The Accursed Mountains

Who would win: the Accursed Mountains or one underprepared yet very stubborn American woman?

Our comedy of errors begins at my hostel in Shkoder when I decide to first download the GPX files for the hike to my phone to give me offline navigation for my hike before going to the ATM and getting dinner. Albania uses both euro and lek so I assume that the ATMs give the option to withdraw in euro which I will need for the Kosovo and Montenegro portions. When I get to the ATM I realize that they only dispense lek. I try a few and they're all the same. And of course, it's now too late to visit an exchange shop. I withdraw some lek anyway to use for the Albanian sections. The next day in Theth I'm able to exchange some of the lek for euro with some friendly Bulgarians I've met on the bus. This leaves me with €45 which is not ideal but I can make it work by sticking to the groceries I've bought and not staying in guesthouses. I begin my journey. 

The first day is extremely difficult. The pack is heavy (around 15 kg with all my food and camping equipment) and I am not yet used to the weight. The path winds uphill gaining altitude in a short distance and continues this way for several kilometers. I meet a German man along the way and we hike together for a few days. We have to take shelter from a tremendous downpour that starts soon into the hike and I'm thankful for the break and that my waterproofing holds. The Theth to Valbona section is the most popular of the hike and hundreds of day trippers with light packs swarm by us going either direction. I resent my pack and think longingly of how much fun I'd be having if I were similarly unencumbered. We eventually reach the summit of Valbona pass and the views are as rewarding as the way was difficult. We descend into Valbona valley and camp at a lovely spot by a stream in Rragam. 

Day 2 is easier. The way is blessedly devoid of much altitude gain and so even though I planned to stop in Valbona for the night, I push on to Cerem. Just before Cerem the track begins to gain in altitude and I decide to camp in the first meadow I find. Here my taciturn German friend leaves me to push onwards. I descend to a stream we passed earlier to filter some water and rinse my clothes. The stream cascades steeply from the mountains and there is a small flat strip of gravel beside it where I pace, waiting for gravity to push the water through the filter into my bottle. While pacing, I somehow lose track of where I am on the strip and take one step too many backwards, tumbling headfirst down the rocks. Through some desperate maneuvering I'm able to stop myself before hitting my head or falling further. I'm very lucky and grateful to walk away with only some bruises on my back. Sobered by this experience, I trudge back up to camp. The meadow is small and slightly sloped so I choose to set my tent so that I rest on the angle vertically with my feet pointing downhill. The night is cold and I feel half-awake the whole night because of this. I also have to drag myself up to the top of the tent several times in the night from where I've slid down to the bottom because of the angle. 

At the start of Day 3 I am incredibly grumpy but I'm ahead of schedule so I spend a relaxed morning in the meadow and only hike for a few hours to the first meadow past Cerem. On the way to Cerem a Jeep full of women stop and offer me a hitchhike. I decline but they fill my water and give me some of the best figs I've ever had. The women were heading to a remote mountain village and the woman driving was wearing matching linen pants and sleeveless vest--very Albanian to be so dressed up even in the wilderness. 

On night 3 I find a lovely flat spot sheltered by trees and I am careful to stake the rain fly closer to the tent to try to insulate it better. I wear both of the pairs of pants and sweaters I've brought but I'm still cold and don't sleep well. I'm not sure what the outside temperature is but my sleeping bag has a comfort rating of 9 degrees and I am not comfortable. 

Not willing to give up yet, I decide to push on to Doberdol the next day. Day 4 is my favorite day of the trip with incredible views and lots of wild berries along the way. I happily forage raspberries, blueberries and strawberries on my way to Doberdol. The track gains several hundred meters elevation over the 18 or so kilometers to Doberdol, which is challenging but doable. As I'm setting up camp on the hill above the 4 or 5 houses that make up the village of Doberdol, a friendly Dutch guy comes to make camp beside me. We make a campfire and he tells me that it's been about 5 degrees in the night. He offers me his jacket to sleep in but I decline as I need to know whether I can make it on my own over the next two weeks. That night I give it all I've got. I wear 2 pairs of socks, shorts, 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, 2 sweaters, a beanie, my rain jacket and even the last pair of socks over my hands like mittens. In other words, I'm cinched into my sleeping bag wearing all the clothes I've packed. It's still very cold and I don't sleep well. 

I had intended to stay 2 nights in Doberdol to do a loop to a glacial lake nearby but I'm in such a terrible state of mind the next morning that I know I can't take many more days without sleep. I stop in for lunch at a guesthouse where I weigh my options. The shepherd's meal served in the guesthouse is simple but delicious--thick bread, a thick savory yogurt with onions and maybe capsicums mixed in, fresh cheese of a kind similar to feta but less crumbly, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes. The guesthouse in Doberdol has wifi so I look up the weather forecast--it's been 4 degrees at night! I had looked at my guidebook the day before and all of the spots that I'd planned to camp were at similar altitudes of about 1800 meters so I figured the cold probably wouldn't improve. I decided to make haste back the way I came. 

On night 5 I camp in a field just past the village of Balqina (2 houses about halfway back to Cerem) and this is the coldest yet. It's at a higher altitude than Doberdol so is perhaps 2 or 3 degrees in the night. I wake up several times in the night to shiver and shake my limbs to produce enough heat inside my sleeping bag to sleep some more. 

On day 6 I hike with speed back to Cerem and on the road just past Cerem, I'm able to get a hitch back to Valbona. What relief to be in the valley again and to be within reach of a way out of these Accursed Mountains! I camp in a field behind a guesthouse and pay €5 for a lukewarm shower. How good it is to be clean! 

I spend my birthday on the very long transfer back to Shkoder. A bus picks me up at 10 am in front of the guesthouse and we travel for several hours to arrive at the ferry. The ferry takes off down the Komani Lake at 1 pm and finally lets us off at 4 pm where there is another bus to drive us back to Shkoder, finally arriving in the town center at 6 pm. Komani Lake is incredibly beautiful and scenic and I would love to come back someday to do a kayak trip down it. I guess they call it a lake because it's dammed at the end but it's really a river. It's a terrible shame, though, the general carelessness towards the environment that Albanians seem to have because the beautiful river is littered with plastic. It's the same way in Valbona--the rubbish bins overflow onto the streets and it's quite sad to see the horses eating from them. 

I had intended for this time in the mountains to be one of silent contemplation to process the grief of leaving my life behind and it was disappointing and frustrating to have to give up early. I could've done more planning or if I'd given it any thought I would've realized that 1800 meters elevation would be cold no matter the season. I did look at a weather forecast before I left but I think it was only for Theth which is a lower elevation. Despite my frustrations, I am glad that I had a beautiful few days enjoying the mountains and it's probably for the best that I've left track. I had hoped to have my university application finished before I set off but the application was pending one reference letter before I set off and I ended up needing to coordinate with recommenders in days leading up to the application deadline, which I wouldn't have been able to do in the mountains. 

I've since been admitted to the masters program and I had a great time exploring southern Albania so all's well that ends well.