Slovenia Mountain Trail - Day 14 - Long Distance Hiker

7/21/2022

Daily Miles: 14

Total Miles: 149

We had a rude awakening this morning when the guys doing renovations on the hut started in on their work at 5:30am. They were pulling large metal sheets off the roof and we were sleeping on the top floor. It sounded like a giant was outside hitting the hut with a very large hammer. Needless to say, it was not a pleasant way to wake up.

We had breakfast at 7:30am and headed out on the trail by 8am. We knew it was going to be a long day, so we wanted an early start. The morning began with a very steep climb up to Tolsti peak…about 1,800 feet in around two miles. Definitely a climb to get our blood pumping!

We passed by several groups of sheep and goats hanging out under the trees along the trail. We heard a bell before we saw the goats and wondered where the bell was coming from. The goats and sheep looked pretty content and the baby goats were even playing together as we walked by.

After the peak, we had a steep descent down to our first hut (and first stamp) of the day. It was so hot out today, and we wanted to fill up one water bottle at the hut. The hut manager wouldn’t give us any water, and just said the water was not potable. That would lead one to believe that Slovenians don’t typically treat water, so they only drink water considered potable. We have had to buy water at one hut, but only because the amount of water they had was extremely low. In any case, we didn’t have the language ability to explain that we would treat the water, so we just went on and tried to conserve the rest of our water.

From the hut into the town of Trizič, the guidebook described the trail as a steep descent (from the peak of Tolsti to Trzič it was around a 3,000 feet drop), but we were happy to see that the trail was not so bad. While the trail was steep, there were plenty of roots and rocks to step on as we went down. By the time we got down, our toes were really sore from sliding into the front of our shoes.

When we got to Trizič, we were ready for a break. We could see a place to eat from the trail and walked straight over. We ordered kebab wraps and sodas and sat down at a picnic table. The food tasted so good and we enjoyed the break. The afternoon heat was pretty intense and we were dreading the next miles, as we knew we had a bunch of steep climbing out of town.

We stopped at a grocery store to buy a few snacks and then started back on the route. We actually had to walk through the town, which felt big. We walked down a main road and eventually turned off onto a smaller road. The road got really steep and it was so hot (Europe is in a heat wave currently) with little shade. SweetPea had to stop and sit down for a bit when we found a bit of shade, just to try and cool down.

Luckily, after the break the road started to level out. We came to a spring flowing into a cement trough. The water was ice cold and felt so good. We drank a bunch of water and used our bandanas to wipe our faces and necks with the cold water.

We made it to the end of the road and started in on trail. While we appreciated the shade of the trees in woods, the trail got really steep and we just felt very low on energy. We knew that we would be taking a lot of breaks as we made our way up (our climb after Trizič was about another 3,000 feet). SweetPea was going so slow at once point, Beardoh asked if she was feeling sick. 🙂 Luckily the trail had a lot of switchbacks as it got steep. We were happy for any bit of help as we trudged up the trail.

We eventually made it to the hut and were completely spent. The hut staff were very welcoming and showed us to our room. Once we sat on our beds we just looked at each other and heaved sighs of relief. We had half an hour before dinner, and moved very slowly to clean ourselves up. This hut has no water, so we did a brief wipe down just to feel a bit fresh.

Dinner tonight was really good. We sat outside at the picnic tables and had mushroom stew that seemed to have four or five different types of mushrooms…it seemed like maybe they had picked some wild mushrooms for the stew. We also had apple pie for desert. We were pretty stuffed by the end, which made us even more tired.

As we were finishing up dinner, we started to see mountain bikers riding up to the hut. It seemed like locals just getting out of work, were riding their bikes up and hanging out with a drink at the hut. Seems like such an enjoyable thing to do…exercise, nice views and a cold drink.