Balkan High Points #1 and #2

The two highest peaks in the Balkan peninsula both happen to be country high points: Bulgaria and Greece! Sara (@sightsofsara) and I had met on a Balkans group trip organized by Tia (@whynotadventures_), where we climbed Golem Korab and Gjeravica together (she also did Zla Kolata, but I was sadly evacuated before then…see the Gjeravica link). We had some other shared peak goals, one of which was Rysy in Poland, which we completed <2 months later. Now, we’d be heading to another peak on both of our lists: Musala! Sara decided to join for the Greece portion as well, so the 2-peak weekend was set.

The trip came together quickly, as I’d attempted the same itinerary the previous October. That time, the forecast had started to deteriorate as the trip approached, so we cut out Olympus and swapped in Midžor in Serbia, allowing us to keep our Sofia flights. Over the 2 days leading up to Musala, conditions went totally off the rails with an unseasonable meter of snow, the season’s first dumping. Dealing with a fresh ingrown nail mess and observing the trail conditions even just at the start, I called off Musala before we’d even started. Having now summited…I can confidently say that we weren’t prepared for a safe attempt back then. We explored a bit of Bulgaria instead and headed to Midžor from the Bulgarian side, so for that trip recap, check out the Midžor blog post here! (:

Sofia and Borovets

On June 19, we landed in Sofia, with two missions before driving down to Borovets: lunch and bear spray. Our first stop was a cute café called Izzy’s, right in the lot we decided to park in. After reading 10+ Google Maps reviews about several tourist trap lots (confusing punch cards), I found this one that was a straightforward cash payment and well-located. The kitchen at Izzy’s closes earlier than their listed hours show, and we’d made it just in time!

From there, we called around to a few gear shops in the area in search of bear spray. Unfortunately, two that looked promising based on online searches were out of stock. Sara had another idea…and that was how two American women walked into a gun shop in Sofia. They did indeed have it, but they were charging over 90 euros for a small canister. We passed on that and headed onward to Borovets.

I had messaged our hotel, Hotel Four Seasons (not to be confused with the 5-star chain, of course) in Samokov, and the owner was nice enough to phone around there for bear spray as well. No luck there either. Based on our conversations with him and others in the shops, we determined that it wouldn’t really be necessary on a main trail like this, even with an early start.

The next morning, we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise from the balcony. We made the 10-minute drive to the trailhead down in Borovets, with a much easier roadside parking situation than October’s slippery, snowy mess. After Sara recorded her intro clip (check out her full reel here!!), we were off at around 6:30am.

MUSALA

There are two main routes to this summit, one of which involves the Yastrebets lift. I am avoiding lifts in this challenge wherever possible, so we took the other (longer) route, from Borovets. It involves nearly 1,600 meters of elevation gain and around 25 kilometers round trip. The lift cuts out over 10 kilometers of the distance and almost 1,000 meters of the elevation gain. The route with the lift is generally done in a day, while the route from Borovets can involve a stay in one of the mountain huts. The logistics of this trip worked out better without hut stays, so we were in for a big day! My AllTrails route is below.

The trail started up gradually on a decent path. Within an hour, however, we began to get properly attacked by swarms of mosquitos. I normally carry bug spray, but for whatever reason hadn’t remembered it this time. Soon, however, we emerged from the woods and felt a bit of a breeze.

There were still some swarms now and then, so we were extremely grateful to the two men on the trail who let us use their bug spray!! 2 tips for anyone coming here: 1) bring bug spray, obviously and 2) bring a full cap/hat, not just a visor, if you don’t want your scalp to be mosquito breakfast.

We came to a point in the trail shortly after, where AllTrails shows two possibilities. The main, rocky path went up to the left through dense trees, while the other appeared to follow a gravel road for a bit past a closed ski lift. We opted for the main one, which we wouldn’t realize was the better decision until choosing the other way back, despite its difficulties.

There were quite a few moments of near-bushwhacking, shown in the Instagram highlights. Parts of the trail had turned into mini rivers, but within 30 minutes or so, it opened up into a stunning panorama.

20 minutes into enjoying the more open, even terrain, we were faced with our next obstacle of the day: a very fast-flowing river to cross. We looked for other possible paths, but the one on the trail map was ultimately the safest. Still, this was relative…Gore-Tex was really put to the test here. The unavoidable large rock Sara steps on in the photo below, in particular, causes water to shoot up to the ankles with the lightest step. The water was freezing and thigh-deep above the crossing, so a shoes-off approach there wouldn’t be feasible. This was probably atypical for mid-June, as we were a few days into a heatwave, causing a lot of snowmelt.

