We’ve found a three day backpacking trip along the spine of the Nízke Tatry mountains. Weather looks maybe good?
Access is eased by taking a chairlift to the ridge. Wow, first impressions are awesome!And we immediately plunge into the cloudA kozica (chamonix) puts on a show beside the trailSummit of Dumbier. Good thing it’s the low season. There is a massive hut beside the gondola. There will be >1000 people going through here today.
We head west along the ridge and the crowds slowly diminish.
More kozica. A lot moreHumidity drops a little at sunset and we get our first views. Tomorrow should be great!We camp beside a hut. No booking system, room will be made for all. Looks awful, happy to be outside.
There must be a human equivalent of the ideal gas law. The tighter you pack people in, the happier they are. Would explain bars and mosh pits, too.
Morning. Visibility is 50 feet. Wind is roaring on the ridge. Time to quit.
While hitchhiking / taking transit back to our car, we catch SpaceX catching their big booster. Great show!
Windy is a great forecasting tool. The local weather forecast doesn’t consider how miserable hiking on ridges will be. The jetstream is whipping bands of high humidity across Europe. Red good, dark blue badEuropean gas station. No parking, but has seating for 8 people to drink their centilitres of espresso.Gliding club with aerospace museum. The Russians left lots of stuff behind
We move toward the Malá Fatra park, hoping for another shot at a three day backpack. Windy shows we have a one day window so we go for the highest summits.
Bridge on hiking trail. The main support is old railway tracks!Fire SalamanderAll the stuff you aren’t allowed to do in the park. Nice long ridges, ideal for multi day peak bagging trips if you can find legal places to campAll you need at a mountain hut. A cat and e-bike charging. These huts are posh, we’d love to stay but the jet stream is bringing more bad news at 4am. Getting tired of hotels, but the nice ones help make up for it. When you travel long enough, you figure out what’s important. Turns out I really like hot breakfast. Europeans don’t. So here we are at McDonalds. The rain blows through and we try out the canyons on the north side of Mala Fatry. Janosik, Eastern European Robin Hood was born here. Must. Not. Make. Jokes. About. Polish. Robin. Hood….
Why did the Polish Robin Hood steal bread?
Because he thought it was better to take from the yeast and give to the kneady!
Thanks ChatGPT!
A Pajero almost identical to mine. Apparently the name doesn’t have a negative connotation in European Spanish?
The trails are soaked and slippery and I’m itching to do some work, so we head back to Poland.
Steak Tartare with relatives. Europeans taking the cold meal thing a bit too far. Cleaning up the house of Marta’s parents. I’ve thought that you can measure of the complexity of your life with the number of keys you own
Marta and Chester's Maleficent Adventures 