Ypsarion - standard route from Potamia
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 8.88 mi
- Elevation gain
- 3,504 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 3,504 ft
- Max elevation
- 4,065 ft
- TrailRank
-
58
4.8
- Min elevation
- 613 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- 4 hours 34 minutes
- Time
- 8 hours 30 minutes
- Coordinates
- 2670
- Uploaded
- August 6, 2022
- Recorded
- August 2022
near Potamiá, East Macedonia and Thrace (Greece)
Viewed 339 times, downloaded 14 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
I have read many opinions on this trek, and after doing it I'm inclined to mark it as difficult rather than medium, as many have done. Being an avid and experienced hiker, mountaineer and climber, I believe that climbing 1.300 meters of elevation during only 6 kilometers of lenght is a challenge.
The walk starts in the town of Potamia, the starting point is even marked in Google maps. From there, you only go uphill until the top. It's a long and hard climb, leading through forests and countless boulder fields. Since you'll probably do this hike in summer months, I highly recommend starting at least at 6 am, so you could be back in the town before the warmest part of the day. People usually take 3 to 4 hours to get to the top, and 2 or 3 hours to go back.
Take AT LEAST 2 litters of water per person, preferably more. I never drink that much while hiking as I don't sweat a lot, but I drank all the 3 litters I had. Cover your head and WEAR A SUNSCREEN. Wear sturdy shoes. This hike could be done in trail runners, but I would never recommend your normal running shoes. I did it in my light hiking boots and felt it was a perfect choice.
Other that that, be smart and enjoy this absolutely epic hike, I promise it's gonna be the highlight of your vacation in Greece.
The walk starts in the town of Potamia, the starting point is even marked in Google maps. From there, you only go uphill until the top. It's a long and hard climb, leading through forests and countless boulder fields. Since you'll probably do this hike in summer months, I highly recommend starting at least at 6 am, so you could be back in the town before the warmest part of the day. People usually take 3 to 4 hours to get to the top, and 2 or 3 hours to go back.
Take AT LEAST 2 litters of water per person, preferably more. I never drink that much while hiking as I don't sweat a lot, but I drank all the 3 litters I had. Cover your head and WEAR A SUNSCREEN. Wear sturdy shoes. This hike could be done in trail runners, but I would never recommend your normal running shoes. I did it in my light hiking boots and felt it was a perfect choice.
Other that that, be smart and enjoy this absolutely epic hike, I promise it's gonna be the highlight of your vacation in Greece.
Waypoints
Waypoint
615 ft
Summit
Comments (3)
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I have followed this trail View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Moderate
Thanks for the thorough info. I started at 5AM on June 20, before sunrise, and helped by moderate clouds and some breeze at the top it was very pleasant weather-wise, and early morning sun made the scenery magical. I carried 2.5 L water but spent only half of that. The track is rough at places but not steep or very demanding, and I find ascent easier than descent -- I took exactly 2.5 hours each, with photo and lunch breaks, so giving it a borderline "moderate". Met a dozen people on the way down, including a party of 5 with scant equipment who started at 9AM. Oh well.
@Duya Thanks for the feedback! Glad you had a great time, so did we. :) I thought long and hard about ranking this trail, as I explained in the post. I too find it moderate, but I'm an avid mountaineer and my personal experience and fitness level isn't relevant here. What's relevant is the fact that you have to climb 1.300 meters on a relatively short trail, that combined with the fact that most people hiking this trail are tourists and not real hikers made me decide to rate the trail as difficult, as it will be for most of them. I don't wish to be responsible for people seeing the "moderate" rating going thinking they could do it because it's moderate. I strongly believe this trail is a difficult one for an average person hiking it. This is my reasoning, although I do agree with you it's borderline moderate for experienced hikers with good fitness level. Thanks again for you feedback! :)
I have followed this trail verified View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Moderate
The path is very nice and I would say that the difficulty might be between Moderate and Difficult. It certainly depends on the fitness level. We didn’t go all the way to the top. We’ve stopped just before the Shelter, so about 1km’s distance before the peak and about 200m of ascent. But the views are beautiful even before the summit and we’ve enjoyed it. It took us a little more than 2 and a half hours to that point on the way up.