My trusty Salewas protected the toes from Raynaud’s, and we continued onward. Another 20 minutes brought us to Musala Hut!

We were there around 10am on a Saturday, and everything was self-service. So, bring cash! As you may have seen in Sara’s recap reel, the coffee did smell and taste a bit like dirt. I went with the tea and would recommend it! (: It was a nice spot to warm up before the summit push, but maybe not the most elegant facilities for a bio break:

We’d seen barely anyone on the trail all morning, aside from the bug spray heroes. As we were preparing to head out, hordes of hikers were descending on the hut from a different path. The first lift had evidently arrived. Worried about queues at the summit, we set off quickly! With a few quick photo stops, of course:

From the hut, the path winds around a lake before climbing more steeply up boulders and snow. For some reason, the AllTrails route from the lift sends hikers up a completely different path from the longer Borovets route, despite both passing right by the hut. You can consider taking one route up and the other down, and in the conditions we had, I’d probably recommend going counterclockwise (heading along the right side of the lake on the way up, and passing along the other side on the way down). This is because the way up to the left involved a large snow field in mid-June, which seemed to offer some alternatives through the trees. This path, however, devolved a bit.

There was a mix of dense trees, loose boulders, and snow. We were surprised to have our first encounter with snow this low on the mountain, especially given the early start to summer. Still, it was soft and easy to walk on without spikes, so those stayed in the bag.

While we took this general route back down, we didn’t reverse it exactly…just a bit further down this post, you’ll see what I mean by that. (: More on the alternative path there too. At this point in our hike, we didn’t realize another path existed, but we were enjoying more solitude than expected!

The trail had started at around 1,350 meters in Borovets, Musala Hut was at 2,389 meters, and the boulder field here is at around 2,500 meters, <30 minutes after leaving the hut. Another 50 meters higher is yet another beautiful lake.

This is Alekovo Ezero (ezero = lake in Bulgarian), with Aleko peak visible across the way. It’s a beautiful snack stop if the hut feels too crowded, right around the halfway point between the two huts (Musala & Ledeno Ezero). None of this route overlaps with the Seven Rila Lakes hike, as they’re in very different areas within the mountain range, but you still get plenty of beautiful lake views here.

From the lake, a rocky path ascends more steeply upward. Soon, the rocks are replaced by large snowfields to cross. There is no crevasse risk here, and the snow was in great condition, so no special gear was needed. While I was grateful to have the spikes in the bag, they were still proving to be unnecessary.

This part through the snow was pretty fun! Soon, the Ledeno Ezero hut came into view. This shelter looks even more no-frills than the Musala Hut, although you can also stay there. As we weren’t planning an overnight stay, we didn’t research either of them much, but Jarda (completed the Crown of Europe) shares his experience (and recommendation) in this blog post! It might not be what you expect, looking from the outside. After a quick snack stop there, we continued up!

Possibly the most beautiful view of the whole hike, overlooking several lakes, is just up the path:

The scrambling begins right after this, taking an additional 20-30 minutes to reach the summit.

The path wasn’t too crowded on the way up, so we kept moving and didn’t really stop for photos. On the way down, there was plenty of time for that. We looped behind the building and found ourselves in a fairly short queue for summit photos!

More crowds began to gather up there. The scramble down was a much different experience from the way up, but at least it was a chance to snap more photos!

We were doing well on time, so we didn’t mind it…at first. That was until one inconsiderate male hiker chose impatience and essentially bear-hugged Sara (and took her foothold) to pass her. I cannot emphasize enough how dissimilar this scramble is to something like Triglav…if you truly cannot wait to pass, just hop down on the boulders and go around. It’s not so exposed that this maneuver was necessary to pass. We were not the bottleneck, either, and this hiker continued to incompetently plow his way through the crowd. Don’t be that guy!

We were finally on the last stretch to the upper hut. Sara had one more stroke of bad luck on this last bit with a leg plunging through the snow.

We went past the hut this time and continued down the way we’d come. Before long, that brought us to the snowfield we’d partially bypassed via dense trees and boulders on the ascent. We started (trying) to walk down through the snow, which had become even softer. I slipped, then decided it was warm enough to risk some wet trousers. Glissading time! It felt like I was flying, but Sara’s videos show a different story. This is in the Instagram highlights. (:

That was the last break for our knees.

