Ilino in Galicica National Park WARNING READ NOTES

See https://mymacedoniablog.wordpress.com/ for more info about sightseeing and hiking in Macedonia

*WARNING* This hike contains a part with a very steep descent (200 m descent over 600 meters or 30%) without a clear trail. I designed this route based on trails shown in the OpenStreetMap (version April 2019). Unfortunately a small part that was indicated as a path on the map, turned out to be a steep and overgrown hill without a clear trail. Rotten trunks of trees on the ground made the descent even harder and dangerous because they did not provide a solid ground. The beginning and end of this part are indicated with waypoints in the GPS file. There was no obvious alternative to this trail. Hiking sticks and good shoes are recommended.

The hike is 14 km long with 480 m ascent and can be extended to 17.5 km with 600 m ascent by including a walk to the antenna station. It starts at a parking space with an abandoned building along the road between Ohrid and Resen, about 23 km from Ohrid.

The beginning of the hike follows a 4x4 road and most of it is in the shadow of trees.
We included the extra 3.5 km to the antenna station and back, adding about 120 more climbing. If we had known about the difficult descent halfway the hike, we probably would have skipped the antenna station.

One of the most beautiful parts of the hike is once you leave the forest, close where the track intersects with the 4x4 track to the village Zavoj. You have some wide views of Galicica National Park.

Unfortunately, this beautiful part was soon followed by the unexpected steep and overgrown part described above in the warning. We tried to find another way to descent here for quite some time, but could not find a better descent than the way indicated in the GPS file (I deleted our other attempts from the GPS file). Because of the dense vegetation it was difficult to see where you placed your feed on the steep slope, and it was easy to slip or step through a rotting trunk of a tree or rotting branches. So be warned if you attempt this hike!

After the debacle of getting down the steep slope, the route I had planned was through the valley as was indicated by the path on OpenStreetMap, which seemed to follow a small stream. Since this looked also pretty overgrown, we decided to try a trail that went slightly uphill. It once may have been a 4x4 road but now was also getting quite overgrown. We followed this higher trail and after 2 km we ended up at the planned path indicated on the OpenStreetMap again. Retrospectively, following the stream may not have been that bad and possibly visually more attractive than the uphill trail that we took. But we were pretty tired from the difficult descent and were not up to more adventure at that point.

The rest of the hike was quite easy and straightforward, through a nice valley. People seemed to be digging into one of the hills and a part of the valley was littered with big boulders that possibly had come down from this hill. You may want to be careful here when people are working there on the hill!

Before you reach the few houses of the village Ilino, there is a turnoff to a new church dedicated to St Petka, indicated by a sign next to the road. The church was closed and it was not really worth the extra 1 km and 40 m climbing to get there and back. But sometimes you stumble upon a really nice surprise when you follow these signs to a church, so I always try if there still is some juice in the legs!

The last part of the hike is via an asphalt road back to the parking place.

This was the first hike of our 2019 holiday in Macedonia, and it was supposed to be an easy and relaxed one to get us into shape (coming from the flat Netherlands). Unfortunately, the unexpected steep and overgrown descent (and the time-consuming searching for an alternative) made it a lot harder than expected. Especially the fact that we were unsure of the state of the rest of the trail after the steep descent added some uncertainty. It was a relief that after the steep descent the worst part was behind us! In the end it all worked out and the rest of the hike was rather good. If you decide to do this walk despite the warning, at least you will know what to expect. This hike receives a rating of 2.5 from 5. There are better and safer hikes in Galicica National Park!