Three Americans, two Kosovars, and a Kosovar - American take off for a hike from Kaçanik to Korbliq to see the waterfall. It sounds like a start to a stupid joke, but it was actually our hike on Sunday. The hiking group was off for a special hike in Tetova, and I'm not ready to use up vacation days to go on a hike, so we did our own hike. Thanks to the Gjethi guys, we had a really great time.
We did this hike before, a little over a year ago with the couple from Switzerland and Gjethi. The day was beautiful -- in the mid-80s with very little humidity and light breezes. It is not a peak hike, and it is only 14 miles round trip. Valon and Emrin from Gjethi hiked with us, while Remzi and Sami met us there. They brought lunch and did some repair work on the platform while they waited for us. Rolan, Valon's cousin who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, came along as well. We met him last summer when we hiked to the peak of Ljuboten. Danny, the new volunteer in the nearby village, also joined us.
We left at 8 am, and Valon drove us up the hill to the trailhead. We started on our way, stopping about a mile into our hike at the lovely picnic area that Gjethi had put in a number of years ago. Te Cami Park is a lovely area nestled among a grove of Bosnian Pines. It needed a bit of a clean-up as there was trash lying around. Fortunately, someone left a partial roll of garbage bags under a picnic table, and so we were able to clean up the area and then be on our way again. We did a round-trip hike and were able to pick up the bags of garbage on the way back.
They are in the process of paving the dirt road from Kaçanik to Korbliq. When it is done, it will connect the road to Viti through Korbliq. Right now, however, it is very dusty and dirty where they are getting the road ready for pavement. That was the downside of the hike. It didn't take too long to get to Korbliq. Sami was waiting for us at the entrance trail to the waterfall. There is a sign and a picnic table, and of course, there is trash on the ground around the sign and table.
We stopped to pick up trash again before making our final trek to the waterfalls. The tables we painted last year still look good, and the location was being enjoyed by a group of people (including a student from school). The location is shaded, cool, and there is a nice swimming hole created by a dam of rocks.
The picnic had vegetables, bread, and sausage grilled over a fire. Emrin brought homemade elderflower water, which was really good. We really enjoyed a nice relaxing break, before we made our way back to Kaçanik.
We stopped in a meadow for a break on the way back, and it was such a beautiful spot. I could imagine pitching a tent to spend the night. When we reached the spring, we met a family filling up a large water tank. Their daughter, a third-grader, started speaking in English with Danny and me. Her English was so good. She told us she doesn't remember how she learned to speak English, but we suspect it was watching shows on TV or the Internet. She was so confident and really cute.
From this point, it was about a mile to the picnic area to pick up the trash and then on to car. It was a great day and a fun hike, but I was glad to get a shower to clean off the dust I had accumulated on the hike.
Photos from the Hike
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