This is a 17 km long “out and back” hike with 600 m ascent from Gjavato to the peak known as Golem Kamen – Piramida. At the site called Gjavato along the road between Resen and Bitola, there is the Church of St Bogorodica Gjavato and a large parking.
We previously started the hike to the Vrteshka Peak in Pelister National Park from this location. The current hike is on the other side of the Resen-Bitola road, and outside Pelister National Park.
We did this hike in September 2025, when there was still a ban for movement in the forest due to forest fires and it was mandatory to have a permit from the National Forest Authority “Makedonski Sumi”. We had our accommodation in Ohrid, so we went to their office in Ohrid (at Jane Sadanski street 18). But it turned out that the Golem Kamen – Piramida peak falls under the jurisdiction of the Bitola office. Luckily, they helped us out in Ohrid by sending copies of our passports to the Bitola office, and we received the permit digitally from the Bitola office with the Viber app. See here for more information about this recurring ban for movement in the forest in Macedonia.
The hike itself follows an uneventful 4×4 forest road for the first 5 km, without any good views. The last 3 km to the peak are a lot better and have good views. From the Golem Kamen (Piramida) peak I would even call the view excellent. You can see Lake Prepa with its island Golem Grad and the mountain ranges of Galicica and Pelister National Parks.
About 4 km into the walk the GPS track that we were following suddenly disappeared to the left into the vegetation. After some searching we noticed why: the trail leaves the 4×4 forest road here for a moment for a shortcut, to re-connect with it only 300 m later. You may as well save yourself the searching for the right trail and keep following the 4×4 forest road (which adds only 200 extra meters…).
We noticed some animal tracks here, according to ChatGPT they were from a wolf or large dog.
At the peak there was something what looked like a trench, maybe from WWI?
This hike gets 3 out of 5 stars, the 4×4 forest road is really boring, especially because you have to walk it twice! But the great views at the peak make it worthwhile. However, if you are prepared to do a little bit more ascent (900 m instead of 600 m), I would advise you to do the hike to the Vrteshka Peak instead, that starts at the same location.
You can view and download the GPS track of this hike here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/st-bogorodica-gjavato-to-golem-kamen-piramida-peak-240784782
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