The weather got colder and wet in the Rila National Park of Bulgaria and so Michele and I decided to move further east and north to the area of Kalofer and Botev Peak. I was struggling a bit to go there because I felt like there is something left to discover in Rila and I always try to burn not so much diesel for going back and forth. But in the end, it was a good decision. The weather near Kalofer was super nice and the whole area there is beautiful as well.
At the meadow which we called home there were horses and a kind of meerkats. They came every morning out of their little home holes to greet the day. Beautiful. We had some chill time there and one day it was time for Michele to take a train to Sofia to then fly back to Germany. The time with him was super nice and lovely and I always smile thinking back at it.
On my way back to the meadow where Sebastian and I had stayed for a couple of days, I refilled my water tank and canisters. While refilling, I put the lid of Rosinante’s water tank on the roof of Rosinante. After refilling, I forgot to put the lid back on. I realized that after driving about one kilometer away from the water fountain… And then I started searching for it… For about an hour. But I never gave up hope and when I finally found it, I was happy as shit.
I wanted to go to Botev Peak but the internet said it should be done as a two days trip. I don’t know why, but I didn’t feel like going to the mountain hut near the peak and so I decided to do it just in one day. It was an awesome hike. Especially the Tarzan Trail near the waterfall “Raisko Praskalo” I loved a lot. That part was a bit adventurous. The peak was a totally different world: flat, not very romantic, occupied by something that looked in between a rocket or a nuclear war shelter.
In the end, I did 30 km and 4.700 hm in 8 hours and felt awesome about it. Since I did this hike, I feel much more relaxed while hiking. It’s weird, but something changed in me. Before I sometimes hiked very slowly and sometimes fast. Sometimes I did some trail running, sometimes I took breaks of an hour or longer with meditation, etc. And I’m still doing it the same way. But still, it feels different… It’s really weird… I guess my ego feels like it has proven something with that hike. And just think about that. Isn’t it funny? Somehow something inside of me changed because of having done something. Somehow my inner concept of what is hiking or how I feel about it changed. But without an intention to do so. For me it’s just another example what the subjective reality is like: delusional and impermanent.