After completing the 5 day hike, we took a bus to Poprad, a town in the foothills of the High Tatras. High Tatras (Vysoké Tatry) form an imposing border between Slovakia and the Czech Republic. While the views in the Low Tatras are dominated by grass-covered hills and snaking ridge lines, the High Tatras offer vistas worthy of California’s Sierra Nevadas. In fact, our hike very much reminded me of the 16-day backpacking trip in the California wilderness along the John Muir Trail that I took with friends back in 2007 (when I still had hair).

August 21st, 2011 (Sunday)

But before we would put the hiking shoes back on, we needed some much needed rest. After a night in a real bed in the Tatra Hotel and the included buffet breakfast (where we ate some 3 hot dogs, 2 eggs, 2 sausages, a yoghurt, and numerous pastries each), we decided to spend the day relaxing at Poprad’s Aquacity. One of the first things that any foreign visitor to Slovakia (and to a large extent all neighboring post-communist countries) will notice is the general apathy about upkeep. In order to get to this park, we had to walk along some run-down garages covered in graffiti, and take a sketchy foot path under a bridge. Since Slovakia does not have a sea, water parks like this are common throughout Slovakia – and well visited in the hot summer months. This one was no exception, despite charging a rather high fee by Slovak standards, some 17 EUR per person for an all-day pass.

The picturesque Poprad town square

It’s quite interesting to people-watch at places like this. It was really crowded with people of all shapes. One thing we noticed was that the stomachs of Slovak guys are sort of like the rings in a tree trunk – you can estimate somebody’s age by the size of the overhang. We Slovak guys tend to be (as Alex called it) skinny fat guys: they have skinny legs and arms, but a big belly. The same seems to be true about the girls. They are very cute at the young age, but then all of a sudden balloon up and cut their hair short. Another curiosity was a really hairy “Russian-bear” character parading around in tiger-stripped speedos. At the park we grabbed some beers and langoše and relaxed in the water. The park also has a nice cafeteria which actually serves decent food. We had Hungarian goulash there. From the park we headed to the picturesque downtown Poprad. Since it was a Sunday, many shops were closed, but this did not extend to the town square restaurants. We passed a group of folks singing by the historical Church of St. Egidius and then stopped by pizza at the CafeRAZY hotel.

August 22nd, 2011

The next morning we took a bus to Štrbské Pleso, a resort town in the High Tatras. The word pleso means a tarn or a mountain lake. The town is named after an equally named tarn the town sits next to. This town contains many luxury hotels, including the Grand Hotel Kempinski. It is also the starting point for a large number of hikes. If you enjoy challenging hiking you will find yourself right at home in the High Tatras! You can easily spend few weeks here exploring the various trails. There is even a High Tatras version of the Low Tatras magistrála. We contemplated hiking up Rysy, but settled for the “yellow” loop, which you can see on this map. This circular route goes up Mlynická Dolina (dolina means a valley), crosses the Bystrá Lávka saddle, and returns through the Furkotská Dolina.

This is one heck of a hike! One thing you will quickly notice while hiking in Slovakia is that the level of difficult for a normal, stroll-in-the-woods type of hike is much higher than in the US. While in the US you may find switchbacks, in Slovakia you will go straight up. And while you will hardly ever have to take the hands out of your packets on US trails, chains and ladders make a common travel companion in Slovakia (such trails are called via ferrata). This trail is no exception. About half-way up the first valley you will arrive at the vodopád Skok (waterfall Jump). Here you will encounter the first set of chains. These are not particularly challenging. The view from the top of the waterfall is amazing. You can see all the way back to town, and can even see the prominent ski/bungee jumping platform.

These are some of the amazing views you will get as you make your way up Mlynická Dolina. The second peak is Solisko. You can take an aerial tram up to the ridge line from town.

Here is the waterfall Skok. The trail, protected by chains, goes up to the left of it. You will get a nice view from the top.

This waterfall is fed by the first large tarn (pleso) you will encounter as you make your way up the valley. The trail follows this general stair-case pattern: you climb up a headwall, then arrive at a flat land with a lake. The final tarn is called Capie Pleso. Here the trail veers left and heads for a “saddle” on the ridge. It really is more of a notch than a saddle. This is where the trail gets rather sketchy. There are several chains leading to the top and the route is rather exposed. Getting to the saddle requires you to basically pull yourself up on chains. But the view you get from the top is absolutely spectacular. The other side looks much more like moonscape, with a large mountain eye, Vyšné Pleso (higher tarn) peeking back at you. This area really reminded me of the Sierra Nevadas. Alex, the climber he is, decided to make his way up the rock formations to the absolute top, while I sort of hang out and hoped not to fall over into the abyss. This section is intended to be one way (the way we came), but in reality there were few people making their way up from the other side. We descended into the valley and then continued down the Furkotská Dolina back into the shrubs (kosodrevina) and finally an evergreen forest (ihličnatý les). We met up with the red-blazed magistrála, which we took back to town.

