It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here. For one, I just don’t have as much time to wander around with lots going on personally and professionally. But more importantly, I just haven’t had the creative spark that nudged me to take the time to put something together.

Well, Matthias Tell me nudged me today 😉 I stumbled upon his “High and Dry” song it just hit I had to post the photos from our amazing trek in Stara Planina last year with my buddy Stani. Make sure you play the tune, it’s worth it. (Spoiler alert: we did not stay dry after all ⛈️😅)

So, the trip. We decided to go from Zlatitza to Apriltzi on foot, BUT traversing the mighty Balkan range (ie, Stara Planina). Essentially we did most of days 6-8 from the Kom-Emine trek, but wanted to take it easy (a relative term in that part of the mountain haha) and not push for 40km days, stuck to 30-ish 😃 I won’t be doing an extensive description day by day as with the Kom-Emine one, so this is more of a photo dump. But what a dump it is haha!

Keep in mind all photos here are taken with my iPhone — I did not feel like carrying the big camera on a trek I’ve already done. I’m not sure they do justice to how incredible the scenery and experience was, truly. I do recommend viewing these at least on a tablet-sized screen, you’ll be missing out a lot if it’s on a phone.

With that, enjoy! And do take the time to make that route, it’s really, really worth it!

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Leaving Zlatitza behind. I don’t get to go back to my dad’s hometown as much these days so it was great to start our trek there. The only downside is we had a long way up that day..

Cool little rock formation. And a pattern you’ll start noticing — ominously looking clouds circling around 🥲

We definitely were slower than expected so the sunset caught up with us much earlier than we thought. Then again, look at that view! No beach in the world beats this for me..

We ended up walking into the night to reach Momina Polyana hut. Thankfully it was almost a full moon so for a good couple of hours we did not even need headlamps. When we finally put them on, we did scare some horses 😄 By the way, the people running Momina Polyana were super, super nice — I highly recommend the place. Great food as well, though that might have been the hunger talking.

The peak in the very distance is called Vezhen, sitting at 2,198m (7,211ft). It’s not that high, but there are a LOT of ups and downs until we get to it — and we still had almost as much to do beyond that day to reach the Eho hut. Told you taking it easy was a relative term in the Central Balkan range 😌

Getting close to Vezhen with Koncheto ahead of us. For better photos of this great place, see the Kom-Emine post.

Aaaaand the clouds were never too far behind. Not sure if you can tell, but that thing to the left of Stani is a big ass thunderstorm that was just pouring down and throwing lightning to the south of us. We watched that thing for at least 2 hours going up and down in amazement, words can’t even do it justice. You’re just sitting there (and by that I mean walking really fast towards your goal for the day 😅) and admiring the incredible power of nature, all the while keeping young fingers crossed the wind doesn’t turn because in 10min that thing could smack you. Trust me, you do NOT want to be that exposed with a thunderstorm.. we got lucky that day and just had these amazing views to admire. Look at this!

Just another couple of hours to get to Eho, in the distance on the left. I also decided to climb that peak in the center-ish of the frame, called Yumruka (“The Fist”) which I didn’t get to on the Kom-Emine trek.

Midway through climbing Yumruka, you get a really nice shot of Eho. One of the best situated huts in Bulgaria — sadly not really well maintained, so much opportunity to do something great here for moutaineers.

Sunset from Eho… I love these moments.

The following morning, we can clearly see our final objective in two days’ time — you can see the Botev peak antenna almost at the very end there, and right before it is the unmistakable pyramid silhouette of Kupena peak. Apriltzi is at the foothills of Botev peak. First stop though, the Arch of the Beklemeto pass (left of the frame).

Often mornings in the Balkan start like this — clear blue skies. Don’t let it fool you 😃 Always check the forecast!

Didn’t take that many photos that day, more in the other post. But a cool looking (and likely dangerous) tree fall. National reserve though, I think the rangers are not allowed to touch it. Not that they would have, even if they were in the green — sadly, we don’t maintain our treks as well as we should.

Yet again we saw this thunderstorm go up and down in the distance. This is Dermenka hut, by the way, we had stopped there for lunch earlier.

Although we flirted with the storms quite a bit and felt we had narrowly slipped past them, that turned out to be false 😄 Video in Bulgarian, apologies.

The wind turned and swept one of the thunderstorm in our direction. This is Stani and I feeling relieved that we got away only with some wet jackets (thank goodness for modern day technical rain clothing!) and a little scare of the lightning catching up to us. It never did, though we had to hide under some trees, as you can see above.

The sky is always so nice after the rain’s gone.

A nice little shot of the sleet that was coming down earlier.

Just look at that sunset!

Final day, the target is in sight! A measly 25-ish km to go with what, 2000m of vertical gain? 😁 We’re now at Ambaritza peak.

Just look at those velvety mountain sides, favorite vista at early dawn in all of Bulgaria for me. That pyramid looking one is Kupena (2,169m / 7,116ft) and Botev is the one with the antenna, highest in the Balkan range and sitting at 2,376m (7,795ft).

Looking back at Kupena and Ambaritza in the distance now.

Aaand this is on the way down from Botev, en route to Apriltzi. Last shot of the trip. And what a trip it was!

Can’t wait to do it again this summer, August can’t come soon enough 😃