This hike takes you from the village Sophiste at the south-eastern side of Mount Vodno near Skopje, to the Millennium Cross and the Telecommunication Tower on top of Mount Vodno. It is about 9 km long with 580 meter ascent.
We parked along the main road through Sopishe, near the cemetery where the hikes begins. There should be a church dedicated to St Spas on the cemetery, but somehow we missed it.
After the cemetery the trail joins a 4×4 service road, that apparently is used for the construction of a new gas pipe. A bit further there was a warning sign that it is a dangerous area because of the testing of high pressure gas pipes. You would only see this sign coming from the reverse direction, we did not see any warning signs from the direction that we were coming from. It’s likely safe after the construction works have finished. We did this hike on a Sunday in September 2024. It may not be possible to do this hike when there are construction works going on!
After a while you leave the 4×4 service road and walk through a planted pine forest.
Soon you can already see the Telecommunication Tower and the Millennium Cross. We had a lunch break at the Millennium Cross, but also on your way back to Sopishte there are some covered picnic places with benches.
About 550 m after the Orashec peak, leave the obvious trail that you are following. This point is easy to miss. From here you have to make your way downhill freestyle, without a clear trail towards the large white building below.
At the large building we met a security guard who mentioned that there were dogs guarding the site, but we did not see any.
We made our way further down until we reached a gate, which was open but may be locked on other days. If the gate is locked, it is not too difficult to descent to the road below, a bit before the gate. The last 1.5 km are on asphalt to the village Sopishte.
In Sopishte there is the church complex of St Mino (under construction in 2024) and the church St Mina, which was closed.
This was not a super interesting hike and it gets 2.5 points out of 5. It’s always nice to visit the Millennium Cross though. However, instead of this hike I would recommend the following hike, which has similar length and ascent: Mount Vodno – Millennium Cross and Marko’s Towers (10 km)
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/sopishte-mount-vodno-millennium-cross-and-telecommunication-tower-187621996
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