Dinara

Tags: Country High Points, Croatia, Europe, Hiking, Latest, Mountains

Dinara (1831m) is the highest mountain in Croatia and was our last hike on this Balkan marathon tour, something I think both of us were happy for.

Easy but fairly long hike from Glavas

The roads in Crotia were really a lot better than those in Bosnia (see Maglic trip report from the day before). From Metkovic it was mostly nice highways until we arrived Split. Here we turned right (north) towards Sinj and Peruca Lake. It was straightforward to find the start of the trail to Dinara, thanks to my downloaded GPS-track of Dinara.

From the trailhead at Glavas it was gentle hiking on a well trodden trail. The fairly big gain of elevation from 570m to 1831m was distributed evenly on the 8 km to the summit. We had to watch out for snakes in the beginning, but mostly it was just harmless lizards hiding behind rocks and bushes. We hiked in a relatively fast pace because there was no reason anymore to save energy for tomorrow, after all this was the last hike on our Balkan trip. Unfortunately, the fog appeared on the summit, but our joy and satisfaction was still great after having completed all country high points in former Yugoslavia + Bulgaria in only nine consecutive days.

Thunder and heavy rain on the coast

We were back in the car after 5 1/2 hours on foot and we drove straight towards the coast of Croatia. We almost ran out of fuel in a remote place, but we found a gas station in the very last minute. Eventually we arrived the coastline of Croatia after a steep descent to Senj, when a severe thunderstorm forced us to stop and take into a guesthouse along the road.

A rest day on the beach in Pula

Next morning we drove along the coastline heading for Pula at the tip of the Istrian peninsula. We stopped in the beautiful historic city of Rovinj for a couple of hours, before we continued to a campground north of Pula City. Here we relaxed on the beach and emptied the Ararat cognac that I had brought all the way from Ukraine. We also enjoyed a well deserved Chateaubriand steak for dinner to compensate for the loss of weight we both had experienced during this trip.

Some facts about our 10 days long Balkan tour

Number of countries visited: 9
Number of country high points achieved: 9 (Mt. Korab counted twice)
Distance driven: 3400 km with a VW Polo rental car + 45 km in a 4WD vehicle w/driver
Distance hiked in total: 120 km
Total gain of elevation by foot: 10500 meters
Travel expenses: approx USD 1000 per person

Dinara at EveryTrail

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