As I’ve said at the end of my previous hiking post, I had an extended weekend stay planned for the end of October. The promise of colorful woods and rolling fog was the main treat but the end of October is when the weather starts leaning towards the rainy day of November so being prepared for rain was crucial.
Continue readingTag Archives: mountains
September hiking pt.1: Don’t try this at home
After the active August, my first hike in September came after two weeks of break on 14th. But I made it count.
Continue readingAugust hiking pt.3: Place I love
The Slovakian ‘Malá Fatra’ mountain range is a place where I’ve walked most of the main trails and a good deal of the side trails – and I still love to return there.
Continue readingHiking: scorching adventures
After the rainy May, June seems back to the 2018 standards: awfully hot, often over 30°C. Yet, I went for a few hikes during the first half of June – and will share something about it now (including not-so-few photos).
Continue readingSlovakian fields
So, I am back with another hike post. This one is something I’ll start on a bit of detour: back in May 2017 when the hiking club was putting together a plan for 2018 (with me as a guest to the 9 leaders), we lacked something for the ‘slot’ of 30.6. and a few days before, there was a video from Slovakian mountain resort where a group of bikers was startled by a bear on one of the trails. And I had the ‘genius’ idea to suggest to go there. Surprisingly, the suggestion was accepted.
So, that’s the backstory, now for the hike itself.
Memorable mountains #1
This is something I’ll try to post possibly monthly, a look back at some of the mountains I visited and are, in some way, memorable to me. At this point, I have a list of almost 80 candidates but I am not sure how many will pass. These posts would be a mix of personal stories with photos and some ‘hard facts’. Maybe some interesting things, should I know about them.
I’ll begin this with ‘Lysá hora’, the highest peak of Czech ‘Moravskoslezské beskydy’ mountain range.
Hiking and health
If there’s something that hiking helps me much with, it’s my health. The amount of hiking I did was growing progressively. In my late teens, I was at 10 hikes per year and total around 200km. These days, I am (depending on several factors) somewhere between 30-40 hikes per year and 700-1000km walked during those. And over the last 10 years, my health gradually improved. I’ll try to have a look back and share how much.
Alone in the hills, part two
There’s a tradition I try to keep going, to go for a hike between exams. It works well to clear my mind. This time, it became a bit extreme. Exam on Monday, okay, went better than expected. The hike was originally planned for Tuesday but the plan changed and I went for a bit different outdoor activity with my sister. So the hike was moved to Wednesday despite the fact that my legs were stiff from 36km of roller-blading in something like 2,5hrs (fastest lap I had was 12min 20sec for 4,5km, by the way).
Anyway, I still set up the alarm at 4:10, thinking that this time I might even regret it (I very rarely regret getting up early for a hike, even in bad weather) and went on with the adjusted plan. Of course, Wednesday + unknown place = being alone.
Alone in the hills, part one
So, here it comes. First summer hike of 2018. Yes, it’s not “calendar summer” yet but the weather is not giving a damn the last few years. 30°C in mid-may, no problem. Part one, in this case, because of the second hike that I’ll cover soon.
Just after the rainy days
After three weeks of idling, I finally got to the hills again. At first, it did not look well. It was raining three or four days before. The rain was not strong, but it was persistent and I know that for some, it’s enough to be a hit on their mood. If I went alone, I would not give it a second thought but this time, I was to bring a loose group of almost fifty people somewhere after four days of rain with a not-so-small chance for more of it that day.
