Near the village of Mechkul, in the foothills of the Pirin Mountains, lie the megalithic sanctuary of St. Mina and the Mechkul Waterfall – the highest waterfall in Pirin, with a height of 51 meters.
The time had come to do a winter ascent of Mount Spanopolski Chukar (2576 m). Last winter we only reached the Spano Pole shelter—we were a bit too lazy to continue upward, and not everyone in the group had snowshoes.
Golyama Straza Peak is 2799 m high and is the eighth highest peak in Pirin. It is part of the Ushitsite (Straza) ridge, located between the peaks of Polezhan and Kaymakchal.
In mid-November, we were wondering what an easy hike to do, and in the end, we chose to tackle the side peaks south of Solishte – Kelio, Kotsov Grob, and Stefanov Peak.
In mid-September, we decided to go on a cycling trip in memory of Vesko from Petrich. The idea was to cycle to Malina hut and then descend the next day to Skoko waterfall above the village of Kashina.
This is a more unusual trip to Zagaza Hut by bike. Until now, I had been to the hut several times by bike, starting from Kresna.
I have climbed Yavorovnik and Zab Peak before, but this time the idea was to climb Yavorovnik along the ridge between it and Kamenitsa Peak. Our starting point was the Begovitsa hut (Kamenitsa).
It was August 28—Michaela's birthday, who for several years on this date has been climbing Sinanitsa Peak, followed by a party at the Spano Pole shelter.
Mount Vihren, at 2,914 meters, is the second-highest peak in Bulgaria and the highest in the Pirin Mountains.