Hike in Pirin National Park to Poležan Peak

After yesterday's 'failure', today I got to experience a big portion of Pirin national park! Of course, another crazy hike that my feet were about to fall off by the end 🤣 But it was worth it, so much to hike around here and I was really delighted. So many lakes, too!

So up to the first hut (Demyanica), it's quite boring although there's a nice waterfall on the way. So if you don't have a car or hitchhike, you have no choice (I guess you can take the cable car but that'll leave you somewhere completely different). Anyway, from the hut, I took a difficult path to climb up the foot of Golâma Straža which was awesome to see. At around km 15.5, I was pleasantly surprised to find a fork (the red stripped trail I was on and another one, a blue stripped one on the left) and noticed the blue one took you up to the ridge (which is what I was after on my previous hike!). Just beware that this trail is really, really steep and there is no physical trail most of the time. It stays on the rocks mostly and then at the top, you can find remnants of it. The rocks can make it dangerous and especially at the top where there's also smaller rocks and more dirt (loose big rocks). Then to the south, you eventually find the trail towards Golâma Straža and beyond. This part has some alpine level portions so you should really be experienced, good boots, confident in your footing. I really enjoyed it.

That's the most critical part of this hike. Otherwise, the rocks really take a toll. Sometimes there are piles of rocks as signs for the trail but in reality you're just improvising. It's mentally tiring and your body feels it. I underestimated this part. So take note.

But in the end, it was so cool seeing all the rock towers and peaks made of piled up rocks and the lakes surrounding them! Great hike!