This is a beautiful hike of 10 km with 550 m ascent to the Medenica Peak (2163 m) in Mavrovo National Park, close to the village Galichnik.
The hike starts along the road to Galichnik, where there is a possibility to park. This road to Galichnik is very scenic, the Bistra mountains are truly beautiful! An alternative starting point for this hike is in the village Galichnik itself, see the map below.
You follow the 4×4 dirt road from the starting point. Where the track splits, you leave the 4×4 road and go up the mountain trail, which goes quite steeply up.
After about 3.5 km you reach the Medenica Peak. We met two other hikers at the peak, they were from Mexico.
After the peak it’s a pleasant downhill hike. At the end you’ll pass a sheep farm. It was deserted but it is always good to be careful around sheep-farms and sheep in general because there may be shepherd dogs around.
We really liked this hike and it gets 4.5 out of 5 stars (it would have gotten the full 5 stars if it would not be for the first 1.5 km that you have to walk again when returning to the starting point)
Galichnik itself is also worth a visit. We once hiked from the village Janche to Galichnik and I think approaching Galichnik from that site was very picturesque. After the hike we gave Galichnik a short visit and had lunch in the restaurant at the entrance of the village.
Note that is required to buy a ticket when you go hiking in Mavrovo National Park. This can be done online (https://npmavrovo.mk/tickets) or in person at the information point just outside the village Mavrovi Anovi (location).
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/medenica-peak-in-mavrovo-national-park-144526432
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