Dinara 1830 m is the highest mountain in Croatia. I arrived after lunch to the parking lot where the trail starts and decided to go really light for this one and packed my things before starting the hike towards the summit.

It was a super warm day  so I hiked in t-shirt, hat and sunglasses. But it was still too hot. I sufferd in the sun (I´m from Sweden! Can´t take too much heat).

Since it was a really basic hike I decided to take my running shoes instead of hiking boots. I was thinking it would make me lighter and faster. That was probably right BUT I will never hike in running shoes again. Learned that you have no support and it´s too easy to hurt your feet (even if I didn´t this time it got me thinking about it). Also it hurts when you hit your toes in rocks.

There was no shade and the sun was killing me! But what can you do? Just keep hiking…

In the beginning it was an easy trail, not too steep.

After about 2 hours of hiking I came to this sign that said I had 2 h left to the summit.

And shortley after the landscape change and became so much more interesting.

I passed a large crater and walked on the ridge towards the summit. It was pretty far this hike. You walked and walked and you never got there. Much longer then you thought from the beginning.

But finally! At the summit.

I was glad I had my jacket because it got windy somewhere around that crater.

And then the sky got darker and I wanted to get down before the rain started. The trail was very easy all the way and in the end there were some rocks but no scrambling or via ferrata or anything advanced at all.

When I got down to the parking lot I met these guys again! I passed them earlier when they were walking down and I walked up. They had a bbq and I got to taste some of their food. They offered me some Jack Daniels too but I had to pass on that because I was going to drive to my next mountain in Bosnia right away.

I can feel a little bit sad when I see this. That I do this all alone and my schedule is so intense that I don´t have the time to enjoy it as much as I could have if I had more time. I would love to have 2-3 days for every mountain. Be able to explore more. Have moments like this. Hang with friends or people I met on the way. I always have to hurry to the next mountain and I miss out on so much of the experience because of that. If anyone who read this is going to climb some mountains, make sure you have some extra time just to enjoy it too!

When I got down the sun started to set and the sky turned so beautiful. The mountains turned red.

The last light of the day. I spent the night at a hotel on the coast in Croatia before driving the last part to Bosnia the morning after. And that climb became one of my favourites so far!

Mountain no 12/49