After climbing Midzor in rain and storm I was longing for some sun so I drove to Greece for Mount Olympus! When I first planned this mountain tour my schedule looked very different but the weather has forced me to be flexible and change it a lot. And with rain and bad weather on Balkan I went south to Greece instead.

It must have been around 10:00 when I started hiking. I new it was going to be a long day with 1900 altitude meters to climb. Most people do this climb in two days and spend a night in a hut along the way. But I didn´t have time for that. So I set off walking in a cosy forest for the first part. It was very warm and soon I took off my t-shirt to only hike in my sports bra. And it was the end of september! So I was really happy that I didn´t do this in the summer. Would be painful for someone who doesn´t like the heat that much.

The mountain had a pretty nice and pretty steep trail going through the forest and I met not less then 37 American collage students during the day. Many of them were hiking for the first time and they were so cute! I stopped and talked to them on the way up (they were walking in small groups in different paces). This is one thing I really enjoy doing this project, get to know new people and listen to their stories. I was really impressed by them. For a first hike it was a long one. They would spend the night in the hut before descending the day after.

The higher up you got the more beautiful it was. And clouds started to come in on the sky. I was just thankful for that. Not as warm and looks better in pictures 🙂

After 2,5 hour I came up to the hut. Most huts on other mountains have been closed so late in the season so this was the first time I could enjoy a little break and have some real food for lunch on the mountain. Some people came up here with the mules. After a Greek Salad and a pice of cake I continued up towards the summit.

Misty forest. So cool! After hiking in the forest for a while longer a pretty boring part with a trail of stones was next. It was also the steepest part. But when you had done that the reward was amazing!

Up on this ridge you had this fantastic view with the clouds coming in making it very dramatic. I stopped here for a quick snack just to spend some time enjoying this view and then continued on the scrambling part up to the summit.

The last part before the summit. I was glad there were markers on the stones because with the clouds and no trail it would have been hard to find the right way up. There was not many people going for the summit (there is another lower summit in the other direction without scrambling so most people went to that one instead). But I really enjoyed this part! I met a couple and the husband told me his wife thought I was so brave climbing all these mountains alone. I was thinking how amazing it was that they could share this experience together. I want that in my life too. Maybe one day?

Then I got up on the summit at 2918 meters 5 hours after I started! I didn´t think it would go so fast (I stopped for lunch in the hut and had a snacks break on the way up). I was all alone there at first then three people showed up to keep me company. I spent some time up there taking pictures because the clouds were so cool.

Look, how amazing?

But I knew I had to go all the way back down again, 1900 more altitude meters so I started hiking down. I stopped at the hut for dinner, had some pasta and hanged out with the collage kids and when it was time to walk down the last half it started raining pretty bad. But I have had such an amazing day so I was so happy anyway. When I was almost down at the parking lot again I met two people going up in the dark. With no headlamps and in jeans. No jackets. They were soaking wet and had at least 2,5 hours left to the hut if they were fast. I felt sorry for them but at the same time: You can´t go hiking in the rain with jeans. Good clothes are a must. You don´t want to get wet and cold on a mountain, that could actually be really dangerous.

Great day and great mountain! Can really recommend it but maybe not in the summer because of the heat. September/October would be the best.

Mountain no 15