Heaven’s gate and Drinjača peak

This is a fantastic walk with brilliant scenery throughout. Rate as moderate-difficult. We did the walk on a day with mixed weather forecast and took our chances. Very glad we did as we only saw one other couple the entire time we were on the trail and had fantastic sunshine interspersed with cloud and warm weather for 2/3 of the walk then rain for the last 6km but we enjoyed the walk so much and got cloudy but still good views up by ‘Heavens gate’ and the nearby Drinjača peak (2038 m.a.s.l.), it’s cool enough just to see this rock formation even without views!

The trail is very well marked with painted stones showing the way as well as yellow plastic flyers that signpost an ultra run route which helpfully is exactly the route you will follow, you really can’t go wrong!

You start by parking in the open clearing where there is a mountain hut, then walking up a short track that leads to dense pine forest. There is a wide rocky path that weaves upwards through the woods which you follow for a few km. Watch your foot placement as the path is simply made from big and small rocks but nothing too difficult. The forest has numerous woodland birds including jays, tits, black birds, nuthatches and finches.

After walking mostly uphill through the woodland you will come out into a clearing which marks the next section of the route. You’ll walk up and down undulating valleys with beautiful views along the way. There are a few good places to briefly stop for snacks/drinks if needed. We spotted quite a few birds of prey here too. If you keep on going you will eventually arrive at a metal mountain hut that will be on your right.

After the hut you’ll come across an arrow pointing right on a sign, ignore the arrow sign and keep following the same trail markers and ultra marathon yellow tickets which bear off to the left. Not sure what the arrow is for, but not this route. The path remains rocky and gets steep in places over the next few km, but great views will keep you motivated.

Eventually you will arrive at a waymark which has options for going different routes, keep following the Hajducka Vrata sign. The path varies between grassy/dirt and rocky but isn’t overly difficult. You’ll eventually come to a small lake/big pond which marks 2000m Walk around the pond and keep following the path, you’ll soon arrive at another waymark, follow the sign to hvdar ducka and in a short time you will arrive at ‘heavens gate’. We stopped here as we had it to ourselves and watched the clouds move across the valleys below and give way to glimpses of the mountains in the valleys beyond. We backtracked our steps and then headed up to Drinjača peak. You then follow the same path all the way back to the start of the trail. Its mostly downhill on the route back, so less strenuous but still rocky underfoot so care needed.