Šarena Lastva (nr. Mt. Maglić) 2228m


I had been planning for the whole year, and in fact for the last 13 years to do a hike to Lake Trnovac in the Piva region. It seemed like the days were getting too short to be able to do such an epic hike, but we set off from Nikšić early in the morning towards the village of Mratinje. Despite my usually trusty car temporarily conking out on the way, we made it as far as we could go along the macadam road past Mratinje to a village I think is called Čair or Ćalasani. After some helpful advice from a friendly local, we followed the clear trail markers from the low cloud and autumnal colours, eventually through the mist and above the clouds and into snow, which had fallen the previous day. With frequent digging to find the buried markers, we made our way ever upwards, mindful of the need to get back before dusk. At one point we realised that uncovering the trail markers was using up valuable time, so we headed towards what seemed to be a promising peak through 20cm of snow, and through the occasional 50cm drift. The view from the peak was breathtaking, as were almost all the views above the clouds. The conditions were perfect and we had climbed well over 1,200m from the start point. Definitely this hike was one of the top-two hikes I have done, the other being Međedi in Durmitor. The view over Lake Trnovac extended deep into Herzegovina on one side, then the other way towards Ljubišnje, over a sea of cloud that covered the Piva Canyon and Tara Canyon. The climb up took around 5.5 hours, and the descent about 3.5 hours. Admittedly, my limbs have been aching for several days afterwards, but the effort was well worth it and we were privileged to have some unique weather conditions, blending autumn and winter, but with gorgeous sun.

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