Žabljak, Žabljak Municipality, Montenegro
Breakfast at 8:15 which was the exact same food as the day before. Still bad coffee from the machine. The breakfast we assembled from our choices included a fried egg, prosciutto, local cheese, tomatoes, green pepper stuffed with cheese followed by a pastry.
We met Yulia and Nemanja at 9:00 and took the same trail as the day before to Black Lake. Once we reached the lake, we went the opposite way to circle the lake and to visit the small lake. Once we got to the small lake, the topography was quite different. We were below Bear Mountain which made for a spectacular backdrop of a solid rock wall where an unusual phenomenon occurs each spring. With the melting of ice and snow, water accumulates in a reservoir below Bear Mountain and drains into the Black Lake.
With the increase in the amounts of water in the reservoir, the water pressure causes huge, loud bursts. Most of the wells feed the small Black Lake in two to three weeks and the excess water flows out of the lake through tunnels under the mountain and ends in River Piva.
This geographical phenomenon is called bifurcation. This amazing area was very rocky and mossy. In the spring, there are abundant waterfalls. We circled both of the Black Lakes and then broke off to visit Snake Lake.
Snake Lake appears much shallower than the Black Lakes and has a deep green color. The name comes from the shape of the lake, nothing to do with snakes. At the head of the lake, we took a break and had our lunch. We shared one of the two picnic tables with a couple from Israel. They had relocated there from Ukraine in the early ‘90’s. They spoke English but the whole conversation was in Russian with Nemanja and Yulia. When they left they apologized for not including us in the conversation.
After our break, we headed for our last lake, Pond Lake, really more of a marsh. The small area of open water was surrounded by chest-high grass. The grassy ground around the lake was “spongy”; if you stood still, you would sink several inches into water. The lake had no apparent outlet. Never expected to find the Florida Everglades in the mountains of Montenegro!
Our route back to Zabljak, took us back to the foot of Black Lake.
Unlike yesterday’s crowds, the restaurant and its porch seating were deserted.
Back at the hotel, Nemanja made sure they knew our dinner was included. Tomorrow was calling for 100% rain, we were taking the day off. Nemanja and Yulia would pick us up at 4:00 and take us for a late lunch/early dinner at a Shepherd's Hut serving typical local foods.
Today we really lucked out with the weather. The original forecast was rain, then not rain until 2:00, then no rain until 9:00. We felt a “threat” of rain around the time of our lunch break and put on our raincoats, taking them off minutes later.
With the exception of around the Black Lakes, the trails have had very few hikers. One observation is that there is much more micro trash here than in Glacier. They don’t seem to have been educated on “leave no trace” or “pack it in and pack it out”.
Once back at the hotel, after two days of pretty hard hikes of 12 and 10 miles, at the pace of our 30 something guides, we did something we never do - took a nap.
We headed down to dinner about 7:30, to an empty dining room. Last night almost every table was occupied. We had the “white shirt” waiter. Our waitress from last night was working in the lounge. Sue chose the spaghetti with bolognese sauce and Dave the grilled chicken with fries, both with a green salad. Sue a chicken soup and Dave a beef soup. Like last night, we had a brandy before dinner and a glass of wine during.
Back in the room we “watched” the O’s lose to the Astro’s in 11 innings. Think their playoff hopes evaporated. It was probably about midnight when we finally called it a day.
2025-03-24