Chepun and Dragoman Marsh 2024

The warm, summer-like weather continued for almost a month till mid-April. Last Sunday on Chepun mountain it was true summer - hot and sunny, super unusual for this time of the year along the ridge of the low mountain. This is our fourth hike in this area and it was very much identical to the one we did three years ago. The track, starting from the marsh, has been completely abandoned and is not on the maps any more, so we followed the fairly short 4 km eco-trail up and down the peak.

:To our surprise, the eco-trail turned out to be very popular and we met a lot of people along the track

Hike info:

Date:  14 April 2024

Destination: Petrovski Cross (1206 m)

Mountain: Chepun

Total length: 10 km

Elevation gain: 400 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 3 and a half hours

Average difficulty: 3 / 10

A view to the town of Dragoman

A small chapel was built recently on top of the mountain at the end of the trail

Petrovski cross, probably a remnant from an old sanctuary

The peak of the mountain

The dwarf almond bushes were in full bloom

We continued out hike a bit along the ridge to the next high point. There is a trail, that goes further along the ridge and down to the next village, but then how does one get back to the car?

The Dragoman marsh from above. We had our picnic on a bench with a view to the marsh and the fields around

The wild lilacs were also in bloom

A view to the west and the border with Serbia

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

 

I: lingerie, Burda blouse,Knipmode flared pants

Husband: men's boxers, Knipmode cargo pants

After we went down the eco-trail, we drove to the Dragoman marsh and walked a bit around. The wetland is the home of many birds and other animals, we could hear some of them in the reeds, but none were visible.