As was forecast, Friday yesterday was the last of the hot summer days this year and we simply had to make the most of it. Rilska Skakavitza - the highest of the Rila waterfalls, is one of our favourite hikes, with the timeless beauty of the Skakavitza river valley, so the choice was easy.
As promised, the day was sunny and warm, perfect for the higher mountains. The trail is very popular and overcrowded on weekends, but this Friday it was quite tolerably frequented by just a handful of tourists.
We had a short stop at the Skakavitza lodge, with a small power snack, filled our water bottles with cold spring water and continued to the waterfall.
Hike info:
Destination: Rilska Skakavitza Waterfalls
Mountain: Rila
Total length: 13.5 km
Elevation gain: 585 m
Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 5 and a half hours
Average difficulty: 4.5 / 10
Me-made items, worn on this hike:
Husband: boxers, Burda cargo pants, Burda grey hoodie
I: lingerie, Burda color jeans, Burda raglan blouse
The whole valley of the river at the foot of the waterfall was abundant with ripe raspberries, which made our progress towards the waterfall quite slow and sporadic :)
We decided to have our lunch up on the ledge above the valley, like last year. The seating was comfortable, the view, of course, spectacular and the tortillas and jam-filled muffins - delicious as always. The blueberry bushes we discovered last year, were loaded with the biggest wild blueberries we've seen during our hikes, so we quickly filled our boxes with ripe fruit to be turned into blueberry crumbles and pies soon.
After descending from the waterfall, we spotted by the raspberry bushes on the other side of the river. Husband had a quick raspberry snack, while I sat on a stone in the middle of the river and had a quiet moment with the falling water and welcome sunshine warmth.
We returned to the car along the winding alternative trail, as we've been doing for the last several times we've hiked this route.
