- Highpoints list (countries): Estonia, Greece, Albania, North Macedonia
After Olympus, I thought that Mount Korab would be a good destination. It is the highpoint of both North Macedonia and Albania, at 2764m. It can be reached from either Albania (via Radomir) or North Macedonia (via Strezimir), but since we were visting North Macedonia, we’d go via Strezimir.
There is a lot of information about this hike on the Internet. Here’s my contribution. Of course, Eric Gilbertson has been here, but many others have too.
Following recommendations on the Internet, I rented a 4wd. I found one at Relax Rent-a-Car in Skopje. Once we’d arrived in Skopje, I saw quite a few car rental companies around, so maybe I didn’t have to reserve. Relax was fine, though maybe a bit expensive at 12400MKD for two days (C$333). There was a group in front of us in line who were trying to rent a car for a bunch of days and a lot of explaining about options (insurance), but at some point an employee just started processing my pre-booked rental, and there was no discussion needed for me. The guy drove us from the office to the lot (about 10 minutes). The car came with 150kms’ worth of diesel; fortunately, it was easy to figure how much I’d need to buy from the fuel-consumption numbers. I was told that if the car wasn’t clean when it came back, I’d have to pay 5EUR for a car wash.
We stopped at the Colourful Mosque in Tetovo, which was on the way. Parking in Tetovo was chaotic but we managed. Had to wait till the end of prayer and then visited the inside of the mosque. It has lots of painted frescoes and is somewhat modest as an attraction. Pictures turned out better than I thought.
We then proceeded to Hotel Korab Trnica, which the Internet says is the closest accommodation to the trailhead. I booked something which was very much like a cabin in a holiday park in NZ; it came with plumbing (so more like a self-contained unit) but no fridge. Won’t complain about the 45EUR cost. Will complain about the 10EUR dinner voucher at the restaurant: food was fine (not the best, but not the worst) but the soup, salad, and main was just way too much food for us. We could have eaten a third of what we got. Should’ve known. I guess others eat that much.
We also got a guard dog barking outside for much of the night, but I guess that just comes with the territory. The hotel also comes with ponies and cats.
If we hadn’t had to lug our stuff around North Macedonia, I understand that camping is also a possibility, and gets you an hour closer to the trailhead on hike day.
Hike day
We got up at 5am for a 6am departure, with final packing. I had some bread for breakfast, which maybe wasn’t enough. Picked up our lunches (300MKD) which included a huge sandwich and an orange. Ate an orange, packed the sandwiches, and left the other orange in the car.
I felt like the highway from Skopje to the hotel was a bit fancier than one’s average NZ State Highway: often four-lane highway, not controlled-access. As it got smaller, it became a two-lane highway, but still no one-lane bridges.
Driving from the hotel to the trailhead, we stopped at the border post, where the guard looked at our passports and park pass (200MKD).
The road to the trailhead would have been fine in a normal car, I think, though high clearance would be useful. It’s better than the road to Raspberry Creek in Mount Aspiring National Park: there aren’t river crossings.
We started at 7am. The first part is still on a pretty big track (4x4s could do it for sure) and in the forest. Soon enough, though, the forest ends and we’d be above treeline for almost all of the walk. We passed by some run-down buildings and a stream just after treeline.
I’m not quite sure I would call the walk up relentless, but there was quite little relenting in the climbing up, except for a long traverse in the middle. I looked at the traverse and hoped I wouldn’t have to go back down into the valley. Fortunately, it was pretty much a true traverse.
The trail is well maintained, with no scrambling required. Not quite a sidewalk, but definitely much easier than the Barbalas Ridge we’d done a few days ago. It’s easy, but 16km round-trip with 1300m elevation gain isn’t completely easy. There was also an indicated winter route which obviously had less avalanche exposure (since it went on top of the ridge); probably the terrain was rougher or it was otherwise more difficult than the summer route.
