Day #7 – The Malá Fatra – The last hike in paradise--with the same hikers
Piatok (Friday), 25. augusta 2017-- (excerpts from my
journal The Pressburg Diaries, vol V and a separate travel diary)
The sun is out again. It should be warm, too. I think
the general plan is to take the lift up to some ridge (Chata pod chlebom) and
do some hiking there. We’re both tired so we’ll see how the day goes.
At 9:50 we caught the bus to Vrátna and caught the
closed-cabin lift up to a loaf-shaped lump of a mountain called Chleb, located
1,453 meters above sea level. But we actually started well above it, at Snilovské
sedlo. The air up at this height is really fresh. That is, unless you have to
share the chair lift with a large and friendly, but very smelly dog! Some Irish
fellow and his Czech girlfriend got into the same cabin, and there was just
enough room for the four us and their enormous Saint Bernard. There was a
little hatch in the plastic bubble window I could open for fresh air. I kept my
nose and mouth as close to this vent as possible as if it were my own personal
oxygen mask. We were relieved when we reached the top and got out into the
fresh air. I don’t think these people realised how much their dog smelled—not
only his breath, but it was like he hadn’t been bathed in ages! Obviously
they’re immune to the odor.
Zuza’s head bothers her today—another migraine. The
night before last it was her stomach, and to top it off, she has a blister on
her heel from her walking shoe rubbing there. Tomorrow we go back to reality in
Bratislava, so we need to make the most of our last day of hiking. I have
invoices to do, plus I lose income over another public holiday on the 29th,
but it’s better not to think of reality now. We’ve been in the Malá Fatra long
enough now that we’re starting to run into the same hikers we’ve seen on various
other hikes this week. Here we saw the same nicely-bearded “Grizzly Adams” fellow
we saw at Podžiar and later Koliba pod Rozsutcom yesterday. Between his beard and scraggly hair, he
looked very outdoorsy. Most likely he was Czech. But as soon as we got off the
chair lift, we walked to the sedlo and sat to rest until Zuza felt well enough
to go on. At least the view from here, at 1,524 meters, was nothing short of
spectacular.
After half an hour, we decided to take the trail down
to Chata pod Chlebom. We reached it by just after 12 noon and got in line at the
lodge for beer, tea, apple strudel, and cabbage soup from a rather grumpy woman
working there. According to Zuza, the strudel was inedible. At least the soup
was tasty, loaded with paprika, as I like it. I downed my beer and went back
for a second one and to put an ink stamp in my journal. Someone must have given
Grumpy Lady a flower because this time around she was much kinder. The couple
with the smelly Saint Bernard was there, too, as was “Grizzly Adams”. This is
now the fourth time we’ve seen him in the past two days with his group of hiker
friends. It was if he was following us. Or were we following him? He was quite
a loud, chatty fellow; you could hear his conversation above anyone else’s, and
Zuza said his accent sounded as if he was from northern Morava or even Silesia,
perhaps close to Ostrava.
The trail between Chata pod Chlebom and Snilovské sedlo
At one o’clock or so, we decided to walk slowly back up to Snilovské sedlo. We had return tickets on the chairlift, so we didn’t need to get in line to purchase them. This time we shared the ride with two (Czech?) hikers in their 60s. Zuza delighted in sharing with them our experience on Sokolie Monday afternoon. And they talked about beer. We recommended Vŕšky—the beer, that is. The brewery was not that impressive. Zuza really enjoyed the dark beer they make. At the bottom, we waited for the bus back to Štefanová. I spotted an old woman from the hills selling what looked like string cheese. She looked truly a part of the scenery.
We went back to our lodgings and rested there. I have
no idea how many kilometers we hiked today, but it wasn’t much. Finally, we got
dressed and walked the five minutes to Koliba pod Rozsutcom for dinner. I was
anxious to try their guláš, and it was definitely good! As we ate our dinner,
sitting on the newly-built covered wood porch, I recounted my impressions of the
past week. We saw lots of dogs on the hikes, some owners carried their pets in
special doggy backpacks. The most impressive feeling I’m coming away with from the
mountains is how vast nature is, and despite technology, industry, and the
damage we’ve done to the planet, how much virgin nature there still is. It’s
not all gone. It’s refreshing to realise humans have not destroyed everything
and how tiny and insignificant humanity is against the power of Mother Nature. I
felt small, humbled, and utterly powerless. I realized, too, how glad I am in
retrospect when I cancelled a hiking trip here in 2015. I could have gone with
a group of people in June that year, but due to a hangover from a party the
night before, I cancelled the morning we were due to leave. I waited two years
and got to experience it all with Zuza instead, so this trip to paradise was definitely worth the wait.
