Hiking in the High Tatras of Slovakia

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Day one - Popradske Pleso 22/08/07

Today we made the journey from Poprad (the main transport hub of the high Tatras) to Propadske Pleso, a mountain lake that lies at an elevation of about 1500m in the High Tatra Mountains in Northern Slovakia. We first had to catch the train from Proprad up to Stary Smokovec where we bought a hiking map and small book detailing some of the different hikes in the Tatras - an indispensable purchase we thought, and so far has given us lots of inspiration for planning our activities over the next few days.

After filling up on some breakfast (delicious vege soup and bread), we found a left luggage place in Stary Smokovec where we dropped off our two small bags (filling them up with as many non-esentials as we could) which left us with only our big packs for the hike, happily a little lighter than normal and much easier to walk with by themselves without our smaller packs hanging on the front too.

At about 3pm, after stocking up with groceries for our hiking adventure, we again boarded the train to head further up into the mountains. The train only went up part of the way though, so once we got off at our station, we had to walk for about an hour and a half up a picturesque mountain road, bordered by beautiful smelling pine trees and tall pink wildflowers, and enjoying glimpses (at first) of huge rocky mountain peaks. The further we walked though, the better the view of the mountains ahead. Finally, after an exhausting hike up, we emerged out above the lake of Propadske Pleso, an amazing blue mountain lake, glistening in the late afternoon sun, and reflecting the grey of the mountains above… We were also happy to find that our mountain hut, Chata Propadske Pleso, was in view because our packs were definitely feeling heavy. Dinner was a soup they call “Vegetable and Noodles” which we were initially excited about, but were silightly disappointed to find that the meal we had anticipated actually wasn’t much more than salty water… still, we were just happy to find something hot and meat-free… For something amusing, check out our picture of the “Meatless Dishes” section of their menu!

Strangely, after dinner, we realised that there was no electricity at our chata and no water either. Confused, we asked reception (who by this time were working by candle light) who told us that the power supply had accidentally been cut off but should be back on by 8pm. Weird.

Day Two - Popradske Pleso to Kaprovsky Stit via Velke Hincova Pleso 23/08/07

Today we woke up to find that there was still no electricity or water. Lucky we had packed several litres of water which we could use on our hike or we would have had a very thirsty day!

We decided to walk from Popradske Pleso up to Koprovsky Stit, 2367m, and it ended up being a very challenging walk (taking us all day, from 9,30am to 4,30pm )… but it was so worth it!!! Neither of us could believe how amazing the scenery was!

The view from the top was absolutely mind-blowing: we were among, and surrounded by, a circle of towering grey rocky peaks, jagged and fierce looking against the skyline, and we were looking down upon alternating rocky and then pine-covered valleys as well as three huge mountains lakes (the eyes of the ocean they call them here...). The lakes were so beautiful too, reflecting the greyness of the cloudy skies until the sun managed to burst through, turning them in the most amazing blues and greens, almost like coral reefs along their perimeters where they were the most rocky and shallow. After the walk, we spent about 20 minutes basking on one of the huge big boulders on the side of one of the lakes, Velke Hincova Pleso, taking time to enjoy the colour of the water and also the rest (!!!) after the steep descent from the peak.

The walk up was, as already mentioned, a challenged. Softened only by the fact that we were surrounded by the most magnificent scenery and the fact that the path was bordered by wild raspberry bushes meaning that we were never too far away from the delicious taste of one of our favourite fruits… A few times we felt a little bit overwhelmed by the path ahead, the switch-backs up the mountains looked so steep and long and for most of the time we couldn’t even see the peak we were heading for. Still, we were so awed and energised by the beauty of the country that we were walking through that these moments of worry quickly faded, and we were again on our way… one foot in front of the other!

The last part of the walk was quite steep and rocky and involved crossing a thin saddle to get right to the peak, and the winds were so strong it felt like we could have got blown off! It was such a rush to make it to the top though, the air was so incredibly fresh and cold on our cheeks and our hearts were beating so fast- not only because we were excited to have made it to the top, but because we had been rewarded with such an amazing panorama, of more spectacular mountains, valleys and lakes all resting below and around us. There was a great atmosphere at the top amongst all the hikers too, everyone seemed to be as excited as we were which made it all the more fun!

On the way back down, we couldn’t believe that we had actually made it all the way to the top because the downhill slope seemed to be never-ending! Still, with our raspberry stops and some time basking on the boulders at the lake, we took our time to enjoy the return journey to our chata, feeling quite proud of our achievement.

Again, the electricity is not working. Apparently it should come on after 8pm, though it didn’t last night… so we will go to bed unshowered (yet again!) and see what happens tomorrow.

Day Three - Stary Smokovec 24/08/07

Waking up to find that the water and electricity were still not on, and discovering that the situation wasn’t about to change, we made the decision to blow off the rest of our planned stay at Popradke Pleso Chata and come down from the mountains to try our luck with some new accommodation in the cute little town of Stary Smokovec. We figured that, despite its idyllic location, it was less than ideal staying at a Chata with no access to water (made all the more inconvenient because we had foolishly left our steri-pen with our left luggage so we couldn’t safely drink mountain stream either). So we donned our packs again and began the descent with fresh excitement at the prospect of discovering a new place… the walk down seemed SO much easier than the walk up, which we were very grateful for of course.

