It all started with Bill Bryson and his hilarious book A Walk in the Woods. If he, an unfit elderly author and his reportedly rotund childhood friend Katz could do it, so could we.

Except we didn’t do the AT as the Appalachian Trail is otherwise known. No, nope, not even close. Back in the summer we went for a section loosely based on the SPP & PKK making our way from Kope back to Maribor. A 41 kilometer, 18 hour ramble (spread comfortably over 3 days) on a wooded ridge line of Pohorje.

But we had two dogs and they didn’t.

The whole affair had a preamble a few weeks earlier with a short camping, hiking trip to the Bayern Wald NP and their animal park/zoo. As far as zoos are concerned it’s certainly unique in the way they try to give animals as much space as possible while giving the visitors the feeling of being among them in the wild. It’s a place where you’re not guaranteed to actually see anything. If the animals don’t want to show themselves you’re out of luck. But it’s still just and only a zoo.

To be totally honest I’ve been germinating the idea of crossing Pohorje for years now, just never came round to actually going through with it. Now I sometimes wish I never bothered. Months later and my knees are still feeling it when I walk downhill for longer periods. Don’t know what but something got a bit worn off and it’s not a pleasant pain. It does seem a bit odd that a relatively short and easy walk would have long lasting consequences. But on the other hand, at least I can still ski back down wherever and whenever I bother to walk uphill.

Another thing that turned out not to be a good idea was bringing dogs with us. While it was a pleasure to have them with us and they enjoyed the walk itself, they also went through two nights of being attacked and chewed by ants and there was nothing we could do to help them. Letting them inside the tent was not an option but they certainly didn’t get much sleep outside. As a consequence neither did we. They both pushed through it, suffering some bloody rashes from the bites and they slept for the next two or three days straight. Perhaps they should be carrying their own backpacks with food and a dedicated dog tent next time…

As far as the walk… it’s likely one of the more enjoyable hiking stretches in Slovenia. Constantly in the shade, soft ground to walk on, plenty of water around and enough resupply options to lighten the load to virtually zero or, if you so desire, easily very remote and self sustained. During the week you won’t see more than a handful of people a day.

Pohorje, Kope to Bolfenk

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