Here is a view of one of the several tarns you will encounter on this hike. The second picture shows the trail and some hiker.

As you make your way up, the scenery will become more and more alpine. Trees will turn into shrubs, which will turn into grasses, which will finally give way to mosses and barren rocks.

Along the way you will also encounter a memorial dedicated to mountain rescue team which perished during a failed rescue attempt in 1979. The second photo is a look back at Capie Pleso from the route as it starts making it’s way up to the saddle.

And here are two shots of what the ascent up to the saddle looks like. Right before you get to the ridge you will get to a section where you basically have to pull yourself up on chains.

But the scramble is totally worth it – the view from the top to Furkotská Dolina is absolutely astounding. Not too long later you will find yourself back among vegetation and bubbly mountain brooks.

Along the way we found another beautiful fly agaric, or red amanita (muchotrávka červená). Don’t eat these. Although not as toxic as its deadly cousins, the white and green amanita (known as destroying angel and death cap in English), they can still mess you up. The trail back to town still shows evidence of the winter storm that struck Slovakia in the Fall of 2004.

In Štrbské Pleso we took a metro-like electric train back to Poprad. It was really nice and much better than the bus from the morning. An elderly woman from Košice sat down next to us and starting telling us about her handiworks. She is part of a team of grandmas that get together to make handicrafts and then she travels here to sell them to tourists. She had a variety of items: crocheted cloths, Christmas decorations, Easter eggs, table cloths. But I wasn’t too impressed with them. The Easter egss were just painted, I am used to seeing them decorated with hot wax or pieces of straw. She also carried an assortment of herbs for ailments like headache and “women problems”. Alex ended up buying few Christmas tree angel decorations.

Štrbské Pleso from which the town took its name. The second picture is of Alex drinking the super popular Cola drink Kofola right before we boarded our train back to Poprad.

We returned back to the High Tatras the following day. But this is a topic for a future post.

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Unlike in the US, the big Christmas celebration in Slovakia (and also Colombia where my girlfriend is from) is the Christmas Eve. The Christmas day is spent by relaxing. We open presents on the Christmas Eve, right after the dinner. I wonder why in the US people get presents the next morning. Perhaps Santa starts his delivery service in Europe and it takes him until the next morning to get all the way to the USA…

We’ll start the dinner by eating garlic, honey and oblátky (by the way, you can find similar wafers in Hispanic stores, they are called obleas in Spanish). Many families also make bobalky (or opekance). These were not common in my family when I was growing up but we’ll have them tonight – they taste so good! We’ll also make some lokše, little potato tortillas. Next will be the sauerkraut soup followed by the potato salad and the fried fish. And then the presents. We’ll probably finish the evening by watching a movie. When I was younger we would also walk to the church for the midnight mass but I don’t think we’ll be doing that tonight.

Anyway, Veselé Vianoce everyone. Below are also few photos from my trip to Slovakia in the winter of 2009-2010.

Slovak Christmas Celebration

Here is how we decorated the table at my dad’s place for Christmas two years ago. We started with the traditional med (honey) and oblátky.

Oblátky come in two forms: the rolled ones called trubičky and the traditional flat ones. There also special kúpelné oblátky (spa wafers, you can buy them here). These are basically two pieces joined together by a delicious sweet filling. The traditional one is made from almonds. One Christmas tradition calls for the head of the household to slice an apple. If the cut is nice like this, good luck will come to the family.

And here are few Christmas cookies my grandma made. You can find recipes for all these and more here.

Preparing the Christmas Carp

The main course on a Slovak Christmas table is a fried fish. A week or two before Christmas, families would go to the Christmas market to buy not just the tree but also a live carp. This carp would then be kept alive, in a bucket or in a bathtub (as I remember quite vividly from my childhood) until the Christmas Eve. It would then be killed and prepared for dinner. Below are pictures of my dad getting the fish ready. Hopefully you don’t find these images disturbing. But I think it’s important to realize that meat comes from living animals. It makes us appreciate what we eat more and be less wasteful with it.

Start off by washing the fish. You next gut it and clean it from the inside.

You then cut off the head and the tail. The final important piece is removing of the scales (šupiny). These hold a special meaning in our tradition. They represent money. Everybody is supposed to keep few of the scales from the Christmas carp in his wallet all year long to bring him or her wealth.

Slovakia in Winter

Finally, here are few pictures of Slovakia in winter. These two come from the area around my hometown of Banská Bystrica.

Here are Pieštany and Bratislava in winter. We traveled to Pieštany to attend a 90th birthday party for Helene Cincebeaux‘s mom.

Both of these photos are from Banská Štiavnica, one of the several Slovak UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Winter is also an excellent time for a hike. Everything is so pretty and pristine covered in fresh snow. This is right above the ski resort of Donovaly. Can you spot the alpine soldier on training?

