Window on Niksic

Once again at Stabna and Stabanska jezera - not too hot this time, fine views from above the lake, a pleasant wind, a group of horses mixing with a herd of cows at the top of the climb at 1,600 m.

The start of the trail is quite awkward to find: along the Niksic-Pluzine road, after the turn-off to Brezna you will see a signpost for Zaborje where there are turn-offs on both sides. On the right it is signposted to Miljkovac, while you should take the left turn which turns soon into a stony track. Perhaps it is best to leave the car here – I didn’t, and I had to get my suspension fixed… The track winds through the woods and there is a fork where you have to take the left road, and follow this for several kilometres until reaching an opening. From here there are no trail markers but bear south-west following the topography, initially through woodland, until you reach a rocky and grassy expanse from where you can see the top of Golija.

These two hikes were explorations of the River Grabovica which flows into the River Komarnica via the Skakavica Waterfall, which is visible from and very close to the road that leads to Komarnica, just before the parking for Nevidio Canyon. There are trail markers to the right side of the gulch leading from the waterfall, which take you upwards on a winding path. There are frequent views down onto the waterfall and the river that feeds it. With some difficulty you can get closer to the river at one part where the flow narrows and plunges downwards. If you have nerves of steel you can jump across the river here for a nice view. The canyon is not accessible upstream from here, at least it wasn’t in spring when the flow is strongest. We climbed up towards the main Savnik-Zabljak road, and walked about 200 metres along it until we found a turn-off which leads down back to the river along a stony track. The river is shallow enough to cross here (barefoot or with waterproof boots, although p...

  Although I had hiked part of this trail before when I explored the mountains above Kotor, walking from Kotor to Krstac and then along an Austro-Hungarian road to Zalazi and then down to Sveti Stasije, I had not climbed up to a famous viewpoint called Pestingrad, which is very close to Krstac. Since the coastal mountains are snow-free most of the year, this was an ideal time to explore, rather than the middle of summer (when I last walked there) with temperatures into the thirties. The path was very easy to find and follow from the restaurant right next to the road, near to the entrance to Njegusi. We got a little lost at one point but refound the trail, and then when Pestingrad came into sight (there is a path down to the left, as you face Kotor, which leads to the hill of Pestingrad), however, we decided instead to climb the higher peak of Đerinski vrh and were able to take a shortcut down on the Krstac side. It was a fairly short hike, but with lots of scrambling up rocky slope...

The start of the trail, at an altitude of 800 m, is located at the northern end of the overflow car park near the Ostrog Upper Monastery. It climbs northwards fairly gently through forest and it takes about one and a half hours to get to the peak of Ostroske grede – Uroseva glavica at 1,154 m and the whole hike was 9 km there and back. The scenery on the way up is very dominated by limestone rocks and bushes overlooking the Zeta Valley, but there is a wide view including Glava Zete, crisscrossed by winding, thin roads. From the top, one can see Niksic Plain to the north-west and the Moraca Mountains and beyond to the north-east. One of the easiest hikes.

This climb was definitely the highlight of my mountaineering year! As with the climbs of Trnovački Durmitor and Vrsta earlier documented on this blog, we started from the village of Ćalasani, accessed from a left turn after crossing the Piva hydroelectric dam from Plužine, through Mratinje, as far as you can get by road. I have to emphasise at the outset that this walk is almost completely uphill all the way until the peak of Maglić, but has a wonderful range of different terrain – woodland, which is incredible during the mid-to-late autumn, then bare rocks, then grass, and you are rewarded with great views of Lake Trnovac. The time estimates on the signposts do not include breaks! The GPS data from my phone informs me that, while the journey to the peak took us just over 3 hours not counting breaks, it was more like 6 hours including breaks. Given the fact that the elevation gain is from 985m to 2,336m, i.e. lots, this is not surprising. Overall, we took over 11 hours fo...

 This canyon walk is a good summertime walk because about half of it is through woodland. There is room to park on the road from the village of Nedajno towards Mala Crna Gora, at the bottom of the canyon, where there is a mountain lodge, where during the summer there is often a park ranger issuing tickets for Durmitor National Park (and perhaps charging for parking), although he was actually at the lodge by Lake Škrka (the other end of the canyon) when we walked. There is also a spring here where you can fill up with cold water. The walk starts from Lake Sušica, leading along its west shore (the eastern side is just rocks, and is hard on the ankles) and then along the canyon, mainly keeping the River Sušica on the left side. During the summer, this river largely dries up (presumably the reason for the river’s name). There is one large clearing that is full of nettles, but this seems now to be cleared during the tourist months, so long trousers are no longer essential f...

