Hiking in the High Tatras

Last weekend we went up to the High Tatras to go hiking. This, as I’m sure you realize, was not my idea. I went because I’d not spent much time in that area before, and I wanted to see the beautiful nature* for which the area is famous. At first we’d arranged to meet some of the teachers from Poland, but they ran into transportation difficulties—apparently all of the trains coming into Slovakia were sold out—so it ended up just being the four of us. We’d also first planned to go on Friday afternoon, do the main hike on Saturday, and come back on Sunday, but instead left on Saturday morning so that people could get more stuff done before the trip.

We took buses to Poprad, and from there took a train to Popradské pleso. When we got to the train station in Poprad, the signs for our train listed the platform as “TEŽ” rather than a number. TEŽ stands for Tatranské Elektrické Železnice, the electric railroad that runs to the resorts and towns in the Tatras. Like many trains that go to areas frequented by tourists, this train had announcements not only in Slovak but also in German and English.

We got off at Popradské pleso and walked up a road for about an hour to get to the actual lake (a pleso is a high mountain lake) and our hotel. There are lots of chaty to stay in on hiking routes; these are cabins which often have dorm-type accommodations. On the shores of Popradské pleso, though, is an actual hotel. It was probably nicer than the one I live in, but it wasn’t greatly luxurious. We each paid about 16€ for our night’s stay in a six-bed room with bathrooms down the hall. (I didn’t see showers anywhere. Maybe if you’re a hardcore hiker you just don’t shower for as long as you’re on your trek.)

Once we’d checked in and eaten lunch, we started off on our hike. We were heading for Velké Hincovo pleso, the highest lake in Slovakia. It was a pretty hike; we crossed rivers running over rocks, and saw snow high in the mountains above us. It was also hard. For some reason I didn’t expect there to be so many rocks on the trail. In places it was like climbing stairs. After a while we were stopping every few minutes for a break, and soon I decided I couldn’t go any further. (On one of those breaks we saw one of our second years coming down with his parents. He seemed rather surprised to see us, and his father kept telling him to tell us to get a move on and not waste time if we wanted to reach the lake.) My legs were tired, and my knees were starting to ache, and it wasn’t going to be a lot easier going down than going up; so though it galled me, I admitted defeat. I was pretty frustrated for a while, since I was trying to prove that I could do it, and I hated having to give up. But being able to walk in the future was pretty important, and it’s not like I was going to miss seeing something I actually cared deeply about. If there had been an awesome castle at the end of the hike, I would have kept going. So Robin, who’d already seen the lake, didn’t care about seeing it again, and had already joked that she was a quitter, went back down the trail with me. We walked around the pleso and relaxed for a while before the other two got back.

The next morning H went up another trail and the rest of us walked the trail around the lake to the symbolic cemetery. The cemetery has plaques and memorials to people who have died in the Tatras. Most of the people were climbers and hikers, although there are two memorials for people who died in plane crashes in the mountains, too, including a group of soldiers during the Slovak National Uprising. The mountains around us kept appearing and disappearing in the fog.

Before we could get back on public transportation, we had to get down to Štrbské pleso. Originally we had planned to come up this trail on Friday evening, and it turned out to be a good thing we didn’t, since it would have been a steep, rocky, dark climb then. On Sunday morning it was beautiful, because we walked through the fog. We couldn’t always see the valley to our left. I think this trail was my favorite, and not because it was the one we were leaving by. We could actually see the fog moving around us, and quickly, too.

In towns and villages in Slovakia, people don’t always acknowledge or greet you. They may even look at you with suspicion if you say hello. But on the hiking trails there was more camaraderie, and a definite informality. People greeted us, sometimes with the formal “Dobrý deň,” but often with a simple “Ahojte” (hi, plural). Perhaps it was just because it’s hard to ignore someone on the same trail you’re using. Whatever the reason, it was nice to be greeted, and I liked observing all the different kinds of people who passed us.

So now I can strike “Hiking in the Tatras” off my list of things I never actually intended to do in life. This coming weekend is fall break, and I’ll be returning to a place I’ve already visited, with a new twist. Here’s a video clue. Get excited; I am.


* “The beautiful nature” is something we hear about all the time. People don’t spend time outdoors, they go to the nature. It’s got to the point where it’s very hard for me to even suggest any alternative phrase to “the nature.”