Koruna Turca – day 3

Sunday, 20.10.2024

Salaš pod Chyžkami – Koliba Príslop

→ 24,2 km ↑ 1501 m ↓ 1859 m – total 67 km

Alarm’s at 6am, but it’s still dark outside, so we push it back 30 minutes. Then it starts getting light. I photograph the colored sky from the tent. I scrape the frozen condensation off the inside wall of the tent.

I was warm in the night, just my feet got cold, so I had to pull the down trousers on, tucking my feet into them too (Jozef originally bought these trousers, they’re a size L from AliExpress, though I think L for Chinese sizing, so on me they’re just nicely long). Jozef’s feet were cold too, but that’s because we were on a slope and his sleeping bag got damp from condensation. In the morning I’m surprisingly fresh, I take photos, do a time-lapse and sip tea. Breakfast is oat porridge and Vietnamese instant noodles.

Jozef went up the hill to read the news, while I comb my hair. I set off at 8:30am, and our neighbors, who kept it going till 3am, are just getting up too. We start with a climb to Ploská, tougher than it looks.

Then we run down to the hut below Borišov, and after an hour of walking we take a break.

We dry out the sleeping bags, the tent, and have steamed buns with coffee. We soak up the sun and I don’t really feel like leaving this spot. Still, we set off at 10am. Unusually we continue along the red trail. First we cross lovely meadows with views and meet one woman.

It continues like this all the way to Javorina, where we take a short break. We agree we’ll eat at the next meadow. Judging by the ridge ahead, that’ll be at Malý Lysec, which has a small meadow on top. It’s only 4.3 km, but through forested ridge that feels like a roller coaster.

We’re pretty hungry by now and it seems endless. We finally arrive, spread out a feast on top, and soak up the sun. The trail continues along a fairly narrow ridge and then over deadfall all the way to Jarabina. We were prepared for this, but it’s still tiring, constant going around, stepping over, ducking under.

Below Jarabina we top up water and push on further. In places it’s a real slalom, then through bushes, then brutally steep uphill.

I’d already done this stretch once before, but I must have blocked out how demanding it was. We don’t meet another soul, so we tap our poles and whistle occasionally. We finally reach Kľak, which at least has a nice view, and then it’s steep downhill.

We’ve still got one more hill ahead, Chládkové, but it’s really beautiful and colorful.

It’s only 1.6 km to the pass, with almost 300 meters of descent, which we feel like we drop in one go, straight down. Jozef held it together all day and only now starts grumbling about what a nightmare this is. Luckily we join a forest road and it’s a straight shot to Koliba Príslop. We drop our things and find out the spring next to the shelter isn’t flowing. We pack our change of clothes and bottles and head to the second spring, 200 m away. I wanted at least a bit of a rinse after three days, but the second spring only trickles out in a thin thread. We wait for it to fill a cup, which we then pour into a bottle. This way, 3 liters of water takes us about half an hour. Meanwhile Jozef went to cook pasta with tuna. I froze to the bone waiting there. Back at the shelter I just sat on the mattress and warmed myself by a candle. Today I have doubts about whether we’ll actually finish this. Then we ate, had herbal tea, magnesium, and went to lie down. I wanted to write more, but I’m so tired it just knocks me straight out.