Mt. Sija in Bohinj -Senior backpacker goes to Slovenia (4)

 On arrival at the pension, I asked Jože about his recommendations on the day trip hiking around Bohinj. Among his valuable suggestions, I chose the hiking trail to climb up to Mt. Sija (1880m) for my first day's excursion in Bohinj. As the Japanese proverb is saying that a foolish likes to go higher just as smoke do, I always like to be on a peak to enjoy a magnificent view of mountain ranges stretching in the distant. 

Mt. Sija (1880m) 
 Next morning on July 24, I departed the pension at 9 am after breakfast and walked down to the lower cable car station. The hiking trail to Mt, Sija started from the upper cable car station with the altitude of around 1500m. It was quite comfortable for me to have an Alpine breeze cooling down my body under the summer sunshine while ascending along the ridge line. 

     




<Alpine Flowers>
After taking a rest at the crossroads to Mt. Vogel, I continued to climb up slowly a steep rocky roof taking a glance carefully at lovely wild flowers that grew humbly between rocks.  Bohinj and its surrounding mountains boast diverse flora with many indigenous plants and have attracted botanical experts around the worlds. I'm not an expert in this field, so I can not confirm, but the purple flowers on the photo below look like a Zois' Bellflower ( Campanula Zoysii), which has been present in this land since before the last ice age and is said to represent  the Slovene. According to the Slovene government's web site of "Pearls of the floral wealth of Slovenia", it flowers in August high in the mountains in rock fissures. On lower meadows in Bohinj, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of colorful wild flowers blooming gregariously, but these small alpine flowers were so humbly gentle and encouraged me to keep going higher.

  

<360-degree view of the Julian Alps>
 Shortly before noon, I stood on the peak of Mt. Sija, which offered me a magnificent 360-degree view of the Julian Alps in the Triglav National Park. The king of Mt. Triglav stood solemnly in the distance far behind me on the photo below with Mt. Vogel (1923m), an elder brother, sitting quietly next to Mt. Sija, which looked like inviting me to come closer. Oh the way up, I had seen so few climbers, but around lunch time hikers were gradually gathering at the peak. They were mostly young and came in a group or a couple from various neighboring countries like Poland, Germany or Italy. They all had happy faces and chatted with each other a little bit clamorously. Maybe I was only one in the sixties. A young polish whom I asked to take a photo of me was surprised to know that I've come all the way alone from Japan. After taking photos, I took lunch. The lunch package which they had prepared for me at the pension contained one apple, two Nectarines, one big sandwich and a bottle of water. I was so thirsty that I grabbed a nectarine first of all. It was so refreshing and sweet. 

   

   

After about one hour of lunch rest, I gave up the idea to go further to Mt. Vogel and retraced my steps to the lake. Descending to the same crossroads I met the married couple with a daughter taking a rest. They came from Czechoslovakia for hiking and were heading to Vogel. They were very friendly and we had a nice chat. Their lovely daughter seemed to have a special interest in Japan as her boy friend in her high school had been staying in Tokyo as an exchange student. I asked him "if I would go to Czech for hiking, what mountain do you recommend me?". His answer was Šumava Mountain or Jeseníky and gave me his email address saying "Stay with us when you come". It's always the best way for getting a valuable information about the nature in foreign countries to ask its countryman who himself love hiking. I memorized those names in my note for planning the next summer's trip.




(To be continued; the next is "Slap Savica", the water fall in Bohinj )