After the onesie party, it was a little slow going for most people the next day, myself included. But here I was, on the edge of the Tatras mountains, and I needed to do something. So I went out to do a long walk, I was going to take the river around to the edge of town, and then head up on the Forest trail, back behind the hostel, and then come down through the meadows back to the house. It was probably around 10:30 when I left... I started walking, and as always, Wally was up for a walkabout, so he came with.

The weather was unusually nice. It was sunny and there were no clouds on the horizon. About a half hour in I got to the fork where I could head west up the pass and over the Siroke Saddle, or I could continue on along the river walk. It was relatively early (11:15 at this time), so I figured I would head up the trail to the pass, just to see how it was and get a view back to Zdiar. I had been told the pass was closed for the season, and it probably was, but I wasn’t sure what that meant. Were there barricades? Was it just not recommended? Who knew... I figured I would just keep walking until it was unsafe or I was told I wasn’t allowed... Physical barriers are one thing, using one’s own judgement to decipher ‘safety levels’ is another... especially with me.

A brief sidebar: My cousin Billy and I are roughly the same age. We grew up around one another and have played together for as long as I can remember. When we were about four or five years old, I think we were climbing on a fence or something, and my Aunt Angela told Billy to get down. My mom turned to Aunt Angela and said “Ang, it’s OK. The kids are smart. They are not going to attempt to do anything they can’t handle.” To which Aunt Angela surgically responded “Yeah Pat, I used to believe that until you took Denis to the emergency room four times last year...” Touche!

So... I would be the one to evaluate whether or not the trail was ‘too dangerous’ to go on... I followed a creek for about a half hour, and then the trail started to climb, fast. I followed the switchbacks up the granite walls for an hour and a half, first frost, then snow building up along the path. As I was beginning to question the integrity of the trail, the landscape opened up and flattened out. I found myself trudging along through snow drifts above the tree line. But it was much flatter now and easily navigable. I was in the saddle. Wally and I pushed on and a half hour later we crested the saddle, and entered the High Tatras mountains. I had no idea what to expect... it was unbelievable... what a sight.

The High Tatras are know as the smallest mountain range in the world. While they do not cover a wide area, the peaks are dense and stunning. And by crossing the saddle, I was treated to a view of them! I can’t imagine not having made it to the crest... I had a smile on my face for days.

We followed the ridge along for another half hour until we could see back down to the south and Poprad. I turned left and I had the Slovakian lowlands, right and there was Poland. Pretty cool.

I was tooling around up top, taking pictures, and all of a sudden Wally took off! Straight down the side of the mountain. It was the kind of steep where if I had accidentally leaned the wrong way I would start tumbling down the mountain, and probably wouldn’t stop for another 2000 vertical feet. And here was Wally, intentionally firing down the mountain. A second later I saw a heard of about ten to fifteen mountain goats run up the opposite ridge, and trailing them, fifty feet or so behind, was a little blondish red furball just running straight up the mountain after them... it was amazing! Wally is a ten pound beast!

We stayed up there until about 2:00, leaving ourselves a few hours to get back down to Zdiar before the light started to disappear... As I did not anticipate the length or difficulty of the hike that day, I didn’t bring any water of food, and I was starting to get a little sloppy on the way back down. We met the merge at 4:00, and were back at the hostel by 5:00. I was exhausted and honestly, a little shaky. But it was all well worth it... what a day! Thanks Wally!