How to get there:
The town of Burrel is a good point of reference. You should drive up to an area called
Macukull. The drive will first take you across a hill, then descend to a river in an area
called Barbulle. Here you cross a bridge (river below). Google will tend to turn right,
this is NOT the best way, you should turn LEFT here. Next, just follow the narrow, single
lane road that is paved, uphill. The paved road will eventually end, a pretty good dirt road
will continue uphill to reach Macukull. Continue along the top of the hill (south-east), then
follow slightly smaller, but quite OK roads to the recommended trailhead. This is inside
a gate of a private property, friendly people. You need (of course!) to ask permission to
park. This location is N41.68894, E20.11983, elevation about 1080 meter.
Route description:
A short farm road runs from this property to the pasture where cows are grazing. The owner
of the house will unlock a second gate to provide easy access. If parked before this property,
just walk on the outside of the fence.
Head up the middle of this open land,
one can walk essentially everywhere. Ascend directly
up the slope as it becomes more distinct (see my return track). Your direction should be
going to the right of the mountain. On the top of this hill, a small trail runs parallel
to the vegetaition towards the base of the mountain, you do not loose any significant
elevation. The next section has complex limestone obstacles,
it pays to stay right while
ascending the lower slope. Continue uphill among trees. There are more complex limestone
terrain. The area resembles
a crevassed lower part of
a glacier where the ice has been
replaced by limestone rock.
Try to ascend as much parallel with the bigger cracks as possible.
Fortunately, this trouble soon ends and the terrain above are quite easy to ascend.
One may walk everywhere, just ascend uphill towards the horizon, staying perhaps slightly
right.
When you reach the south ridge, continue uphill until the ridge levels off and turns more
east towards the summits. There are
in fact, 4 competing summit points. It is most
likely that the highest 2 are the first (middle) and the one slightly more
south-east. It is easy to visit all 4, the third is on the ridge on the path to the
north summit. This one has a small cairn
and seems marked as the summit on most
maps.
Here is a quick summary of peaks climbed on this trip to Balkan.
A track is posted on Peakbagger. Comments:
I was staying at Hotel Vila Bruci, the mountain is in clear view from their terrasse. The farming
area on the west side of the peak is the obvious area to start from. They recently got a somewhat
better road, paved (in 2026) to just before the final uphill. One should turn left after crossing
a bridge where Google (currently) wants to go right.
I drove to the very end of a small farm road and actually entered a private house since the gate
was open. The local owner looked somewhat surprised and I quickly used my phone translator to tell
him that I was looking for a place to park since I wanted to hike in the mountain. He immediately
suggested that I park right next to his vehicle. Then offered coffee to drink. I politely said
no thanks (since I never drink coffee). He unlocked a second gate to give me easy access to
the farm road serving the pasture.
I left around 0900 and had a good walk across the pasture. I went slightly left aiming for
the small valley that would connect to the south slope of the peak. Higher up, I wasted some
time getting myself into "crevasse terrain", not ice, but "frozen limestone". Very inconvenient.
Stinging nettle was growing everywhere between the limestone and I soon felt it on my legs.
Fortunately, the terrain improved and the ascent was easy.
A few patches of snow remained, the temperature on the summit was likely near 20 Centigrade,
since the temperature in Burrel hit 30C around noon. I quickly discovered 4 possible summit
points, the two more south looking highest. It was just a nice short walk to visit them all.
The east side of this peak
is much steeper than
the west and south. The north peak had a small
cairn, this is the peak marked as the summit on several maps.
The summits were too close to
call with my gps, however, I still think the south summit may
be the highest, perhaps about
2 meter higher than the north summit.
After about 30 minutes spent visiting the 4 summits, I started back down. My return through
the limestone obstacle area went somewhat better, I should have moved more left in the lower
area, but overall not bad.
As I walked across the final pasture area, thunder and lightning started just behind me near
the mountain. A few drops of rain started, my timing was near perfect since I reached
the car before any heavy rain started.
My descent had taken 2:10.
The wife on the farm welcomed me back, she was
obviously happy when I indicated that I had summited. She offered coffee, I gave her
1000 LEK in order to thank for their generous help, she refused a couple of times, but
finally accepted since I insisted.
I just started my drive back when the rain started coming by the buckets. Interesting mix of
sunshine and lightning, a few black clouds, but also sun.
