Yet another long weekend offered another opportunity to explore the countries around Kosovo. This time it would be Montenegro. formerly a republic of Serbia, Montenegro obtained independence late last year. Like the rest of the Balkans, it is an amazing landscape whose beauty is slowly being discovered. The trip included 9 people from Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, Australia and the US and an intinerary that would cover mountains and ocean coast.
We left Friday after work and after a 5 hour drive, our three cars arrived at a little mountain hut complete with kitchen, fireplace and three bedrooms to accommodate us for the weekend. The moon was full and the snowy silouhette of the mountain was clear uner the stars. The next day we would wake and take about a four hour hike up through the mountains. Two of the group had been here before but had never done the hike because of too much snow. This winter was much more mild so there was a good chance the snow would not hinder us too badly.
At about 10.00, from a small lake just inside the park gate, we began to head through the pine forest up the base. It was quite warm so some of us were wearing shorts, short-sleeves and sunglasses with sweatshirts tied around our waists. We had packed ample amounts of water and some food for lunch that was spread out in backpacks. The trail was well marked and easy to follow. Small patches of snow showed up, but nothing that couldn't be walked through in tennis shoes. The higher we climbed the deeper the snow became, but it was lways in patches that were surrounded by dry land. After a coupe of hours we found a dry spot and sat for lunch. There were two maps in the group and everyone took their turns looking at it and agreeing on which way to go. The markers were getting a bit harder to find with the snow which posed a bit of a challenge. But we all put faith in our map readers and were ready to conintue on.
The half-way point was a lake and we were apparently about half-way there. A loop would then take us around and back to the lake at the bottom where we started. As we continued up the snow of course became deeper, at some points people fell into snow piles up to their waists. The best bet was to follow exactly the person's steps in front of you. Even though all nine of us were failrly fit, it was inevitable that some fell behind. Four of us continued following footprints of a hiker from a day or two before us. They continued up, ridge after ridge, all of us assuming the lake would appear over the next ridge. At one point we looked back and noticed our 5 companions were no where in site. They had somshow found a marker and had taken a right up to a different part of the mountain. They knew they were on the right trail . . . we weren't as certain. The other detriment to us was that none of the four of us held a map. All we had were the footprints to follow and the hope they lead in the right direction.
Bram was wearing shorts, natacha had on tennis shoes, we were all soaking wet but had choice other than to continue. for every up hill stretch there was a downhill slide. These were steep and nearly impossible to decend on foot. Our jackets became our sleds and we flew down, often out of control. When Brm's leg-bare body swoosh by me I couldnt' help but laugh while at the same time think that we were doomed. The one thing we had on our side at this point was that there was quite a bit of sunlight left. This continued for at least an hour. Finally we rounded a ridge and looked above at our 5 friends screaming down at us! Oh God, were we happy. Now, at least they'd know where to send the rescue team if we didn't make it back. They didn't stay in our site for long, but we again had hope that we were going the right direction and that we would meet up with them at some point.
And, sure enough, the path they were on merged with ours and we all continued for at least another hour back into a forest, less snow and finally our starting lake. We were wet, exausted, cold, dirty, hungry and ready to sit down to giant plate of meat, bottles of wine and flasks of beer. The 5 with the maps admitted that there was a point that they accepted the fact that we were lost and it would be up to them to send the rescue team to find what could possible be our dead bodies. The four hour hike ended up being seven. THe next day while eating breakfast outside our hut we saw a group of people heading up the mountain equipped with snow shoes, hiking poles and winter boots, clearly prepared for what we were not.
On the Sunday three of us headed back to Pristina while the rest made their way to a warmer coastal climate in Budva and Kotor. The pictures are amazing, and the experience is now one to smile at and remember as an amazing experience. Although, few of us would admit to thinking it very amazing while we were int he middle of it.
