This is a long hike of 23 km with 1450 m ascent on Jablanica Mountain. It starts in the village Jablanica, visits the Raduch Peak (2083 m) and goes back to Jablanica via the village Lakaica and the Monastery of St Ilija.
I made this route by combining several different GPS tracks that I had found online into the current roundtrip.
It was difficult to reach the village Jablanica. I came from Ohrid and it seemed most straightforward to drive via Bezovo. Well, it was not. I probably made a mistake, took a wrong turn and ended up on a very narrow mountain road that was asphalted at one moment and unpaved at the other moment. A local convinced me that the road really was going to Jablanica and that it would get better and asphalted again. Interesting conversation as I don’t speak Macedonian and he didn’t speak English. Eventually I made it to Jablanica though. On the way back I drove back to Ohrid via Boroec and Labunishta, which was a good road. To take that road from direction Ohrid/Struga to Jablanica, take the first road left directly after the turn-off (also on the left) for the village Vevchani.
Parking near the trail head was challenging, there is very limited space. A bit further down the asphalt road where I parked there was another opportunity for a few cars, see the waypoint.
After 1 km the trail became unclear and overgrown. Already before that time my shoes got pretty wet due to the wet high grass on an early morning in June and the trail next to a stream. I prayed that the rest of the hike would be better! And indeed, after about an additional 1 km on the unclear, overgrown and steep uphill trail things got better.
Soon thereafter there even was some marking, which is always comforting when you worry about the trail. And luckily the rest of the trail was quite easy to follow with the GPS, although there was not always a real path and some parts were a bit “freestyle”. I can imagine that later in the year parts of the trail may get overgrown with weeds if it isn’t walked regularly.
Jablanica mountain is really beautiful mountain, and especially in June there were many flowers and everything was beautifully green.
On the Strmnica peak (1904 m) there was a sign for the High Scardus Trail.
After the Strmnica peak I left the trail a bit to let a herd of sheep pass. You never know if there are dogs. It seemed there were no dogs, just a shepherd in this case.
The scarecrow that bravely protected the Raduch peak when I visited in 2022 during a hike from the village Modrich had fallen down in 2026.
I had planned for a long break on the Raduch peak, to let my shoes and socks dry a bit. But the weather forecast said that there might be thunderstorm, so I continued after a short rest. It turned out there were only a few distant thunders when I almost had finished the hike, but better safe than fried by lightning.
Below the peak there were some ditches, possibly made by soldiers during one of the wars or maybe just to protect the border with Albania?
After about 11 km you reach a 4×4 road that eventually takes your to wider forest road through a scenic valley. Just before the village Lakaica you turn right onto a nice small trail.
You follow this trail for about 3 km and then make a quite sudden left turn uphill for the last 250 m climbing of this hike. I find it always tough to have to climb again at the end of a hike! Initially there didn’t seem to be a real trail but after a few meters you’ll find the trail again.
This trail leads to the Monastery of St Ilija (St Elijah). On the map (OpenStreetMap) there seemed to be a shortcut to the monastery, but I didn’t see an obvious trail at the location that could lead to the monastery. Retrospectively, looking at Google Maps, there indeed may have been shortcut that I overlooked!
The monastery was deserted when I was there and the church was locked. According to Wikipedia the monastery is visited three times a year: on the third day of Pentecost, on Ilinden (August 2) and on the Feast of the Cross Sunday (the Sunday after the Cross Day on September 27). Then a mass church gathering is organized in the church, which is attended by several thousand visitors from the surrounding villages and towns. Guests are served a traditional lunch of boiled cabbage and beef.
On the way back to Jablanica I spotted several bear tracks, quite close to the village Jablanica.
The beginning of this hike had its issues with the overgrown and unclear track, but the great views afterwards really made up for that. The steep climb at the end is a bit of a killer, but maybe easier if you have read this and are mentally prepared for it! I still will give this hike 4 stars because of the beautiful nature.
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here:
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