These two photos are little ways up. The ridge in the second one is Kozí Chrbát (goat’s back). This is by the way the same route Alex and I took this summer on our through hike of the Low Tatras.

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Day 3, August 18th, 2011

We got a great sleep last night. It’s amazing what a bit of privacy and a nice bed can do. We woke up to another beautiful, but cold, day. It’s surprisingly chilli here in the mountains, especially when the sun goes behind clouds. The air is much drier so you get less of that residual heat you see on the humid east coast of the United States. Today was marked by a descent down to Čertovica and then gaining much of that elevation back on the other side. Čertovica (which has something to do with čert, a demon or the devil) is the name of a mountain pass and also a popular motorest, a road-side restaurant. The descend was devilishly steep, perhaps that’s where the name comes from. We had bryndzové halušky. I wasn’t too impressed with them. They tasted basically like flour balls, not sure if there were any potatoes in them at all. It seems that most restaurants nowadays serve pre-made halušky instead of making their own. These factory made dumplings seem to be primarily made of flour. The real home-made halušky consist of a mixture of flour and potato, with the potato making up a good half of the dough. We washed these down with a Kofola, a popular cola drink. The weather was beautiful – a sunny and a warm day. Sandals and the Jocks were there too, but they were eating their own food. Coming from the US, Slovakia is unbelievably cheap. A 0.5L (1 pint) beer will cost you only 1 euro! And typical lunch menu (soup and the main course) is only about 3 euros. So for 4 euros (6 dollars) you can get a two course meal plus a large beer. In many US pubs, just the beer alone will set you back that much. But, the lower prices are also a direct reflection of the lower incomes people make here so it’s not so easy for the locals to splurge (but beer is still relatively cheaper than in the US).

Click on the image for the bigger version of our hiking map for days 3-5. The markers indicate the end points for each day. Brezno in the lower left corner is the town I was born in. Map from freemap.sk.

The first picture shows the hut of MR Štefánik, the place where we spent the second night. The hut is located just below Ďumbier, the highest peak in the Low Tatras. It is that dimple on the ridge near the middle of the second picture. You can see the hut in this picture as well. Slovak Partisans fighting the Nazi used this hut as one of their bases. It was never seized by the Nazis, the only direct attack was a grenade that landed in the kitchen.

The trail junction at Králičká (1682m or 5518 ft). The second picture shows the overgrown trail past Čertovica.

After lunch we continued to Ramža, the shelter (útuľna) where we would spend the third night. The hike to Ramža took much longer than advertised. The whole day today was supposed to be only 4.5 hours according to the time segments on our map but really took 7. Part of it had to do with the trail past Čertovica being in a really bad shape. A storm blew through this area several years ago and downed many trees. Besides the downed trees, the trail was much overgrown and hard to follow in some sections. It was quite obvious that this is the least traveled part of this through hike. Hiking from Donovaly to Čertovica is a good weekend backpack and many people do that section. It is also popular with day hikers. Then, the opposite end offers another easy access and great views. This middle section was not as rich in vistas and didn’t offer any good day hikes – and as such the only people who trekked this way were the through hikers.

Soon after we left the motorest a medium sized black dog started following us. Alex wanted to keep him, take him back to the US, and call him Tatra. But before that plan could be solidified, the dog decided to take off into the woods not to be seen again. Ramža is a shelter with a door and bunks on both ends. Alex ended up sleeping in his hammock. I slept in the bivy. It was super hot that night. Before we went to bed we all sat by the fire and socialized. The list of folks on this hike is: Sandals (a Czech couple), Lost & Found (another Czech couple), Glacier Goggles + Cig (yet another Czech couple), The Hungarians (four Hungarian guys living abroad reunited for the hike), the Jocks (2 Czech guys), and the Hippies (a group of six Czechs). We called Lost & Found that because they first found the pair of Alex’s flip-flops he accidentally dropped on the trail the first day. I overheard them talking about finding flip-flops here at Ramža and they turned out to be Alex’. Then later on they found my bandana that also fell off somewhere.

Tatra and a Rambo-y Alex pose

Alex brought with him this emergency drinking straw that is supposed to make water safe to drink. We came by this frog pond so I figured it’s time to try it. The water tasted quite foul so I am not sure it was actually working. But I didn’t get sick. The second picture is of a baby fly agaric or muchotrávka červená. It is probably the most famous toadstool and shows up in many fairy tales.

This is Ramža, our home for the third night. We ate our dinner by the fire. The hippies made goulash using various wild herbs and mushrooms they collected along the way.

Here is my bivy. This was the first time I ever slept in one and it was actually quite nice, except that I got too hot. Unfortunately I lost the bivy few days later so I am again bivy-less.

