back to the pass on the main trail, I decided to do an extra loop around the next peak, including a spring at its slopes, but the hot weather made its mark and the spring was barely a trickle. I chose a different trail down than I usually do – instead of taking the trail on the slopes of the hills, I took a trail leading towards the valley, which I haven’t used yet. This also had a practical reason – I knew few people take it, and I knew there’s a stream in the valley where I could cool down a bit, which I did after finding a place that would have me sheltered from the view, just in case.
At that time, Europe was hit by a record-breaking heatwave, which was making its way towards my country as well, and I was glad that the last weekend of the month had a hike planned towards the higher peaks, where it might be a bit colder.
Despite that, I wasn’t willing to underestimate things. I packed more water and spare clothes in case I’d end up too sweaty. This trail also had the advantage of going through a partially forested valley in the first half, which provided welcome relief from the heat. And I could splash myself with the cold water from the bubbling stream, too.
By the time the valley opened up to its upper portions, the sky became somewhat cloudy, so the heat wasn’t as extreme, but the trail also started to ascend more. Soon, I had a view of the lake in its upper portion as I ascended above it on a zigzagging trail.
And, once I reached the upper portions of the trail, views of the landscape around were aplenty.
Unfortunately, so were bothersome insects. I originally wanted to have a nice break at the peak, but I ended up spending most of the time swatting those pests, until I gave up and decided that I’d try my luck for a snack break in the pass instead. Even taking photos was hard, because these buggers swarmed a lot, and it was a small miracle to get one out of four photos where none would be in the picture.
With my pace being quite brisk (though it didn’t exactly feel so), the group I was in – the fastest four – decide to go for one more peak, and while we still beat the official time by 15 minutes, at this point, we felt more like crawling than walking.
But the view of the lakes below it was well worth it.
Not just from the peak, but also from the trail we took on our way down, up close.
From there on, the worst was done, and all that was left was to make it down the valley, first the steeper upper portion, and then the long but easy lower portion. I also wanted to cool down in the spring here once I was near the lower end – before more trails would merge – but the stream in these mountains was much colder, so it was only a quick splash to get rid of the sweat and go on. IN the end, it was a good relief from the heat in the lowlands, though nowhere near easy.
And I knew that the next hike would probably be easier, to let me gather my strength for whatever crazy plan I might have during the summer.
So, that’s it for my June adventures. I’ll see you next time.
Footnote: something’s not working properly during writing this post, if the photos don’t load properly, let me know, I’ll look into it.
Tomas - the wandering dreamer 