Bobotov Kuk, Montenegro - June 2016 - Trip Report

After our kayaking trip through Tara Gorge Leanne and I decided to head out on an (unplanned) 3 hike of the nearby Durmitor National Park, hoping to scale Montengro’s highest mountain (Bobotov Kuk) in the process. I was apprehensive about this as the weather when we’d arrived in Montenegro was scalding and I’m not good in the heat – it had been bearable in Tara Gorge as rivers normally carry upstream winds (as well as their being the option to roll to cool off).

Nevertheless we purchased a map from a stall in the town and sorted our food supplies. The map itself was very odd, it was a half a topographic map and half a tourist map with giant symbols and descriptions on it. The scale was also unusual, I’ve forgotten exactly but it was something like 1:23,500 – very hard to estimate distances on!

Our planned route was circular, starting and ending at a large tourist lake.

The path ascended steeply to begin with but thankfully there was a breeze and some shade from trees so it wasn’t too bad for me! After walking up a small gulley we emerged onto stupendous views of the awaiting mountain.

You’re not meant to wild camp in Durmitor National Park but we had whilst kayaking and wanted to as well here. The first designated camp site had a few people in it, and also ‘sadly’ a local shepherd selling cold Cokes and beers. I succumbed to the temptation and had a Coke but I do find it sad that it’s often so difficult to escape commercialisation, even in places that felt as remote as this! We knew water was going to be scarce on this trip and we found the first spring, at this time of year little more than a dribble bubbling up from underground. Unfortunately there were several dead flies and insects and insects in the small pool in which it collected – time for the chlorine! We carried on up the mountain after the shepherd’s hut and after the first obvious rise we came to the perfect camping spot. It was an atmospheric bowl enclosed by mist shrouded mountains. Walking a little way along this flatter section we found the remains of a small camp fire and decided to stay here and make our own fire (which we later buried the ash from so actually our wild camping probably improved the natural area!).

The second day we started early and reached the summit of Bobotov Kuk before anyone else. There was a small amount of snow on the ascent (the same guy who’d told us that Tara Gorge would be grade 4 also said that we’d need a mountain guide because of all the snow – never trust anyone!) but it was completely manageable in my old walking boot with very limited tread. The summit involved some easy scrambling and on the way down we tried to branch off to another sub-peak but you can see from my confused looks that the route was not easy without climbing gear and so we abandoned the attempt! The snow, scree and scrambling this morning was a marked and Rapid transformation from the lush green valley we’d walked through yesterday.

Coming down the other side of Bobotov Kuk we struggled to find a path over a saddle. Even when looking at the saddle we couldn’t see anything obvious, it just looked steep, loose and dangerous (my theory is the path may have been buried under as landslide). As such we ended up walking all the way down a valley and back up the other side, making for a very long day. As we approached a mountain hut with another designated camping area we were stopping by a ranger who prevented us from setting up a wild camp at a gorgeous nearby lake. Ironically when trying to communicate the price for camping in the designated camp he scratched the price into a rustic wooden picnic bench, surely doing more damage than we would have done camping?! The campsite we were sent to was next to another lake and wasn’t that bad but was very crowded – however a short walk around the lake to the side furthest from the hut gave us more privacy and solitude.

The final day undulated a lot, going up and down and round valleys and passes. It was very hot and it was a relief to finally be back at the lake where we started for a well deserved swim!