FROM MONTENEGRO

(click on images to enlarge)

Answering a Mountain Call: Snows of Mt. Durmitor

MONTENEGRO, May 10, 2008 - As you saw from the "Communing with My Mountain" segment of this travelogue, it was starting to rain heavily when I left my mountain.

The skies were dark and ominous as I drove toward Zabljak on Mt. Durmitor. I checked into the first hotel I found open, an old an run-down Hotel Planinka. But I did not care for one night as long as I had the internet connection.  Which they said they did have.  Well, it took some finagling of cables to make it work, but finally I did succeed, as you know by now.

Then I went for a long walk - to the famous Black Lake, under the three peaks of Mt. Durmitor - Savig Kul, Medjed and I forgot the name of the third one, the tallest of the three.  It was freezing cold when I set out on a hike around the lake but I didn't care.  I needed some exercise and a place where I could let my mind just float after such an exciting afternoon on my mountain.  The man in the left picture, a local tour guide by the name Savo, told me it would take about an hour to circle the lake.  I figure I had that much gas left in me.  What I did not figure on was the cold. BRRRR... At this elevation, it was icy, especially when the rain resumed again, occasionally turning into snow.

The path occasionally led through dark and thick forest.  At other times it climbed and descended quite steeply, as you can see from that far right photo.  It was a good exercise overall, especially this high up in the mountains.

At one point I came across this magnificent shape that nature had carved out of wood and moss. The creature looked like a dragon to me or perhaps a lion.  Not much farther down the trail, that was an interesting art display of moss over stone that nature has also arranged.  From that roughly half-way point around the lake, one could enjoy both the solitude and the stillness of the mountain night slowly descending.

It was at about this point in my hike that rain turned into snow. There patches of it on the ground, too, but that was not fresh snow. That's when I also recorded the following two videos so you could get an idea of the sounds and not just sights of Mt. Durmitor...

 Snows of Mt. Durmitor, Black Lake (45 secs)

Even though my hotel was pretty decrepit, at least my hotel room had beautiful views.  So I took the above three shots from my balcony before going down to the lobby lounge to battle the internet connection.

The Morning After

MONTENEGRO, May 10, 2008 - The morning after my big mountain adventure was bright and sparkling.

Take a look at the same views from the same hotel room this morning.  Spectacular, wouldn't you say.  This time, I was prepared for the cold when I went out for a morning walk.  I found a layer of snow on the roof of my car, which means that the rain had turned into snow overnight.

Not long after I set out on my walk, a cute white dog decided to adopt me.  She would not leave my side the entire time I was walking, about an hour or so.  She walked with me through streets, fields, over the rocks, and creeks... everywhere.  I talked to her all the time and patted her occasionally.  She seemed glad of the company.  Guess I should have called her White Princess or something, but I did not think of it at the time, only after looking at these pictures. 

Take a look also at the video I had recorded, including other interesting sounds of Mt. Durmitor, like sheep bleating, roosters crowing and birds chirping,

 A Mt Durmitor walk with a dog who adopted me (42 secs)

The dog was really happy and playful.  She wanted my attention all the time.  Except, of course, when her nose would take her elsewhere for a while, like chasing pigeons, for example.  What a futile effort, I thought, remembering how my Golden Retriever also used to do that.

All over the field I could see these pretty little blue flowers (left).  And occasionally the dog and I would have to cross a creek using this type of Montenegrin "bridge" (right).

The dog followed me faithfully almost right back to me hotel, and looked at me wistfully as I disappeared from view.  Back at the hotel parking lot, a group of kids who were staying at the hotel attending a "nature's school" were doing their morning calisthenics.  The session was just breaking up as I arrived. I then observed a funny scene of an old hen of teacher upbraiding this young and pretty one over something.  "Jealousy," I figured, as I snapped the shot.

TO BE CONTINUED...

CLICK HERE to Montenegro DAY 4...

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