Although Gornja Bijela is accessible by road from the main road from Nikšić to Žabljak near the village of Kruševice, where there is a turn on the right as you head northwards, there is a pleasant walk also from the Krnovo Plain from the last of the windmills along this valley, which leads westwards where there is a break in the long line of mountains. The trail leads downwards along a stream, largely surrounded by trees. The road comes out onto the left side of a valley which points towards Šavnik. From here you need to find a path which continues downhill, rather than along the road which follows the contours of the valley. The path goes past a couple of houses, and follows a stream, eventually coming out onto the asphalt road mentioned earlier. Here your ears can lead you to the River Bijela, and follow this upstream to where the waterfall is. This is a beautiful spot, and as the summer goes on the flows slightly diminishes. The return trip is almost completely uphill.

The village of Stabna is accessible from Plužine along an asphalt road which hugs the western leg of Lake Piva. There is a left turn which further west and upwards, until a sharp dogleg takes you up towards Stabna. There are signposts to the end of the road, which eventually stops being asphalt when you take a left fork. The end of the road is marked by a chain across the path preventing further progress. The trail is marked from here all the way up to the two lakes, firstly Small Stabna Lake and then Large Stabna Lake. This is almost all in the woods, with the exception for around the two lakes. Take care at the far end of the small lake, where there are lots of boulders and a stream flows into the lake, as snakes bask here during the summer and frequently cross the trail. The larger lake is more frequented by frogs than snakes and makes an excellent spot for lunch. We decided to head right in the direction of Mt. Bioc, and after a climb of about 50 metres there is a spr...

Bare Bojovića can be accessed by road from April, as soon as the snow melts along the road. The road is signposted from a left turn on the Nikšić-Župa road uphill towards the Zagrad quarry, following the signposting toward Kapetanovo jezero. Otherwise if the snow has not melted and has not been cleared, as was the case with us, you have to wade through the snow for two hours to the Kponjsko Plain around Mt Borovnik, before you stand opposite Mt Žurim. Bare Bojovića is so-named because of all the water that pools in the area – there are several streams, but there is also a lot of boggy land there, especially during the spring. My favourite feature of Bare Bojovića is the impressive waterfall, which can be found by following the most powerful stream westwards from the turn-off to Kapetanovo Lake.

Gackova greda is part of a line of peaks along the southern border of Krnovo Plain which extends from the southern line of windmills towards Mt. Žurim. The access road to the windfarm allows you to get closer to Gackova greda, even during the winter, since the windmills have to be accessible for maintenance all-year round. From the windfarm, facing eastwards, veer to the right and onto the top of the ridge, where there is an interesting walk along the ridge towards the tree-covered Mt. Borovnik (to the right) and Mt. Žurim which forms the end of this ridge.

The Piva Mountains represent a less well known attraction for hikers, partly because it is not (yet) a national park – currently it has been characterised as a nature park, but doesn’t have the sort of funding that the five national parks have. Despite this, there is now good signposting to the main attractions. The highest peak is Maglić, on the border with Republika Srpska. These mountains can be accessed in various different parts, mainly near the town of Plužine, the municipal capital. Mount Vrsta lies among the northernmost clumps of mountains and is best accessed from the village of Ćalasani: after arriving in Plužine from the south, drive along the main road further until the hydroelectric dam, where, after crossing the dam, there is a left turn through a tunnel to the village of Mratinje. There is a signpost to Maglić and Trnovačko jezero at a t-junction, left. We parked at the end of the road near where a spring emerges and flows over the road. The first part of ...

This relatively easy walk can be done in several variants, all of which will be detailed here, although this time I am recording the second walk along this canyon, not wishing to duplicate blogs on the same trail. The River Komarnica starts in Durmitor near Sedlo, flowing down this canyon – in the summer it is largely dry or else underground, whereas during the spring the flow is at its most powerful, and there are several waterfalls either along its course or from streams feeding into it as the descend into the canyon. The canyon is dominated on one side by a 15-km-long almost vertical wall of rock called Boljske grede, while on the other side the incline is gentler and almost completely covered in trees. The canyon widens out at the village of Komarnica, where there is road access. After several kilometres of dirt track, asphalt begins and the River Komarnica is joined by the River Grabovica which pours down one side of the canyon making a spectacular waterfall called S...