We arrived at the summit at 11:30, so about 4h30 after starting. There were 17 people on the summit when we were there, with all but 4 of us coming from Radomir on the Albanian side. We had a leisurely 50-minute lunch, eating one huge sandwich and assorted snacks, and chatted with a group of 7 from the UK who were doing a walking holiday.
The descent was pretty much the same as the ascent, except that we were like, “gee, that was a lot of climbing to get up there.” I took a few more photo stops for birds. I wouldn’t have minded having my 100-400 lens, but that’s an extra 700g for a small number of bird shots. One can spot birds atop rocks and posts sometimes. I would have really liked having this Sony 100-400 though. It’s a bit slower, but better than the kit 55-210 by far.
We did drink all of our 3L of water. I could have treated some water from the stream, but by the time we reached the stream on our way back, we were close enough to the end that we just went back to the car.
We also crossed a group of 21 which was walking up pretty late in the day: like 1pm or later. Sounds like an opportunity to see the sunset on the way down to me. At the parking lot, there were quite a few more cars than when we had left in the morning (there was only us and the other group).
Our moving time, excluding lunch, was 7h30, with 3h for the descent.
After the hike
We reached the car and hopped in, with a stop at the border post (“Did you come from Kosovo?” “No, Korab.” “OK, go.”) and then again at Hotel Korab Trnica where we got a cold sugary drink and used the bathroom.
I hadn’t decided whether to go to Skopje or to stay at Tetovo. Since we got back to the car at 3:30, and it was about 2.5 hours of driving, we’d be able to make it to Skopje for sure, simplifying the next day’s logistics (onwards to Ohrid) significantly. MP booked an apartment near the bus station for 36 EUR whlie we were en route.
We thought it would be easiest if I dropped MP off at the apartment and then returned the car. There was a lot of faffing though. Fortunately, I had calculated just about the right amount of diesel to buy (1000 MKD) so that the remaining range was 140km; we had 150km on the way out. I also figured that I’d just pay the 5EUR to have the car cleaned instead of discovering how to wash a car (car washes seemed manual).
When checking out the car, I had asked whether we would return to the office or to the lot. I got to the office and he asked whether I could return it to the lot. We had passed by the lot on our way around, but I didn’t quite have the address recorded, so he said he would come to the office, and I followed him back to the lot.
The office was 20 minutes’ walk from the apartment, while the lot was 30 minutes' walk. I didn’t especially want to do more walking, so I got a ride back to the office.
I then found that there was a camera store right next to the lot, so I ended up walking there again and getting a replacement Canon-branded lens cap for my Sony equipment (hey, it’s just plastic) for 500MKD. I also noticed that there were 3 taxis hanging around there.
Unfortunately, at that point, for some reason, my Internet cut out on my phone. That could be bad.
I looked for take-out around there but didn’t really succeed, especially without Internet. I did get some dessert, found a restroom in the sports betting place (got directions from a guy selling vegetables outside the supermarket), and then got some emergency food (bagel and canned meat). I had no bag so I was carrying all this, and a water bottle, in my hands. Kind of awkward.
There were indeed 3 taxis waiting at the taxi stand, but it turns out that 0 of these three taxis had drivers, and they weren’t robotaxis. The second taxi driver coming by picked me up. I still didn’t have the Internet but fortunately I did have a saved waypoint for the apartment so I could direct him there by saying left/right. He was not impressed. At some point during the 10 minute drive, my Internet came back and MP called me. Anyway, that taxi ride was 200MKD well spent.
Soon after arriving at the apartment, we decided that Bella Pizza would be a good dinner, so I fetched something pide-like, with quite hot bell peppers, for 480MKD. The staff said the picture online wasn’t quite right, but it was cheese and bacon. Yes, I like cheese and bacon. It would have been better if I had remembered which floor the apartment was on, but I got there eventually, and we enjoyed the pide. Pizza Bella deserves its 4.9* on Google Maps. And, as I was doing all the faffing, MP was doing our laundry, so we’d have more clean laundry. Good deal.
Overall, a successful hike, two high points, and a bunch of life maintenance. What more could one want?