Exploring the new pathways

in #nature6 years ago

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A week ago I was on a hike with some friends to a peak that I've seen probably a thousands times from a town near Rila Mountains - Samokov, but I had never been there. Its name is Ivanov Kamak - 2115m and no one goes there in the summer because there is no pathway to it and it is more easily accessible in the winter because the snow covers most of the shrubs. Still someone had made a pretty decent pathway that starts near the end of the gondola lift of the ski resort Borovets, pass relatively close to that peak, than to Sokolets Peak and connects to one old pathway that ends close to a very beautiful mountain village Beli Iskar.
I offered my friends not to use the gondola but instead to use a ski piste and to go by foot, but they didn't like the idea very much , so I had to accept it and use the lift, which I usually avoid. They wanted to check if that new pathway would be suitable for mountain bikes and ski-touring but it turned out it would need some more cutting of the shrubs for these activities.

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You can see here our trek, the starting point - the station of the gondola lift - Yastrebets, then the first detour to Ivanov Kamak and the second - to Sokolets Peak.

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From Samokov it looks like that. From left to right - Yastrebets Gondola Station - 2369m, Ivanov Kamak Peak - 2115m, Sokolets Peak - 2014m

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Yastrebets Gondola Station

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The new pathway

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Ivanov Kamak in front of us and Samokov behind it

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Ivanov Kamak in front of us and Samokov behind it

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I suppose there is an easier way to reach the top, but we didn't find it.

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Me trying to find a possible way to go to Ivanov Kamak Peak

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At the top

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Ivanov Kamak Peak. As usually, my five-fingers "shoes" are in my hand

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The new pathway from Yastrebets to Sokolets Peak is done probably by amateurs but their signs were helpful

Our next small detour was to Sokolets Peak. That was my third time there, but that view would never stop to amaze me.

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Sokolets Peak

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Sokolets Peak

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Sokolets Peak

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Sokolets Peak

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Sokolets Peak - 2014m

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Beli Iskar Village from Sokolets Peak

Although most of the time we had to walk downwards with the detour to Ivanov Kamak(without a pathway) and the endless battle with the shrubs and the creeping pine it was quite a challenging hike. When we came back we looked like we were coming back from a battle with scratches and wounds everywhere. Ok, not literally, I am exaggerating. I really enjoyed it not only because of the beautiful views, but also because it was like a full-body training but in a more natural way.

Just look at Jina. She was great! Although we even had to climb here and there she didn't give up and was more like a mountain goat than like a dog.

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As I said almost no one goes there, so it is the perfect place for bears and we saw a lot of traces from them, one of them really huge and fresh ot let's say still warm just below Ivanov Kamak, so we were walking and screaming from time to time as loud as we could - Bear, Bear, we are coming! It is important to be loud in such areas, because the meeting wouldn't be pleasant neither for the bear nor for us. Btw the bears are faster than horses!

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I was barefoot as usually throughout the whole hike but what surprised me this time was that after Sokolets peak, we weren't a group of mountaineers with one barefoot person, we were four barefoot hikers :)! I guess it is contagious. One of them, that I met for the first time that day, was surprised to see me walking like that on such terrain and asked me many questions about the barefoot walking and he liked the idea so much that this weekend he did a whole 8 hour difficult hike entirely barefoot and was really content to find out about this simple way to recharge yourself. And I am happy to spread the idea :)

“Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”

Thank you for stopping by!

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Glad to see the barefoot spirit alive and well with you! :)

Thank you very much! I am also so happy when I see a barefoot person :) Because I just love it and and I am glad that someone feels the same!

Same, haha. You are actually one of my main inspirations. I happened to see one of your posts earlier this year on a day I was looking out at the snow in my yard, wondering why I was the only living thing that stuck around here during these months and yet couldn't walk on the terrain with my own two feet. So when I saw you walking in the snow, I thought, huh, I guess I can so long as I am not a baby about it! And I had some great hikes doing it.

😮😮😮😮😮😮 Thank you so much for sharing! I was really happy to read your comment! The best is in the morning when the grass is wet or when it is raining :)

What struck me the most when I first went out were all of the textures I was completely numbing myself to by wearing shoes all the time. While it certainly makes sense to wear shoes in some scenarios, knowing the feeling of the earth, what is comfortable, what is hard, what is warm, what is cool, etc., it's like the difference of wearing my glasses and being able to see each blade of grass and each leaf on the tree or walking around blind where everything is a big blur. 🤓

What a wonderful description! Now I actually can feel the energy of the Earth and I go every morning in my “spa centre” on the river and stay in the water several minutes, than walk barefoot home on the wet grass - best morning ritual ever - can change your day :) I do it at least twice a day :D And one of the bonuses after some time is that the feet looks more and more healthier and strong! :) Mine are with sun tan 😃

I definitely understand what you mean! :) I go walk around my yard while I brew coffee in the morning. I am hoping the next place I live will have easier access to woods and I can get more in too!! And it is a great point about the suntan. 😆

Hiya, just swinging by to let you know that this post made the Honorable Mentions list in our daily Travel Digest. Please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider upvoting the Travel Digest if you like what we're doing.

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Thank you very much!

Stunning as always Daniela. Thanks for sharing. I hope you're doing great!

Thank you very much, Galen! I am doing great! Often 10/10 :) Hope you too!

10/10 is good enough! I'm glad you're well. :)

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Your post are amazing, a total inspiration to us all

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Thank you so much for your kind words, @enosh!

No problem you just keep making awesome content. :)

It looks really beautiful. I appreciate that you enjoy going on a hike in such great nature. I'm also excited to be out in nature and I will follow you. Thank you for sharing.😀👍

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