My cousin Živa had done the whole trail by parts, so she was a navigator and an encourager for me. She represented the trail as it was an easy thing to do and like I will have no problems doing it ☺. Maybe because of this I managed to walk more than I ever imagined I was capable of ☺! I started in Maribor and the first thing to do was climb to Mariborska koča which meant I had to ascend 820 metres high. As I love fresh fruit and vegetables my backpack was quite heavy at the beginning, but it was well worth it when I had lunch with fresh avocado, home grown tomatoes and pumpkin, paprika, cucumbers and delicious cheese ☺. As I realised for me eating fresh fruit and vegetables brought me a lot of power to do the hikes! Pohorje is beautiful and I was really enjoying it. All of my focus was on finding the markations and this was very nice as I was focusing on the present moment and (almost) nothing else, very refreshing ☺. A little red and white colour on the trees brought me so much joy as it meant that I was on the right path ☺. The first part was really well marked and I didn't have much problems following the path. My second stamp was at Ruška Koča and before ariving at my home for the first night I also visited the Šumik waterfall. The biggest problem during hiking for me were not my legs nor my mind, these were really pretty amazing, they kept me going longer than I could imagine ☺. But my back hurt a lot because of the burden. I didn't carry a lot of things, but still it is more than I usually carry on my back. I was very happy when I arrived at Koča na Klopnem vrhu where I was about to spend my first night. As I realised during this hike people who marked the time to a destination (a peak or a hut) had a different time in mind. I have a pretty good timing usually, but here it wasn't so rare that it was writen only 1 hour to a destination, and then after I had been walking for a while it was still written the same time to reach the destination, or sometimes even more ☺! Yeah, that was a bit frustrating at times, when I was already tired and without much energy, but in time I just accept this and smiled ☺! The lady that owns the hut was very nice and she explained the history a bit, it was a very nice place to sleep!
The second day was suppost to be very good weather and it was, just not on Pohorje ☺. I passed Koča na Pesku and Lovreniška jezera (lakes) as it was becoming more clowdy and windy. I was lucky that I met a couple that was doing the same path as it felt much more relaxed and encouraging than doing it alone. We walked together during some parts and I was really happy to see them when I thought that the wind will blow me away as I was hiding behind a monument just a little before Ribniška koča ☺. We got separate ways and again I was so happy to see them in front of Grmoškov dom pod Veliko Kopo, because the fog was so heavy that I could see only a few metres in front of me - I was searching for the mountain hut just as I saw them and still didn't see the hut although it was just behind them ☺. It also rained a bit, but we were very lucky that it didn't rain more. The wind was blowing like crazy, I love the wind in my hair and I was following it during my hike ☺. When I was almost at my destination for that day, the sun began to shine and it was getting warmer and so beautiful. I was already very tired, so during the last part I was taking it really easy and anjoying the scenery. I arrived at Koča pod Kremžarjevim vrhom just before the night and ordered a beer and a casserole for the reward ☺. The view overlooking Slovenj Gradec was wonderful and the owner was very amusing and it was a great place to spend the night.
The next day the plan was to reach Dom na Smrekovcu, so I started early in the morning and had quite a good speed. I passed Slovenj Gradec and reached Poštarski dom pod Plešivcem, where I realised that I have no time for rest and after refilling water headed on. I had been walking about 20 minutes uphill as I realised I had left my hiking poles at the hut, so I returned for them, luckily it made me smile and not angry. I realised that in a hurry you can miss some important things ☺. Climbing Uršlja gora wasn't as easy as I had imagined. I walked 7 hours to reach it that day. I didn't stop much, just when I was too tired or hungry. The last half an hour was very steep and my motivation was down, so that part of the path was the hardest for me. When I finally reached the top I was so happy that a beer to celebrate my succes was an absolute must ☺. But soon I realised that reaching Dom na Smrekovcu was not gonna happen that day. After realising that it is the path that matters, not reaching the destination, I decided to enjoy the hike more as before when I was burdened by the time. And I think that for the last 1,5 hours it took me almost 3 hours as I had the time ☺! Sleeping at Andrejev dom na Slemenu was interesting, but it is much nicer to sleep in the mountains.
My last day didn't start very optimistic, I was tired and didn't drink my morning black tea, so the path to Dom na Smrekavcu was pretty long. There I got my tea which immediatelly brought me energy and headed on. The weather was still not looking very good, but luckily it didn't rain. On the path I spent quite some time collecting blueberries and they were really refreshing. I loved the scenery around Koča na Travniku and all I had to do at the end was to pass a path with a lot of cows, bulls, sheep and horses, it was pretty scary when a bull was telling me something in his language that I couldn't understand ☺. And there it was, Koča na Loki pod Raduha, my final destination. First it was planned to reach also Velika Raduha and Koča na Grohatu pod Raduho, but I would need 3 more hours and too much energy to do that, so I decided to visti it next time ☺. I hitched a ride to the valley where one interesting guy gave me a ride to Celje. He did the same trail so our talk was very interesting. As he was showing me the peaks which we were passing by during our drive I realised how much I had walked in the last 4 days and realised it was an amazing adventure ☺!
I really recommend doing it, but it would be better to take it easy and do the same path in at least 5 days . this way you can easily climb Raduha, too!
to be continued ☺ ...