Day 4, August 19th, 2011

Well yesterday we complained about the steep descent down to Čertovica. That was before we got to Priehiby. This was the steepest trail Alex and I have ever seen. Basically imagine some 45 degree straight-shot down. To make it worse, cover it with lose scree and gravel. We were going down really slow when all of a sudden the Jocks blew by wearing just sandals! Unbelievable! It definitely made us feel quite ridiculous. The path today was very hard to follow. Because of the storm and probably the ensuing clean up, the forest was criss-crossed by forest roads and often it was not clear which of them was the trail. It seems that this section had the trail markers in all the wrong places. We would see blazes every few feet inside a forest where there was no doubt where to go. But once we got to a junction with multiple trails / roads, the markers would all disappear.

Here is another shot of the typical scenery on the Low Tatras ridge. Much of these peaks are covered in kosodrevina, or dwarf pines. The rest is covered in beautiful tall grasses.

We had lunch at Priehiby, which is another valley with a road, but this is one is much smaller than the one that goes through Čertovica. We filled up water from some creek, without filtering, because the Hungarians told us it was safe to drink. Well, later they were like “Can’t believe you drank water from that creek, there were oil puddles near by!” But we didn’t see any and the water seemed fine – and nobody got sick. Water from these mountain creeks is so refreshing. We got bit of a rain on the way up to Veľká Vápenica (the Big Lime Peak). It didn’t rain much, we probably spent more time putting on our rain gear.

The ridiculously steep descent to Priehiby. This is one of those “you had to be there” situations where the picture doesn’t do the trail justice. And some other scenic trail marker.

Here we are on top of Veľká Vápenica. The hut is not far away from here.

Andrejcová is on a hilly meadow. As soon as we got there we saw some guy washing himself next to the spring – totally nude and in plain sight! Andrejcová is another unmanned shelter just like Ramža. This hut is a little bigger than the first and has two floors for sleeping. Before going to bed we all again hang out by the fire and the hippies sang bunch of folk songs such as Pane Prezidente, Anička Dušička, and Macejko Macejko. Surprisingly they did not know that there was a song about Kráľova Hoľa, a prominent and the final peak we’ll be climbing tomorrow.

In front of the hut is a meadow with tall grass and this is where I set up my bivy. The hippies also camped here and so did a group of 4 Slovaks. They were the first – and only – Slovak through-hikers we saw on this trip. They were going the opposite direction and told us it was really windy and cold on Kráľova Hoľa. They didn’t seem very interested in socializing with us. Instead they kept boozing and smoking by their tents. One guy got so boozed up he couldn’t even walk and had to be helped to his tent. We saw some flashes on the horizon before going to bed. I figured I’ll just crawl into the hut if the storms comes by. But it only got windy. I ended up sleeping really well. This was probably the best sleep I got on the entire hike. Alex had a different experience. He stayed in the hut. One of the windows was broken and had a plastic bag over it to keep the cold air out. This bag kept flapping all night long keeping everybody up.

Just before we got to the shelter we came up on a group of sheep grazing on the tall grasses. Nearby was a salaš, or the hut where the shepherds live. The second picture shows the Andrejcová shelter where we spent the fourth night. I camped in front in the meadow.

Day 5, August 20th, 2011

Today was probably my favorite day of the entire hike. The trail to Kráľova Hoľa is unbelievably smooth. It was like walking on a carpet made of moss. And the views – unbelievable! The High Tatras finally peaked over the horizon. For a good part of the morning a long skinny cloud hovered near their base making them look as if they were floating in air on a soft white carpet.

A little group shot shortly after leaving the hut. Here is one of the hippies, plus GG/C, and Alex. The hippies were out here collecting brusnice (cranberries). We later came up on a large group of gypsies rummaging the forest to probably sell them at a market. Great thing about hiking in Slovakia is the abundance of various forest berries. On this hike we were constantly snacking on cranberries, blueberries (čučoriedky), raspberries (maliny), and blackberries černice).

Our first look at the High Tatras. What an amazing sight!

The signs in this section were again off. The trail markers in Slovakia indicate the time, not the distance, to the next junction. This would be OK if the signs were actually correct. Sometimes we would hit the next marker right on schedule. But many other times, the markers were off – way off, sometimes by almost an hour. They were also not consistent. The marker on Orlová indicated that it was 1 hour to Stredná Hoľa, while the marker on Stredná Hoľa had only 20 minutes going the opposite way. The elevation difference between these two peaks was negligible – and it took us only about 20 minutes to do this section instead of the advertised 1 hour. We had lunch on one of the peaks with GG/C. Alex had his usual rice cracker with peanut butter. The other guys thought this was so weird – people don’t really eat peanut butter in Slovakia or the Czech Republic.

The Slovak national symbol carved from wood on top of Bartková

Our lunch on Orlová with Alex talking with GG/C about the merits of peanut butter.

