This is a long and demanding hike of about 28 km with 1200 m ascent. It takes you from the ski resort Popova Shapka to (and around) the peak called Plat (2398 m).
Especially the first part of the hike offers stunning views.
You can shorten the hike with 2 km and 240 m climbing if you skip the Plat peak itself. However, since Plat funnily means “flat” in my mother language Dutch, it felt like a peak I had to climb!
Here and there you could still see patches of ice, which seemed out of place during the hot month of July.
From the Plat peak the characteristic tower on the second highest peak of Macedonia, called Titov Vrv (2748 m), was well visible. We climbed Titov a few days later.
After Plat peak the trail goes downhill to a breathtaking valley with a river and small waterfall in the distance.
There was a sheep farm a bit further down the valley, which was deserted when I was there. I was super careful and tried to pass it as quietly as possible because you never know if there are shepherd dogs around.
Next, there’s a rather long segment on a dirt road through forest. Unfortunately the views are not that good here anymore, but it’s a change of scenery that makes the hike more diverse!
The last 5 km back to Popova Shapka are via the same road as in the beginning.
I think the overall height profile (climbing, descending and again followed by a long gradual climb almost all the way to the end) made this hike a bit more demanding than expected.
Because of the excellent views this hike gets 4 stars. It does not get the full 5 stars because of the less interesting forest road, and the need to walk the first 5 km of the trail twice. Nevertheless, this was one of my best hikes of 2021.
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/popova-shapka-plat-peak-81797488
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