Back in Stary Smokovec, we were delighted to discover the amazingly helpful staff at the main Information Centrum (a nice contrast to the chata we had just left). The staff there were lovely and phoned around countless pensions trying to find us somewhere to stay, meaning that we didn’t have to canvass the town ourselves knocking on doors and trying to communicate our needs with some VERY broken Slovakian, the help of our trusty Lonely Planet phrase book and of course some horrendously bad pronunciation… After a little while, the gorgeous grandma-like old woman from Information came back to us with the name of a pension, Vila Klara, that was just down the road. Happy and relieved, we headed off on foot down the main road in the direction of Tatranksa Lomnica to discover our new little haven, with crisp white sheets, a clean shower (with running water!!!!), a big open window and a view out over the valley towards Poprad and a squeaky clean kitchen next to our room. We were in heaven.

Delighted with our new digs, we immediately hopped in the shower to wash off the last few days of hiking sweat and dirt, got out some clean clothes (taking some time to admire the cleanliness of ourselves!) and headed back into town for a nice cold glass of beer (for Hero) and ice coffee (for Keira) at the Tatry Pub. We enjoyed watching the day turn to night as we sipped our drinks, then went to the local supermarket to stock up on some supplies before returning back home to enjoy some cheesy/spicy French toast and baked beans for dinner, with raspberry yoghurt for dessert. We had the best night’s sleep in ages!

Day Four - Hrebienok to Skalnata Pleso via Obrovsky Vodopad and Velky Vodopad. 25/08/07

Suffering a little from general malaise, it was lunch time before we finally got ourselves into gear and set off on what was another beautiful hike in the mountains. We took guilty pleasure in cheating a little to begin with by taking the rack-railway up to the small recreation centre of Hrebienok, which took 45 mins off our hike… It was all uphill from there though, on a rocky stony path that definitely put our ankles to the test. We were happy to find that our legs (which appeared to be in shock from the trauma of the climb that we subjected them to on day two) warmed up quickly though, and we were really happy to be once again up in the mountains.

The initial part of the walk was uneven and rocky, although the incline was not too steep and thus (unlike our previous hike) was quite easy on our hearts in comparison! After about 20 minutes on the walk, the sound of rushing water which had been softly accompanying our walk from almost the beginning, started to become louder and louder… a great sign for us because waterfalls and small rapids were the main attractions for the first part of this walk. The colour, once we were in view of the water, was incredible! Perhaps because the stones underneath the stream were white, or just because the water is so incredibly pure in the Tatras, it was like liquid aquamarine.

After the waterfalls, we tried to make up for our laziness later by switching from a green walk to a blue walk and decided to head up to another big mountain lake called Skalnate Pleso.

Along the way, we stopped off at Zamkovskeho Chata and had the most delicious garlic and lentil soup. Wow. It was so good we had seconds! The chata itself is a beautiful, lively old two-story log cabin, complete with Tibetan Prayer flags, set in a small clearing surrounded by tall pine trees set amongst massive grey mountain peaks. When we come back, we want to stay here!!! They even have running water! Awesome! Heeehehehe.

The rest of the walk was very beautiful too… Skalnate Pleso was another amazingly beautiful mountain lake surrounded by towering peaks... We started pretty late though so by the time we got up, the clouds were quite stunning, especially when the setting sun illumintated the very edges of them making them glow hot white. The lake at the top had some of the same blues and greens that we were so awed by on our first walk, and although we had not climbed as high as on the first day, we still has some amazing views and the same fresh wind on our faces. We decided that we like it up high ☺ We spent time to walk the circumference of the lake, so that we could appreciate the different colours of the lake and the different effect of the sunlight on the water’s surface.

The changing nature of the clouds on the return journey quickly made the scenery much more dramatic. The peaks first became darkened as heavy cloud began to set in and they soon disappeared as the clouds rapidly descended, chasing us down the mountain. We managed to get back before dark though, and before the clouds caught us, which we were both very pleased about… ☺

Day Five - Thwarted! Lomnicky Stit sold out!! 26/08/07

Our last day in the Tatras we had reserved for taking the two chair-lift rides to get up to the peak of Lomnicky Stit… unfortunately, by the time we had sorted ourselves out (checked out of Vila Klara, put our bags in left luggage etc), all the tickets for the day were sold out. Disappointed, we headed back to Stary Smokovec from Tatranska Lomnica (the place from which the chair-lift departs)… Thus, we were forced to spend the rest of the day bar and café-hopping, sample some of Slovakia’s finest beer and coffees. We had a picnic dinner in the main park of Stary Smokovec as the sun set over the mountains, then went and had one more round of drinks once it got dark before we boarded the train to head back to Poprad to catch our overnight train to Vienna.

To see the rest of our photos (which are definitely worth a look!) check out flickr.

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Photos

'Meatless dishes'
We were kind of amused at the Propadske Pleso Chata's idea of what meatless dishes were...

Wild flowers
Wild flowers added some beautiful colour to the lower parts of our walks.

Raspberry
We loved the wild raspberry bushes that bordered our hiking trails.

Water's edge
Taken from the side of Velke Hincova Pleso

X marks the spot
The red and white circle marks the end of the walk at the top of the peak on Koprovsky Stit.

Hero at the top!
Hero standing at the top of Koprovsky Stit in the High Tatras.

Comments

[Jess]

No meat
I thought you knew that bacon was not a meat. hahahaha

[mark]

i bet you ate the bacon
either on purpose or by accident...I reckon u guys are eating meat! M