We got to Kráľova Hoľa shortly after lunch. The Slovaks yesterday said it was really windy on top but we had much better luck. The weather was amazing. And to make things even more fitting, there was actually some choir on top singing Slovak folks songs! It was like a special welcome reception for our hiking party. The peak was full of people, at least 100 folks of all ages. After we took a short break, we descended from this madness. It is such a strange feeling after spending several days in a forest, and in relative solitude, to come upon so many people and kids running around in one place. The descend to Telgárt was long and steep. Lost & Found caught up with us at the bottom of the trail. We walked to the town together.

Few more scenery shots with the High Tatras in the background.

And there she is – Kráľova Hoľa (meaning king’s hoľa, I think hoľa is an old word for a peak). The folk song sings about a green tree that stands on its summit. Well these days the only thing that stands on top is a TV antenna. As we started getting closer we started to hear this folk choir perform various folk songs.

Here is Sandals. They took off shortly after not to be seen again. And yet another scenery shot. I particularly like this one; to me it really nicely symbolizes the relaxed feel of the Slovak countryside.

Alex and I originally planned to spend the night here and then head to the Slovak Paradise National Park the next day, but we couldn’t find any accommodations. There are few small hotels and penzions in Telgárt but they were all full because of the folk festival. Turns out, the singing on top was a part of a much larger event. We saw many different people dressed in the old traditional folk costumes, kroje. Not knowing what to do, we took the bus to Poprad with everyone else. There in Poprad we got us a room in Tatra Hotel right by the bus/train station. We got a nice big room for 40 euro for both of us. Rates like this (~20 eur per person) are quite common in Slovakia. Some penzions are even cheaper and charge only about 10 eur per person. Hotels always charge per person, not per room the way it works in the US.

Few folks in the old traditional outfits (kroje) we ran into down in Telgárt

We then walked back to Reštaurácia Orol (Restaurant the Egle), where the other guys were hanging out and having beers. They were catching a midnight train back to Prague so had few hours to kill. We had great dinner there – make sure to stop by if you are in town. I had diabolská zmes (devil’s mixture) while Alex had the black-mountain schnitzel. It was similar to what my grandma calls a shepherd’s steak. Out here I realized I left my hiking stick on the bus. Well, actually my dad’s hiking stick. And to make things even worse, it’s possible I also left the bivy on the bus as well. I only realized the bivy was gone three days later when we were checking out of the hotel. This was bit of a bummer, since I just got it and started really getting into it. Hopefully it found a good new home.

And our last dinner together in Restaurant Orol near Poprad’s bus station. On the left you got Alex, GG & C, and then on right is me, and Lost & Found

Did you like this article? Continue on onto the High Tatras. Also, please share the link with your friends to let them know about the beautiful Slovak country side.

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Much of Slovakia is covered by mountains and forests and hence it’s no surprise that we Slovaks love the outdoors. Many of my memories from my childhood are of going on hikes with my dad. We usually did short day trips in the peaks surrounding my hometown of Banská Bystrica. Sometimes we even grabbed a basket for wild mushrooms. Mushroom picking is a common companion to strolling through the woods.

I left Slovakia in 1994. Although I’ve been coming back almost every other year, these trips are always too short and always spent visiting the family. This leaves no time for getting back to the Slovak wilderness. So this year, I decided to correct that and explore my native Slovakia with a backpack on my back.

I thought it would be really neat to hike all the way across Slovakia, spend each night in a different village, and collect stories, traditions, and recipes. And write a book about it. This is actually possible – Slovakia has its own version of the Appalachian Trail. This red-blazed trail, called Cesta Hrdinov SNP, Route of the Heroes of the SNP (SNP is the Slovak National Uprising against the Nazis), travels for 450 miles from Bratislava to Dukla, a mountain pass on the Polish border in eastern Slovakia. This pass witnessed one of the heavier battles of World War II. The route commemorates the guerillas who fought the Nazis by hiding in the mountains and launching ambushes against the occupying soldiers. The trails visits the farmlands and the mountains, and stops by the many villages that dot the Slovak countryside. This SNP route is actually part of a much longer trail, the European E8 route, which travels for 2920 miles from Ireland to Turkey.

But doing this trail would take a solid month. It would also skip many of the famous parts of Slovakia, such as the High Tatras, or even the Slovak Paradise proper. So my friend Alex, my hiking companion on this trip, and I decided on a plan B. Instead of doing a single long hike, we would do several shorter trips, but visit all the major parks. Our trip consisted of four legs. The first leg was the longest. It was the through-hike of the Low Tatras. This hike is called in Slovak prechod hlavného hrebeňa Nízkych Tatier, which translates as the crossing of the main ridge of the Low Tatras. This part took us five days. This was in a sense an introduction to doing the whole Route of SNP – in fact, it is in fact the same trail. In this post you’ll find the first set of pictures from this through hike. We then headed to the High Tatras, a mountain range full of exposed craggy peaks, and did couple day hikes there. We then spent few days in the Slovak Paradise, a rugged park famous for via ferrata type routes. The final leg was a visit to the Pieniny region, and rafting down the Dunajec river.

