This summit at 2392m is exactly 10 km north-east
of Gjallica at 2484m. The valley floor
between these 2 peaks is at only 500m. Thus, the vertical drop into this narrow canyon
is almost 2000 meter!
How to get there:
This is perhaps the hardest part of the trip. The big town Kukes is only 10 kilometer
(straight line) from the summit. One must drive into the canyon that separates the two
big mountains, this road is paved. At location N42.02912, E20.52938, there is a triple fork.
The rightmost road (paved) crosses a bridge. The middle road (paved) continues into the valley
and a possible road-route. The leftmost road is a narrow dirt road. Take this road up to
the village Orcikel (on your left), continue (right) to the village Zapod. A paved road
starts here, but the trailhead/parking
is immediately on your right, location
N42.05036, E20.55364, elevation about 1176m.
Note:
I have now observed from satellite images that the paved road that ends in Zapod, runs into
Kosovo. Thus, one may actually drive to this trailhead on a paved road from Kosovo.
Route description:
There is a trail most of the way. This trail is not marked and there are several other
trails that forks off, but not for the peak. Thus, some awareness is useful. The correct trail
is the one that runs mostly uphill. Higher up, the route passes through a lovely forest, then
only grass on the upper part. The trail sort of ends in the forest. The peak has a summit
marker with some inscriptions. The view is indeed very good in all directions.
Here is a quick summary of peaks climbed on this trip to Balkan.
A track is posted on Peakbagger. Comments:
I left Baz’hur Boutique Hotel in Kukes shortly after 0800. Google got me onto the big freeway, made me exit after
the big bridge, got me back on in the opposite direction. Almost back to Kukes, I took control and got my
car onto the parallel road that is the correct road between Kukes and the canyon that one must enter.
Google did not take me up the road I describe above, but turned right on the second possibility. Slow and
careful driving up here. I met several cars among them the classic vintage Mercedes possibly 50 years old.
This car, imported used from Germany, used to be the only car that ran on most roads in Albania when På:l
and I was here first time about 20 years ago.
After a long time (it seemed) I finally arrived in the small village Pakisht. There, I hit a nicely
paved road! Hard to believe. I later figured out that this road led directly to Kosovo, only 900
meter away. I turned left and drove the paved road to its end in the village Zapod. Good parking right there.
The route started uphill directly between the houses, a few small turns and then a bit uphill heading left.
I left around 0930. Nice terrain in the beginning, the views
were good from the very start.
The very impressive Gjallica directly
across the valley captures almost constant attention.
I walked what looked like the main path, this got me a bit too far left, unfortunately it also meant
that some sheep dogs below me noticed. They barked and advanced uphill. The lead dog feeling a bit insecure
did not get much closer than 15 meter until his "friends" 3-4 similar dogs, caught up. I needed to defend
and being on the uphill side, I picked up 2-3 smaller rocks and made a short advance downhill towards them
while throwing the rocks. This scared them and made them understand that I was not at all afraid.
I followed what looked like the main trail and soon realized that I had lost the route. Easy terrain
made me cut across uphill to get back on the summit trail. The trail has only one slightly
steeper section, it pays to stay low and then ascend where the trail is most visible.