It was back to boulders and creek crossings until Musala Hut. We took a rest there, enjoying the views along the lake. Musala, where we’d just stood, already looked so far away!

From this vantage point, we saw crowds descending from a different trail. It was then that we discovered why half of the way up was so empty. The lift path headed up and down that other way. Their descent looked steep and a bit miserable, but it seemed to avoid any snow. I’m not sure how it looked further up, but this is likely a nicer way to ascend. I’d still choose the snowfield for the descent in these conditions!

Wanting to avoid repeating the sketchy river crossing, we took the alternate path for the short section back to the closed ski lift further down. We’d hoped this would be more of an open path as it appeared from the points we saw it split off and rejoin…however, between those points, it was a field of deep mud. At one point, I was too short to effectively step over a particularly deep section, and Sara hauled me across with a trekking pole as I held it and jumped.

We were so excited to finally see the closed lift, as we knew it meant the start of a proper trail again. We were even more excited to see this bridge, as it had been visible from where the trails initially branched off. The rest of the way would be an easy, albeit long, stroll back to Borovets.

Bonus Story: Avoid Airport Taxis in Sofia

The long day wasn’t over yet, as we still had a 1.5-hour drive back to Sofia to grab dinner and return the rental car at the airport. From the airport, we went to the taxi queue to catch a ride to our hotel. There seemed to only be one company operating there: “Yellow!” Maybe it’s named after a traffic light, because you should slow down before considering taking one of their cabs.

I’d already had a less-than-ideal experience back in October with this company, when our 4am cab to the airport never showed up, was difficult to get in touch with, and nearly caused us to miss our flight home. This time, I thought it would be easier, as we’d be starting from the airport with cabs already there. We were led to the first one in the lineup, and I showed our hotel name and address to the driver. His English seemed limited, and he was very confused by the address we showed. The dispatcher came over to help translate and sent us on our way. As we exited the airport, the real problems began.

The driver pulled off to the side of the road outside the airport and was messing with his phone, claiming that the address wasn’t real and the hotel didn’t exist. I told him that we went through this already, and that he agreed to take us to that address. If he had any doubts, I said to just go to the bus station (it was a short walk from there). I could see the meter ticking up as we sat there, so I insisted that he get back on the road. He asked for one of our phones to use for navigation. He said he’d just dropped off passengers at our hotel yesterday and that we had the wrong address for it. We again insisted that he ignore the name and just go to the address. He said if we get there and it’s not a hotel, he’ll take us to the other location. Not sketchy at all!

In the meantime, I found the hotel with the similar name that he mentioned and told him that’s not our hotel, despite the similar name. He replied that he’s never heard of ours and doubts that it’s real. This was all happening via his phone’s Google Translate app as he swerved around a bit. He then called someone (presumably a supervisor or colleague), and I could make out just enough of the words to understand that she was telling him we were right. Our hotel was MillenniA, different from MillenniUM. He turned to us and said that there is indeed a new hotel at the location we gave. We finally arrived, and he had the nerve to ask for a tip! Shortly after settling into the room, the power went out mid-shower. The front desk was thankfully open 24/7 and restored it without us needing to change rooms, so it was finally time to sleep.

I’d recommend checking whether there’s a car rental location that allows you to do an airport pick-up and city drop-off without an extra fee, if you plan to follow this overall itinerary with the bus to Greece next. Alternatively, the metro. Anything to avoid the taxi chaos!

Onward to Greece

The hotel we’d chosen was near the bus station, as we’d be heading onward to Thessaloniki early the next morning. The travel luck continued with an accident in Thessaloniki causing road closures and bus delays from the station to the airport (nearly an hour away, normally), which then forced us to miss the opening hours of a lunch spot we’d found. At least Enterprise picked up the phone quickly and was fine with our late arrival to collect the car! The small shop nearby in the terminal was well-stocked and even had anti-itch cream for our bug-annihilated skin from Musala.

The rest of this trip recap is continued in the Greece blog post!

THANK YOU ❤

Thanks for reading my twenty-sixth Crown of Cureope blog post! At the time I stood on Musala, we had raised $2,975 for the American Association for Cancer Research to fund lifesaving discoveries. As of publishing this post, we are at $3,085 raised. With some of the bigger peaks still remaining in this challenge, I’m hoping we can hit 5 figures!! Thank you so much to everyone who’s donated and spread the word to help hit the fundraising goal, and to fellow hikers for tips and company along the way to these summits.