To The Blue Arrow Shelter 2023

A brisk and steep climb to the Blue Arrow shelter on Vitosha on a cloudy day. The forecasts promised rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon, and there were showers in the distance, but we were spared the heavenly water and happened only upon a few scattered snowflakes at the altitude above the 1600 m line.

Although the trail is fairly short, the elevation gain is significant and the climb was a good exercise in expectation of the more interesting and extreme hikes we have planned for this year - it is high time we got out of the comfort zone of easy hikes we've been favouring recently.

Hike info:

Destination: Blue Arrow Shelter

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 9 km

Elevation gain: 530 m

Total duration (plus rest): less than 3 h

Average difficulty: 4 / 10

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

 

Husband: men's boxers, Knip Mode cargo pants, Blue henley blouse

I: lingerie, Sinclair Lotte blouse, Houndstooth hoodie

A beautiful find - a white crocus in a field of purple crocuses:

We had never climbed this path in late April and didn't know whether to expect snow at the end of the trail, but at this altitude the snow was gone, thankfully. Up above the 2000 m altitude it will keep at least for a month or longer.

While on the way up I was clad only in a blouse, I was so soaked in sweat and cold on top, that on the way down I put on all of the clothes I had in my backpack.

:Rain in the distance. While we were up, it had rained down in the village of Zeleznitza, where we had left the car.

:The peaks of Rila in the distance. The snow there will keep until June, at least.