We visited Northern Velebit in a last trip before this whole drama caused by a virus, and now we marked the end of it in a similar way – by visiting Southern Velebit. We have already mentioned that we are not frequent guests on Velebit (we prefer to go to the Alps whenever we can), but primarily the situation with limited movement, and secondly the desire to return something to the domestic tourist budget, made us consider some decisions from other angles – and it was a complete hit!
This was probably one of our most beautiful weekends in a very long time. We climbed two highest Velebit peaks – Vaganski (1757m) on Saturday and Sveto brdo / Holy Hill (1751m) on Sunday. Although the weekend was quite cloudy and partly rainy, the mountains were beautiful and showed us that you should never have prejudices and go on new adventures with a forethought.
This time we set up our base in Starigrad-Paklenica and, apart from the considerable temperature that prevailed, it felt as if we had come to Dalmatia in the middle of winter – the lack of tourists was more than obvious. Although this is an extremely bad circumstance for tourist workers, we enjoyed it – peace and quiet, no crowds, pure nature (both at the sea and in the mountains). The weather forecast was not on our side (rain was announced from Thursday), but this fact did not burden us too much – we have not been away from our city for too long, we were eager for adventure, we had a plan and almost nothing could affect it.
Given the obvious lack of a stronger hiking trips in recent months, we wondered how we were going to overcome such a height difference, for two days in a row. We reserved Saturday for the ascent from the parking lot of National park Paklenica’s official entrance, from about 70 meters above sea level, through Velika Paklenica canyon all the way to Vaganski peak at 1757 meters, and apart from the height difference we were aware that this route would be quite long in distance. For Sunday, we had a similar plan that included passing through Mala Paklenica canyon to Sveto Brdo – about the same height difference and distance.
The fact was that we have not been lazy while the measures caused by the pandemic lasted, but long city walks can hardly make up for vertical kilometers – the only way to prepare yourself for the mountains is to climb them.
Saturday – Vaganski peak
Departure in the morning did not suggest any signs of weather improvement (this was stated in the forecast too), but after buying tickets and finding a parking spot our adventure could begin. A really small number of people we met during the morning showed that the situation has not returned to normal still. But anyway, along the way we wondered why local people are not using the benefits of completely people-free hiking trails and climbing routes? Continuing our hike, we quietly enjoyed the morning landscapes that surrounded us and photographed some striking details, primarily the massive rock of Anića kuk, but also other bolted and not bolted faces for climbing delights. A well-maintained path to the Paklenica mountain hut allowed us to reach an intersection within an hour and a half. Also, a quick arrival to Ramića lodge and a short consultation with the locals leaved us as planned – we will ascend along Bukova staza (Beech path), and descend across the trail with the name of Lipa staza (Beautiful path).
Following the marked trail, we have found the Beech path relatively easily, and the name of the trail became much clearer when we realized that we were in a very old and beautiful beech forest. Although I was born in our highland region of Gorski kotar and the beech was not foreign to me, I have never seen such large and massive beeches. There seems to be something here in the air and soil that drives them so high and they branch into the air, but also into gives them the girth. The shade they created helped at least a little on a really hot and moist day, although there was practically no sun. Worst time for hiking – cloudy and steamy, without a breath of air. We hoped that coming to higher altitudes would bring us relief in the form of wind and lower temperatures.
If you dismiss the cloudy weather, the views that followed the trail were really beautiful and for almost all the way up we could see the Novigrad and Karin seas, the Maslenica Bridge and the rocky desolation of the Pag island. I don’t even have to mention that we didn’t meet absolutely anyone along the way, and it was obvious that the trail was not overused. She, of course, walked behind me avoiding the cobweb, and the amount of it I picked up along the way made me look like I have hair again😁. Apart from lizards, insects and birds, we were the only ones to enjoy the natural harmony along the way. A relatively strenuous climb, or rather most of it, ended after leaving the forest, where we were greeted by a typical and beautiful Velebit landscape. We briefly checked the map and with another short ascent we reached Lake Babino (1589m), where the trails of Beech and Struge soon met and our final goal was visible – we didn’t even had half an hour to reach the summit.
The views from Vaganski peak were not spectacular because it was simply a cloudy day in all directions, but we still enjoyed taking photos. We spent a little more time resting and having a short conversation with a couple of mountaineers at the top, who came from the direction of Struge.
