Lanina Mogila, Lozen

This Saturday we hiked a new circular route near Sofia - I'm always so excited when we manage to find new places we haven't been to before near us. We climbed a relatively low (1188 m) but very panoramic peak in the Lozen mountain. Using our GPS and the map of Bulgarian mountains we've got, we planned the route. There was a small hitch in our plan - there was no connection between one of the trails and the peak, so on the map the route wasn't closed. However we decided that there should be some trail in real life, even if it isn't on the map, as I had found info on the net that the route was circular. Anyway, even if there is a connecting path, we couldn't find it, so when we reached the missing path, we simply went uphill, through bushes and stones and climbed the peak directly from its skirts. It was a good exercise and kind of adventurous ad the views were so worth it!

: The village of Lozen downhill and the Balkan mountains in the distance

: There was ice here and there, but the weather warmed up a bit during the week and most of the snow from last week melted

: This is Lanina Mogila from a distance

: To our delight we had Gaby with us on this hike

: Vitosha and other peaks of the Lozen mountain

: The summit of Plana mountain and the peaks of Rila in the far distance

: Uphill through bushes and rocks ranger style :)

: On Lanina Mogila - a sea of mountain peaks in all directions

: Rila and the big Iskar Dam in the distance

: We found a cozy place under the peak and had our picnic there. Our picnic view - one of the best ever, and we've had many!

: And back to town. Lately Sofia surpassed Beijing with the level of air pollution. That dirty smog over the city is what we breathe most of the days in winter :(