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There is a fantastic view from the top: Kutelo, Grań Konczeto, Todorin Wrych, Jeziorka Wałahińskie, and the town of Bansko below …
Traffic starts early in the morning at the campsite near Bynderica. It is terribly cold, because we are at an altitude of 1,810 meters, and in a deep mountain valley. It would be a few more hours before the sun went down here.
But you have to get up, eat breakfast and go to the mountains now. The weather has been unchanged for several days: in the morning clear skies, around noon clouds begin to gather and cover the peak of Wichren (2014 m above sea level), the highest peak in the entire range, the second in Bulgaria (only Musala is higher in Rila). They scare the rain, but it doesn't rain. It will brighten again in the evening, but then we should be back at the campsite. So we must hurry to reach the top before the clouds arrive. Because the view from Wichren is absolutely beautiful.
In the morning bustle
The whole camping community is waking up. Everyone is making morning tea. You can't count on breakfast in a local bar (because there is one) - it's too early. They smoke stoves, everyone prepares in their own way.
Bulgarians go light. Shorts, a T-shirt, a sandwich in the pocket. They carry nothing. They will run up their great mountain. On the approach, they will take off their T-shirt, put it on at the top. They will be back in the early afternoon.
A group of young Poles, a camp under the care of a priest, stuffing big sacks. They put up tents and all belongings. Today they slept here, tomorrow they will camp somewhere else. Where? Probably at the Demianica shelter. Unfortunately, you cannot camp in the wild in Pirin. It's a national park, and rangers are looking for those who break the rules. The fines are high.
Two Germans - he and she - are packing small backpacks. They check their weight, take something out, add something and move slowly up the hill. We will catch up with them later on the trail.
Money
Bulgarian currency is lev. 1 left=approx. 1.8 PLN. You must have cash with you. In cities, even small ones, there are ATMs, you can pay with the card in large shops, hotels and restaurants. Do not count, however, that you will pay with the card for accommodation in a hostel or for shopping in a village shop.
Accommodation
For a four-person room in a decent hotel (but not a star hotel) we will pay from around 70-80 lev per night. The same for a detached bungalow. In huts, prices are very different, it dependsfrom their standard. It should be assumed that we will pay 10-20 lev per person per night in a dormitory room.
Prices on campsites and campsites are not uniform. We paid 5 to 20 lev for a tent, or for example 3 lev per person. Don't expect a high standard, even if the campsite will have a toilet and shower, it doesn't mean that you can go in there.
Wild camping
Outside of national parks and nature reserves, you can camp in the wild in Bulgaria. This is what many local tourists do.
Food
There are a lot of pubs serving good regional cuisine in tourist resorts. Outside of the coast, we'll have a decent dinner for about half the Polish price. The prices of groceries in stores are only slightly lower than in Poland.
Czech invention
Czechs… The Czechs deserve a separate story. They have a patent for hiking in the mountains. They arrived at the campsite by bus. They took tents and sleeping bags out of the hatches and went to sleep. In the morning, they set up a kitchen under the bus: gas cylinders, pots, canteens, the entire farm. They ate, threw things into the hold. They are gathering for a trip. There are probably twenty of them. However, they do not go together: they set off in twos or threes. Apparently they band together, rent a bus and go… Sometimes they do it through the tourist club, sometimes they meet with friends. Maybe this is a way to travel cheaply?
One thousand hundred meters up the hill
We are finally going. Neither lightly nor hard. We left our belongings at the campsite, but everyone has a fleece in their backpack (if it is cold), a jacket (if it decides to rain), some provisions (you know, you have to eat) and water (it's not easy to find in the higher parts of Pirin).
We are starting the approach. At first we go through the forest, then the trees thin out, only single trees grow, battered by the wind. Such, not pine trees, not pine trees. They look picturesque against the background of white rocks and blue sky. A small strip of scythe, and then the void begins. Less and less grass, more and more rock. Somewhere in the distance, the white marble triangle of Wichren.
In a rocky desert
We enter the Kazan Cauldron. It's empty and raw here. You can get used to the white rocks, but the enormous snowfall (after all, it's the south of Bulgaria, and the sun is very hot even at this height) is impressive. Two people came down to its edge. They look like two small dots on a gray-gray background. Around the gulf of a huge glacial cauldron. A shelter is hidden among the stones. Small, only a few people can fit here. It can only be used in an emergency. We are ahead of our Germans in the boiler. We are passed by running onlightly Bulgarians. The goal of our journey is close.
On the most beautiful mountain
There is quite a lot of space on the top, which seems like a pyramid from a distance. Today's conquerors gather around the stone obelisk. There are not too many of them at once. Bulgarians in T-shirts are coming down quickly. But the family had settled down under the obelisk. They drink beer, throw the can between the stones. Such a custom …
There is a fantastic view from the top: Kutelo, Ridge Konczeto, Todorin Wrych, Wałahińskie Lakes, and the town of Bansko below … I'm thinking, I copied it from the guide. We were actually too late. The clouds that had to come caught us on the last approach. There was nothing to see.
Stones in the meadow
The descent - as usual - long and tiring. We have climbed over a thousand meters, the same amount has to be descended. When the wind blows away the clouds for a moment, the jagged peaks of the main ridge of Pirin appear. Huge inscriptions can be seen on short meadows bitten by sheep. It is also a local custom: the signatures made of stones on the grass by those who have passed this way. Sometimes it's a name, sometimes a city name, sometimes a password. This does not decorate the mountains, but adds a specific color to them. Well, maybe it's better than cutting a tree trunk with a knife: here I was….