Hiking in Slovakia

Hiking in Slovakia is pretty low-key. No special permits are needed and hiking maps are available in all bookstores. Every town also has a good selection of hiking stores (usually called something-šport) and there is a plenty of trails to choose from. However, the main issue and our main frustration when planning this trip was simply the lack of information available outside the country. And I am talking of info available in Slovak. If you want something in English you are definitely out of luck. For instance, here in the US, all national parks have websites full of basic information on access, camping, and so on. It seems that the Slovak park service has yet to make the transition to the online world. The major thing we could not figure out were the camping regulations. In many parks in the US you can pitch your tent anywhere as long as you are some minimum distance away from the trail and water. Not so much in Slovakia. Turns out that in the Slovak national parks camping is allowed only at specific designated huts and their surrounding area. Because of this, your daily starting and end points are completely determined by the location of these huts. In the Low Tatras, these huts are sufficiently far apart to make it pretty much impossible to skip one. Hence you hike from a hut to hut. But the upside of this is that since you keep seeing the same people every day and night, you’ll quickly make new buddies on the trail.

We knew these huts existed but didn’t know how full they got, or even whether we will actually want to stay in them (this was before we knew about the no-camping regulation). I personally prefer to sleep outside when hiking. I get better sleep and it just seems more natural and more fitting. So we brought with us our camping gear. Alex really wanted to sleep in a hammock. He got into this huge hammock obsession before the trip and for a while he even toyed with the idea of renting out his house and living in the back yard in a tree. I didn’t feel like carrying a tent, so I settled on a bivy sack. Bivy is basically a waterproof body bag, sort of like a one person tent minus the poles, and totally hard-core.

In Slovakia

We flew into Slovakia on August 12th – or at least I did. I got my dates mixed up and bought the ticket for one day prior to Alex’s arrival (we flew with different companies). But this actually worked out great. It gave me some time to catch up with my sister Petra who is living in Bratislava. The next day we picked up Alex and spent the day sighseeing in Bratislava. Alex was feeling pretty messed from the flight/time change so he didn’t get much out of it. The next day we took the train to my hometown of Banská Bystrica. That was our staging ground. We stayed with my dad. The following day, on Monday, we went downtown to get ready for the hike: maps, food, snacks, gear, etc.. We stocked up on dehydrated goulash soups, various noodles, peanuts, apples, and various wafers. To a great horror, Alex realized that peanut butter is not as common a staple in Slovakia as in the US. My suggestion of Nugeta (a Nutella-like cream) didn’t sit with him well. In the end, my half-eaten jar of peanut butter brought in from the US ended up switching place in my backpack with his Nugeta. Although I don’t normally eat peanut butter, it is a great hiking companion. It is easy to eat and super dense in calories. The gear we bought were the gas canisters for our stoves. These cannot be carried on airplanes due to safety reasons. But we had no issue finding them, they even come in the Coleman brand.

Day One, August 16th, 2011

The through-hike of the Low Tatras basically follows the red-blazed Route of Heroes of SNP along the ridge of the Low Tatras. One end is in Donovaly, a ski resort village just a short drive from Banská Bystrica. I suspect that the official start of the through-hike is down in the town. But, seeing the steep ski hill, and having my dad and his car at our disposal, we took the easy way out and got dropped off at the top of the road, in a little village above the ski slope. We hit the trail sharp and early at 8:30 am. The first hour was spent hiking in the woods. I was familiar with this area since I came here last winter for a ski trip and one day we went for a little hike in the snow. After the hour, the forest broke away, and we started the climb up a prominent ridge called Kozí Chrbát (goat’s back). On the opposite end, we descended down a steep and muddy trail. One thing
we quickly learned that Slovak trail builders don’t really believe in switchbacks. I have done a lot of hiking in the US, but I have never seen trails this steep.

This is the map of our hiking route for days 1 and 2. Banská Bystrica is the town I grew up in and where my dad lives. We have a cottage in Dolná Lehota from where you can get a great view at the Low Tatras on a clear day. Map from freemap.sk.

And we are off – our first red blaze. We’ll be following these for the next five days. And also a bodliak, or a thistle. These are very common in Slovakia.

Soon after we got up to the ridge, a flock of sheep started following Alex. It was such a fitting start for this hike! The clouds also started to break soon after, and we got our first view of the scenery.

