Verila

Pictures from our Saturday hike on Verila, a low mountain between Vitosha and Rila. This is our first hike in this mountain and we were again with our friends from the Facebook hiking group. And I'm so glad that we were a big group, as there were no trail markings to the summit of the mountain and our GPS couldn't find the trail on the map (mainly because for half of the way to the top there is no actual trail). Unlike Vitosha, Verila is not a national park and it is not a protected tourist zone, and it happened so that we had to compete for the mountain with a hunting group. As we were a very big tourist group they had to abandon their hunting to avoid accidents. I wonder want would have happened if it was only husband and I, probably the hunters would have attempted to make us return home, though of course they have no such rights by law.
The day was surprisingly warm and sunny for the end of November. Down in the valley Sofia was in the grip of the notorious November fogs, but up the mountains the air was crystal clear and the sun was shining with not a cloud in the sky despite the forecasts for cloudy and cold weather.
The hike was one of the longest we've had - 21 km, but very pleasant and fairly easy, with elevation difference of about 400 m.

The snowy peaks of Rila

There was probably not one member of our group who did not WOW at the sight of the sea of fog which opened before our eye when we climbed on top of the mountain - the entire valley between Rila and Verila was covered with fog and low clouds.

On peak Goliam Debeletz (1414 m), the highest peak of Verila mountain

The memorial at the center of the village of Kovachevtzi - the starting and finishing point of our hike