Another hard day pushing through snow.
I woke to find myself in a wet mist with limited visibility which turned to snow as I packed up. Trudging through snow and snow drifts, slipping into ruts made by forestry vehicles sapped my energy and was clearly straining my body despite frequent rests to slow my breathing and limit the stress on my knees. Progress was slow. I thought of turning back as the safest option, thinking of someone who recently had a heart attack.
Then I came across a road I had long been expecting from maps and, joy to behold, the snow had been cleared (or a least compacted) by a bulldozer a day or so ago. There were even car tracks!
Walking was comparatively easy now walking on the tracks of the bulldozer. This was my salvation, and as I reached the highest point on the road I was moved to start thanking God. Then I saw the abandoned bulldozer, the cleared road ended shortly after. The tyre tracks must have been the car taking the bulldozer driver home. To continue I had to break a trail through snow about 50 cm deep and thicker in drifts, hard to get through. I contemplated following the bulldozer tracks in the other direction, taking me south, but that was completely the wrong direction. Reasoning that as the road now dropped in height from the highest point of 1260 metres to 800 metres the snow should become less thick and easier to walk through, I decided to push on and so it proved. By 800 metres the snow was a more reasonable 6 cm in thickness, wet and slushy. My feet were not enjoying the constant soaking and there were areas of snow drifts making for particularly hard going. I had intended to make a diversion to the highest summit of Beljanica at 1320 metres, but the snow meant the extra 3.5 kilometres was not a viable option and the limited visibility meant there would be nothing to see.
Visibility improved as I descended and there was even a period when the sun came out, making the mountain landscape look a lot more pleasant. Rocky peaks and deep valleys mainly wooded with firs and deciduous trees, a moss covered waterfall, and some mountain farms on flatter sections, although none seemed inhabited, or so I thought. Towards the end of my walk I heard voices, the first since yesterday afternoon, then joined car tracks and eventually a 4 wheel drive passed and offered a lift. Tempting, but I had almost walked across the Beljanica range in difficult conditions and it seemed a shame not to complete this possibly foolhardy achievement. Instead I camped in some trees by the roadside. I could have got a lift to Zagubica, or walked there arriving late, but I had not been able to confirm that any accommodation existed in the town or whether transport to somewhere else was available. If there was not I could be stuck in a town with nowhere suitable to camp.
So another night on the snow under canvas, thinking how tents designed for snowy conditions probably had insulated floors, both for comfort and so that water did not immediately condense on them.
28.1 kilometres with a 780 metre ascent, it felt like longer! A gpx file of my route can be found on Wikiloc.com, and WanderMap.net. The route can also be downloaded from Viewranger.com as johnpon0027.
I woke to find myself in a wet mist with limited visibility which turned to snow as I packed up. Trudging through snow and snow drifts, slipping into ruts made by forestry vehicles sapped my energy and was clearly straining my body despite frequent rests to slow my breathing and limit the stress on my knees. Progress was slow. I thought of turning back as the safest option, thinking of someone who recently had a heart attack.
Then I came across a road I had long been expecting from maps and, joy to behold, the snow had been cleared (or a least compacted) by a bulldozer a day or so ago. There were even car tracks!
Walking was comparatively easy now walking on the tracks of the bulldozer. This was my salvation, and as I reached the highest point on the road I was moved to start thanking God. Then I saw the abandoned bulldozer, the cleared road ended shortly after. The tyre tracks must have been the car taking the bulldozer driver home. To continue I had to break a trail through snow about 50 cm deep and thicker in drifts, hard to get through. I contemplated following the bulldozer tracks in the other direction, taking me south, but that was completely the wrong direction. Reasoning that as the road now dropped in height from the highest point of 1260 metres to 800 metres the snow should become less thick and easier to walk through, I decided to push on and so it proved. By 800 metres the snow was a more reasonable 6 cm in thickness, wet and slushy. My feet were not enjoying the constant soaking and there were areas of snow drifts making for particularly hard going. I had intended to make a diversion to the highest summit of Beljanica at 1320 metres, but the snow meant the extra 3.5 kilometres was not a viable option and the limited visibility meant there would be nothing to see.
Visibility improved as I descended and there was even a period when the sun came out, making the mountain landscape look a lot more pleasant. Rocky peaks and deep valleys mainly wooded with firs and deciduous trees, a moss covered waterfall, and some mountain farms on flatter sections, although none seemed inhabited, or so I thought. Towards the end of my walk I heard voices, the first since yesterday afternoon, then joined car tracks and eventually a 4 wheel drive passed and offered a lift. Tempting, but I had almost walked across the Beljanica range in difficult conditions and it seemed a shame not to complete this possibly foolhardy achievement. Instead I camped in some trees by the roadside. I could have got a lift to Zagubica, or walked there arriving late, but I had not been able to confirm that any accommodation existed in the town or whether transport to somewhere else was available. If there was not I could be stuck in a town with nowhere suitable to camp.
So another night on the snow under canvas, thinking how tents designed for snowy conditions probably had insulated floors, both for comfort and so that water did not immediately condense on them.
28.1 kilometres with a 780 metre ascent, it felt like longer! A gpx file of my route can be found on Wikiloc.com, and WanderMap.net. The route can also be downloaded from Viewranger.com as johnpon0027.
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| Low visibility in a more windswept area of the rutted track |
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| Section of road that had been bulldozed |
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