#WalkWithMe - Into The Wild

I love reading biography books of some adventurers or extreme athletes, not only because they’re interesting, but also because they often boost my motivation. I get inspired by these physical/mental super humans, it is amazing to read in detail what was going through these people's minds as they were accomplishing unbelievable tasks and conquering admirable goals. What was that that helped them keep moving forward even when they seemed to be so ordinary they actually are, still...this is not it.

What makes them different is their ability to keep on moving forward beyond their fear because of their enormous willpower.

I've read tons of books like these and almost every one of them have affected me in a positive way and all of them have inspired me to try new things, to think outside the box, to be more adventurous and to believe that "you can when you think you can" .

I started walking and running barefoot or on five-toes a lot after I read “Born to run”, I became to dream of visiting The Himalayas. after reading “Into Thin Air” and the biographies of Bear Grylls and Scott Jurec, I completely changed my understanding of our physical and mental boundaries, it made me push myself to go for more (at least for a while before the effect start to fade away :D)

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -Grylls
I remember that I read in his book “Mud, Sweat, and Tears”, that while training in the army they were not allowed to get closer to a pathway than several meters away. That sounds really cool, however, I've never tried that in long distances... until recently.

My desire wasn't to leave any trail, but to explore different view points (as always), but I did a great trek (Bear Grylls style), and explored my favorite mountain in a new way.

Now is not the most suitable time to go almost anywhere higher than 2000m into the mountains, (that's where the snow boundary is at the moment), because the snow is melting intensively, it is very soft, so your feet may sink quite deeply and it is dangerous, because you can break a foot or ankle easily. That seemed to put an end to every interesting possible option that I had for a trek but as I've shared before, I have something like a high altitude addiction and I feel better if I take care of it at least once a week.

Without further ado, I woke up one day knowing that it was time.

I am not kidding about this, I know of a lot more people that also feel like that, who tend to climb peaks when they need to clear their mind. I can feel pretty lazy and not want to go anywhere but I just somehow I feel that I must do it, It's like the mountain itself is calling me :).

The weather didn't look stable, the forecast was for a thunderstorm, but I had to go, so I had only one option - a lake at exactly around 2000m. That's one too short and too flat for most of the time trek, great for wintertime, but then I definitely needed something more and my enthusiasm was close to zero about it. But anyway I drove to the start point and started walking. The trail goes through a ski trail and when I saw it, I thought I could go to the highest point before going to the lake, mainly because I wanted to add a little intensity to my trek. I've been to that place so many times that I didn't expect to see anything different, also at this time, it was not about searching for beauty, it was just about the addiction and the simple desire to go much higher in the mountains. It was not beautiful at all at the beginning.

Then I saw her. She was standing still for super long time, as if she was waiting for me to take a picture. They usually manage to run away before I even touch my pocket.

Up on the ridge it was like that and the trek became all about beauty again... I was looking these mountains and wanting so much to be somewhere there on these snow fields but I couldn't. I envy the mountain goats a lot, when I have a view like that I become like a crazy hypnotized fanatic who just had to walk on their direction. I decided to at least go as close to them as I could, so at first I started walking on the ridge in that direction. Walking without a pathway and sneaking through the shrubs was ok, the snow fields that I reached soon were not steady enough so I came back slightly disappointed.

Soon I figured out another way. I was going to get down to the valley and to climb back to that little hill in the middle of the photo.

So I did.. Thinking about Bear Grylls made me feel like an adventurer.

It is so much different than walking on a pathway. I thought that I would see more wild animals, but nothing greater than a slithery snake that snapped on me and made me scream just to quickly disappear before I could take a picture of it.

"The little hill" was not little at all. When you approach it, as it is in the mountains, everything is differently of how it looks from far away. I couldn't go to its top because of the snow and the shrubs. Walking there was hard, slow and exhausting, there were lots of little rivers that I had to cross and in the middle of the valley I had to options - to return or to try to reach the other ridge and to find some path. The ridge seemed to me closer(silly me), so I continued. It turned out that there was also on other valley lower with a bigger river that I couldn't see before. Still coming back seemed harder (haha). The water was super turbulent, I managed to find a place where I could go cross.

The next part was an almost vertical slope where I had to incorporate my climbing skills. It was great, I love climbing, and tried not to pay much attention to the fact that I am holding to completely unstable stones and that there was a real chance of falling together with them in the river.

After crossing it and climbing the slope, coming back wasn't an option anymore, so I had to find the path. According to maps.me(which is an AMAZING app, that had saved me many times in many different places, including in The Alps), it was close. The same lake, that I wanted to visit before I changed my direction was close too, but I was so tired of walking in the soft snow that I thought to skip it and just go back when I find the path.

It wasn't close at all, but finally I found it.

And luckily I didn't skip the lake! It would a great miss if I did. It was just gorgeous!!! I had been here so many times before, but it was completely different.

I almost can't believe how it's possible these mountains to never stop to surprise me and amaze me with its beauty, even after all these countless treks that I've done there. It is a magical place and I feel blessed that we have it here in our lovely Bulgaria. Walking again on the usual trail, which actually surpasses that same valley that I crossed was a completely different experience. It was a great relieve after all the snow fields, rivers and shrubs, although the path itself was like a little river too for most of the time.

Thank you for stopping by!

Disclosure: Posts on TravelFeed may contain affiliate links. See affiliate disclosure.