We observed Sveto brdo, which was tomorrow’s objective and continued east along the ridge to locate the Beautiful path, which was our descent direction. At the same time a light rain began and followed us until the end of the day, but it did not spoil our impressions. Okay, maybe just a little while we were hiking on the rock creep at the beginning of the descent and we had to be a little more careful than usual because of the wet rock. We would not recommend this trail for the ascent – namely, we think that the climb would be marked by the pace of one step forward and three steps back, which would certainly have an effect on the unnecessary consumption of energy and mood in general. As for the descent, this trail was a complete hit – apart from the fun of running on such a rock creep downhill, you have a beautiful view of the sea coast all the way down 😊.
Soon we came to a forest that protected us from rain. Full of impressions we reached Ramića lodge, where we joined the already familiar path. As we descended into the canyon there were more and more walkers and climbers, and when we got to the car we saw that a crowd has formed during the day. The final balance was 9 hours of hiking, 24 kilometers in distance, 4100 meters of total height difference and two tired but happy faces heading to the apartment for a well-deserved rest. This was an alpine-style climb, minus the technical component of the path. However, it is not to be recommended if you are not in a good shape.
Sunday – Sveto brdo
After a sleepless night due to severe fatigue and heat, the next morning we set off for the Sveto brdo. The original plan from Mala Paklenica canyon and another departure from “zero” to 1700+ meters of height did not seem likely to us after yesterday, so we decided to “cheat” a bit 😊. We changed the plan and decided to reduce the altitude difference by driving to Libinjska kosa (the macadam road goes from the elbow bend in the village of Modrič) to about 800 meters above sea level.
After less than 2 km of walking on a macadam road we came to Malo Libinje (grass plain), and a couple of cars were there already. This meant that today we would meet more hikers, unlike yesterday. We headed in the (marked) direction of the Vlaški grad and really enjoyed the spectacular panoramas of the sea and the mountains. Unlike yesterday, there was no forest here so the sun warmed us from early in the morning. That seemed to be reason why this area is full of mountain flowers and plants – wonderful to see, and indescribable to smell. The air was so filled with scents and the landscape with colors that it looked unbelievably beautiful. Running lizards were constantly drawing our attention to some new kind of flowers we have not yet seen here. The real mountain-mediterranean atmosphere, it is not enough to say that we were delighted.
Arriving at the crossroads for Ivine vodice mountain hut, we realized how good a decision it was not to start from Mala Paklenica canyon because we were really tired, and the view from the saddle to the forest above Mala Paklenica canyon showed us that we would need to hike really hard to overcome this path – at least today, as tired as we were. We photographed a few more landscapes and continued to the beginning of the ridge, where we had a view of today’s goal – the Sveto brdo.
We were in a good mood, so despite the fatigue we quickly reached the summit. We enjoyed an amazing game of fog over Lika valley and a wonderful view of the seacoast and islands from the top. There were much more hikers and trekkers today, so we briefly consulted the locals about the return route. We decided to return through the Dušica shelter and back to Malo Libinje.
Only in the end we saw that there was a path leading to Libinjska kosa, from the shelter of Dušice. But, looking at the horses and cows grazing in Malo Libinje from a distance, we didn’t care too much for that new path and tried to reach Malo Libinje while the horses and the cows were still there 😊.
We arrived in time to take pictures of them but unfortunately, we didn’t manage to react fast enough to catch on a camera a horn viper lying in the trail. We concluded today’s hike with 17 km in distance and 3200 meters of total altitude difference. Deadly tired, we returned to the apartment and to our rest.
I can say that we really enjoyed this weekend’s trip. Since we have not been in this part of Velebit so far, this was perhaps the most beautiful Velebit landscape for us – we will not claim this with a 100%, we still need to explore more of this mountain😊. I think everyone here can find something for themselves and should definitely visit these mountains before the summer heat, but after the winter winds.
Monday – Plitvice Lakes
On the third day we made sure that this mini vacation would remain in a really good memory – we headed to Plitvice Lakes National park. Without crowds of tourists that are usually there every day, we enjoyed walking around almost all of the lakes. Despite a rather cloudy day, we enjoyed some fantastic landscapes. We walked for about 5 hours and did a little less than 20 kilometers, but it was totally great spending the day in the evergreens of the park and the richness of the water. I think the photos can describe the beauty best, so until the next story – enjoy… 😊.