If you’ve been following my blog then I’m sure you were expecting Part 3 of my recent series about why I’ve moved to Switzerland. But, we have to keep things in order here. There were some big things that happened between Tuscany and getting back to San Diego and I can’t forget about them.
In my last weeks in Slovenia I squeezed in as much as possible. With the discovery of my new found love of the Julian Alps during my Canyoning and Rafting trip, I wanted to spend most of my time outdoors. Luckily I had made some great friends to enjoy it with. The highlights of my last few weeks included a weekend stay near Lake Bled, a weekend hike at Triglav National Park, and another weekend in Bovec for some more canyoning.
Mount Triglav is a right of passage in Slovenia. I’ve read that its rare to meet a Slovene that hasn’t hiked Triglav to the top. This was one of my goals and while our weekend hike didn’t take us to the top it certainly was challenging enough! I set out with Meredith, Anne, and Anne’s friend to hike the Seven Lakes trail over two days. After the hiking I had done in Switzerland I was fairly confident about this hike. But I’ve learned now that distance doesn’t matter much in the long run…it’s the terrain that makes all the difference.
The hike started with around two hours of switchbacks if my memory serves correctly. This means we gained quite a bit of altitude in a short time. The nice part was that when this part was complete we weren’t far from a mountain hut where we could refuel before continuing up the mountain to the hut we’d be staying at for the night. I actually enjoyed the uphill. It was a challenge but you’re always rewarded with some breathtaking view when you reach the top. After a long day of hiking when we all were just on the verge of utter exhaustion we came into a valley and saw our beautiful little hut! It was straight out of The Sound of Music! Entering the hut you have to remove your shoes and there were shelves of slippers to borrow. I will admit I was happy I packed my flip flops as the slippers looked like they’d been enjoyed by travelers for the past 30 years! We scarfed down our meals in the hut restaurant, cleaned up, and got in our bunk beds in the dorm-style rooms pretty early.
In the morning we hiked up the valley to see some more of the seven lakes. At one point in our hike I spotted a huge cave up the side of the mountain. I expressed that I would really love to be able to look inside the cave and I can’t remember who had the grand idea but somebody suggested I climb up the mountain to look. Anne’s friend and I decided to give it a shot. I can’t explain how much steeper the side of that mountain was compared to how it looked from the trail. About halfway up I looked back to the trail and I couldn’t even find Anne or Meredith they were so small! We finally made it to the top and were disappointed to find that the cave was also much higher up the cliff wall than it had looked from the bottom. We decided to take the safe route and not try to climb in. The hike back down was even more challenging but we made it back to the bottom in one piece! We continued on and eventually came to our stopping point before our hike back to civilization, one of the larger of the seven lakes. Any time I see water like this I just want to take a swim and it wasn’t any different this time. I knew that the water would be freezing but it actually is a great way to create a memory. How can you ever forget swimming in a lake that is so cold it makes you scream? Somehow I convinced the rest of my group to join me. There was a group of older women on the opposite shore that got quite a kick out of the whole scene. 🙂
The rest of the hike isn’t really something worth remembering for me. This is where I had my lesson on hiking in different types of terrain. The trails here were rather rocky and after awhile you realize how fatiguing it is to constantly be changing your footing. On top of that hiking down such a steep mountain is pretty grueling on the knees. By the time we reached those switchbacks I was in so much pain that I couldn’t even talk to anyone. I guess all those years of soccer really screwed things up for me in the knee department. I was incredibly happy when we finished the last switchback and by the time we reached the car I think I was on my last step.
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