All this time, we were in a dense fog with temperatures maybe only in the 50s. It was definitely much colder that we had expected. It was bitterly cold and windy up on Prašivá (the “Dusty”), a prominent peak in the Low Tatras. Zet somewhere around here we ran into Sandals, a Czech couple also doing this hike. While Alex and I were bundled up in our Gore-Tex jackets, these guys were hiking in shorts and sandals! At around 3:30pm we have arrived at a junction with the blue trail at the Valley of Latiborská Peak (Sedlo Latiborskej Hoľe). This was our possible camping spot. We figured that if we get here after 4 we’ll camp here instead of pushing to the hut. Well, we beat our deadline by 30 minutes and hence we pressed on. At the junction we saw a little shelter in which bunch of guys were hanging out. Later we found out these were the Hungarians, a group of 4 companions we would see on our trip.

One interesting thing about the trail markers in Slovakia is that they indicate time instead of distance. These markers are not very consistent which makes it difficult to truly estimate how long it will take you to get to your destination. But we finally
started making good time this second half of the day. We got to the hut below Chabenec at 6:30pm, exactly 10 hours after start. The guide we were using to plan this hike had the time at 9:30 so we did quite well. When I got there, I asked for Ďuro Šikula. He is a friend of my dad and dad called him prior to our leaving to ask him to save us some room in the hut. Ďuro used to be in charge of this hut. He told my dad that of course, he’ll save a spot for us. So it was a big surprise that we were told when we got there that Ďuro hasn’t worked there for about 6 months. But no problem, there was plenty of space.

These little blue flowers are called horec. They are very common in the Slovak mountains – and also on horalky.

This first hut, Útuľna pod Chabcom (also known as Ďurková) is a large hut with a red roof located a slight distance downhill from the saddle (sedlo) below the Chabenec peak. It consists of two floors. The first floor has a dining area, and upstairs is the attic. This entire attic is basically one giant room with pads on the floor. As you can imagine, it was quite hard to sleep with the constant movement and chit-chat. In addition it was really cramped and hot. To conserve room, pairs hiking together were put together on a mat about the size of a twin-bed mattress. This didn’t leave much room to turn around.

But the nice thing about this hut is that it has a fully staffed kitchen with great food, and best of all, beer! Strolling into a hut after a long day of hiking, and sitting down with a hot soup and a cold beer is not a luxury I usually get in the States. We ended up eating šošovicovú polievku, lentil soup. I also cooked some of the noodles I brought along.

This was our first hut. What an amazing view from the toilette! My grandma’s village is somewhere down in those valleys.

The next morning, leaving the hut behind. The second photo is on top of Chabenec, 1955m (6400 feet).

Day 2, August 17th, 2011

It was a much nicer day today! Blue skies in the morning. We headed up Chabenec and later Dereše. Up here we saw a group of some 20 wild mountain chamois, kamzíky. This was my first time ever seeing these guys in the wild. They are basically the size of small deer, but with horns. These mountain goat-antelopes were going about their business grazing in the middle of the trail, totally not minding our business. We had no idea if they were friendly so we just stood around for a while contemplating what to do next. Alex suggestion of me charging forward while he records a video didn’t quite sit well with me. About 10 minutes into this indecision, Glacier Goggles and his girlfriend Cig (those are the nicknames we gave them, of course) showed up. They marched right through which made our standing around look probably quite ridiculous. The goats got off the trail and hopped up some rock formations. It was a very impressive sight.

Our first kamzíky, chamois! This was the first time I have seen these mountain goats in the wild.

Another shot of the amazing Slovak mountain scenery. And more chamois.

We pressed on towards Chopok, a popular day hiking destination and at 6640 ft, the second highest peak in the Low Tatras. This peak is popular due to both it’s rugged nature, and also a relatively easy access. A tram goes a good way up from the valley below. Below the actual summit is a famous rock chateau, Kamená Chata. This hut offers emergency shelter but has no water source. The hut is supported by porters (nosiči) – it is in fact one of the highest huts in Europe fully supported by porters. We were actually considering staying here at first,
but got here in time to push towards the real goal for the second day, the hut of Milan Rastislav Štefánik. We were quite beat by the time we got here. However, the hut fixed us right up – inside the hut is a full-blown restaurant offering all sorts of traditional Slovak specialties. What a treat. We had kapustnica, vypražaný syr, buchty na pare (filled with strawberry jam), and haruľa.

Before we got in the hut, dark clouds started forming on the horizon. These were the sorts of clouds that gave us a pause, since in Virginia they would surely be followed by a thunderstorm. However, these clouds seem to be a normal daily occurrence here in the Low Tatras. We saw these clouds form every day but they always passed by. In fact, during the five days we were on this trail, we got rained on just once – and only for about 15 minutes. We lunched until 3pm and by then the dark clouds passed by. We skipped climbing Chopok and Ďumbier and pressed towards the hut. This last section was very rough on feet. From Dereše to Ďumbier the trail was mainly on packed tallus. Some sections even had a nice “paved” rock path. Not much so after Ďumbier. This section was full of large rocks, so instead of walking, we were doing much jumping from a rock to rock. The hut, Štefánička, is named after a famous Slovak general from the First World War, and one of the major players in the formation of the first Czechoslovak Republic, Milan Rastislav Štefánik.

