Actually, I wanted to go to Mt Belmeken, in the eastern part of the Rila National Park. But the rain had thrown my plans upside down and so I drove to the Rila Monastery and then to the mountains at Sapareva Banya.
The mountains south of Sapareva Banya are part of the Rila National Park and tower over those of Pirin National Park. The highest mountain is Musala at 2,925 meters, which is also the highest mountain in the Balkans. However, there are another 100 mountains in the park area that are more than 2,000 meters high.
I picked out the 7 lakes hike because my hike to the Pirin lakes turned out differently than I thought.
I stood overnight just a few hundred meters below the lift, above Panichishte.
I wanted to get my body to the next level and went for altitude and distance. So I decided not to take the lift or the taxi. Yes, there is a taxi up there that takes you to the mountain station.
The weather was good and i started my hike around 9:00. And I can tell you that was the best hike so far. Just look at the pictures.
The first mountain station was open, so I was able to treat myself to an espresso after 3.5 km. Actually there are 7 Rila Lakes, which are between 2'095 m and 2'535 m. I skipped #6 and #7 because of the snow. Even before that I had to walk over snowy areas, but the 200 m climb over slushy snow wasn't really my thing
Up to 11:00 I saw nobody on the track and only a hand full of hikers in the afternoon. It was not anylonger a surprise to find Bulagrians hiking in sneakers, like at Pirin National Park.