This ridge, the second parallel ridge going northwards after passing Zurim, has featured in many of my hikes this year. However, so far we have either gone eastwards along the top of the ridge, or perpendicular across it towards the next ridge (Mt Lola). This time we decided to go westwards along the top of the ridge towards Bijela and Krnovo. It took about two hours to get from the car parked by Zagaracki katun to the top of the ridge, then another hour or so to the highest point of the peak Trpezarija, not far from where the wind farm on Krnovo starts. It was not a tough walk, but we had to be careful because of the early sunset this late in the year. We wanted to see whether there was a quick route down from the ridge to the valley bottom, but not finding one along the way, we had to return the way we came.

More just for the exercise than anything else, we decided to head over to Durmitor and enjoy the view from the top over all of Durmitor National Park. We needed crampons near the top, as the peak was covered in ice and packed snow. We tried exploring the minor peaks between Sljeme and Bandijerna, but decided that we would be hard-pressed for time and so headed down. The descent took a little longer than we had bargained for, and ended up seeing the sun set as we came down and returned to the car with hardly any light left.

We set out on a cloudy day, hoping that the road would not be covered in snow or ice, and we were fortunately able to get to the katun at the foot of Mali Zurim. A view from Borovnik a week earlier had revealed another way up Veliki Zurim, and it was decided to explore this, even though the entire mountain was engulfed in low cloud and we could not see where our path was taking us to. When we found an animal trail, we followed it up a snaking route to a pass, but given the limited visibility, headed straight up to where we knew the summit to be, which was marked by a canister containing a log book and pen. The way down was potentially dangerous, given that we could not see that far in front, but I trusted to my memory of climbing it before, and we managed to descend without problem, if a little tentatively.

Ice on the road to Zagoricki katun prevented us from driving up to the foot of Zurim, so we decided to head towards Borovnik, which I still have not climbed right to the top. There was some snow on the ground and the rivulets that crisscross the Lukavica valley were apparently in full flow. We had to cross on stepping stones on many occasions, until unexpectedly we came to a beautiful hidden waterfall. I managed to divine a way up this side of Borovnik, up a grassy strip cutting through boulders and pine trees. This side was relatively free of snow, facing towards the sun, but once we got to the top, there was enough snow to hide the crevasses and cracks in the rock, and made traversing the top ridge quite hazardous. But the weather was excellent and the descent was relatively danger-free. Borovnik is a wide massif, and the three times I have tried to climb it, there has not been enough time to get from the foot right to the summit

This is not strictly a hike, more like a long drive and mini-walk. But autumn in this national park is spectacular because of the diversity of trees and the colours of the leaves. Every day gives you a different combination of sunlight, clouds and foliage, and I was on this occasion treated to strong winds which suddenly blew a cloud of leaves over the lake, as if caught in a locust swarm. The entrance fee to the national park is €3 and it is accessible from the main Podgorica-Bijelo Polje road, north of Kolasin. Construction is ongoing on a restaurant (if was ongoing last year at the same time) by the lake, and the souvenir shop was closed

Four weeks after the last attempt was thwarted by rain, I finally returned to this peak, close to Durmitor's highest (Bobotov kuk) and right in between the jagged edge of Zupci and Sljeme. Despite being higher than Prutas, the walk to this peak is relatively short from the parking area at Sedlo, on the Virak-Trsa road. There was still snow on the north-facing and shaded spots, but nothing too concerning. The path was very muddy and slippery from the thawing snow, but once we got off the path onto the rocks the going was easier. There is no marked path except the path to Zeleni Vir and Bobotov kuk, but, as visibility was good this time, we were able to veer off and head towards Trojni prevoj (Three-way Pass). It seems there are piled stones on some of the rocks to indicate roughly the right way, but it was no problem just heading towards where I knew we had to go. From Trojni prevoj we headed straight up the mountain from where we were rewarded with a beautiful 360 degr...

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,...