This hut was great – bit too luxurious for a stroll in the woods even. We got checked in by a really pretty girl with a rather low cut shirt. This hut is more of a hostel, with individual room for 8. There are even showers on each floor, however, the hot water was definitely not working as advertised (it was so hot my teeth were shattering). Downstairs is a restaurant and also an outside picnic area. We first cooked some dinner – at least I did. I made some of the goulash soup while Alex grabbed some fried cheese with fries. Later we went and shared a beer with GG and Cig. They are a really nice couple. They spent a year in New Zealand for a year and just recently got back to Prague. You can read more about their adventures on their blog. They figured that before they get back in the full swing of having a job, they’ll do one more hike. It seems that this through hike of the Low Tatras is actually very popular with the Czechs. We only ran into a single group of Slovaks – and that was the last day.

Chopok with the Rock Chateau (Kamenná Chata) in the foreground. We had delicious steamed dumplings there.

This is the carrier the porters use. Good to see this guy has got his priorities straight. We need more beer!

Here is Alex and I at Štefánička. Beer and an awesome view – what a great way to end your day.

Continue onto part 2: Štefánička to Telgárt.

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Since most of you are avid followers of slovakcooking.com, my guess is that you are preparing to celebrate zabíjačka. Since most of you will also use a meat grinder to prepare homemade sausages at this age old tradition, I thought it would be fitting to remind you of a few tips necessary to not only ensure that you get a good grind, but also stay safe and keep it sanitary.

The popular #10 meat grinder and a meat grinder cleaning kit. Images courtesy of Matt.

1. Grinder tips – There are many options out there for which meat grinder you should use. Most decisions are based on cost, time, amount of grinding, and type of meat. The most standard sizing for a grinder is based on the size of the “head”, or “throat” of the grinder. Grinders are labeled by this particular specification (i.e. #5, #8, #10, #12, #22, #32). The larger the number, the larger the head of the grinder. This means that you can send more meat through at one time, increasing your Lbs. per hour. A #10 grinder is the most popular, since this is a middle of the road option. When it comes to what type of grinder will work for certain types of meat, the reality is that the actual grinder won’t influence this, the size of the cutting plate will. Use this quick chart as a reference for which cutting plate you should use…
   Fine: used for breakfast sausages, spreads, pâtés, baby food, and hamburgers.
   Medium: used for Polish and Italian style sausages, ground meat in soups or relishes.
   Coarse: used for salami and larger style sausages, ground meat for chili or with vegetables.
2. Preparing the meat – One area people typically neglect is preparing their meat to be run through a grinder. There are a couple of important things to remember here. First, you need to make sure that the meat is chilled throughout the process. This will not only allow the meat to run through the grinder much easier (without mashing), but will also ensure that the meat is sanitary. Second, you need to trim away as much of the excess fat, cartilage, and tendons as possible so your machine doesn’t clog up. Though you will need to stop a couple of times and clean your machine while you grind, this will be much easier if you prepare in advance.
3. Set up the grinder You always want to be sure that your grinder is mounted to a stable surface. Once you have mounted the grinder, be sure to rock it back and forth to ensure that your grinder will stay in place.
4. Grind only the meat Try not to grind items that aren’t recommended for the grinder. I know this seems like an obvious point, but you have no idea how often this issue comes up. Grinding bones, dry food, etc. will dull your blades and could possibly ruin the unit.
5. Stopping to clean the grinder – when you stop to open up the grinder and clean it, make sure you remove any tendons, bones, and gristle so your unit will continue to run smoothly. Once again, neglecting to do this will severely decrease the lifespan of your grinder. A nice trick is to run a few slices of bread through your grinder to clean it. This will pull out all the excess junk that is hard to reach.
6. Cleaning Once you are finished with your grinding (and stuffing), be sure to disassemble the unit and clean the grinder with antibacterial soap and water. You’re asking for trouble down the road if you don’t clean your grinder thoroughly. Also, remember to completely dry your grinder once you are done cleaning it. If you don’t, your grinder will rust. Another nice trick is to store the grinder in a bag with rice. The rice will absorb the excess water, keeping the unit dry.

The most important factor in extending the life of a meat grinder is cleanliness and maintenance. Follow these steps, and your grinder will last you for years! Happy zabíjačka everyone!

Bio: Matt Millensifer is an outdoor enthusiast who lives in the Idaho and loves golf, hunting, college football, and spending time with his family. Growing up around hunting and game processing, grindrxl.com became a dream realized in 2011. His website specializes in meat grinders and meat grinder accessories. For more information on meat grinders or general questions please email him at msiferllc@gmail.com.

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