We rolled into our lodging at the Penzion Kovac pretty late and then drug the entire contents of our car inside to dry. Showers, sleep, and then wham, alarm goes off and a new day begins! We finally got to eat a breakfast at our hotel again, and Steve even let me enjoy two cups of coffee before rushing us out the door. The hike we were doing today was supposed to the be very first thing we did after landing in Germany. We cut off a day of kayaking in order to squeeze in the hike and we all hoped it would be worth it! The mountain is Debela Peč – the highest summit (2014m or 6617 ft) of Lipanca mountain range. Finding parking on the side of the road, we grabbed our packs and set off about an hour later than Steve was hoping. We set a steady pace through the easy section, sliding a bit since we were only in boots and didn’t have crampons. Every other hiker was either in crampons or cross country skis. We had our snowshoes strapped to the packs and I didn’t see a single other person with them.

We started climbing and leapfrogged with a family of hikers. The dad was carrying one child in a backpack carrier and towing another kid clipped to him with a rope! It is really cool to see families adventure with young kids, something I think we need more of in the States. We all post holed at some point on our way up but no one got super stuck. We reached the false top and Steve and I decided to strap on the snow shoes, not so much that we needed them but more because we’d hauled the damn things all the way from Indiana!

A short climb later and we reached the summit. The weather was perfect, not too cold and with just a bit of wind. A couple of birds were hanging around the peak, obviously used to getting snacks. Steve tossed a couple of crumbs their way and their catching skills were perfect, snagging it out of mid air. We enjoyed the view for a bit, got some nice pictures, and then headed back down.

It took us about 3 hr and 41 mins to reach the peak at a pace that was sustainable and not giving us any indication of altitude sickness. The altitude gain was 3013 feet at this point. The route down was the same since we didn’t have enough daylight to make the loop up and around another small peak. Basically 4 hrs to go up and 3 hrs to go down, traveling 10.7 miles. Not bad for a bunch of flat-landers from Indiana!

Once back to the car we headed back to the same hotel, one of the few nights we stayed in the same location for more than 18 hrs (or less in some cases)! The way back took us through the cool town of Bled, complete with lake and castle. We only had time for a quick walk around in our attempt to locate some food since we were starving and tired and more than a bit wet. After the fiasco of the mostly raw gas station pizza, the guys were pretty adamant that we look for something other than pizza. The first stop was a burger shack that looked and smelled amazing but one of my requirements was to sit down in the warmth and have a hot drink and the burger shack was take away only. We continued on, finding cafes that were closed or only with room outside, restaurants too fancy for our current condition, lots of pizza options, all the while growing a bit hangry. We took a lap through their Christmas market and I solved one problem by picking up a slice of cake and a cup of mulled wine. We then found a table in a cafe, ordered some hot drinks and then found out the kitchen had just closed. Crap. Much less hangry but still cold, we went to the Mega Burger and got burgers to go. Expecting European sizes and not American ones, the guys all ordered the double decker and extra fries. What we got was a proper huge burger with all the fixings and it was delicious!