2023-03-11 Fatre Loop

A wonderful hike with many soul enriching sites.
The objective of this hike was to reach the caves of Fatre.
the hike started from Halat main road (there is a plastic recycling dump). The guard at the dump allowed us to park the cars at their site.
The hike started on a dirt road with a moderate slope for about 3 km until we reached the village of Fatre. After a short break at the village's church square, we moved on pavement for about 200 meters and down a set of stairs until we reached the trail; this section of the trail reminded me of the stairs of Hawaa in Qannoubine valley - it is steep and a combination of rock stairs and steep slope. It is towards the end of these where you need to get off the trail and go further down to reach the (illusive*) caves. The caves were awesome (see pics).
After spending a good 30 - 40 minutes exploring the caves and crossing small holes connecting them, we continued on almost a flat trail for a few kilometers (on this stretch we encountered a shepherd and his flock of sheep on a cow path; this cause a traffic gridlock and delayed us for another half an hour before the sheep and us reached a mutual understanding brokered by the donkey.
The trail then, after an uphill climb, reached the "The Camp" site - a set of camping ground and wooden bungalows where we had our lunch break. Another short uphill climb took us back to Fatre and a short pavement walk to reach the road back to the cars. The road back was the same road in. But don't be discouraged, the views on the way back is different from the way in.
We came across a Fatre native who lives adjacent to an old church. He wanted to be a priest but ended up being a family man with a couple of cute kids.

Note. This trail is close to see level and advised to be trekked late winter early spring.
*illusive because many friends of ours tried to reach them before but failed for reason.