AlbaniaA 5-day trek through the Balkanian Apls (Prokletije Park). One of Europe's last wild frontiers.
Plav sits at the end of its own glacial lake at about 900 m, the last town with a shop before the mountains. October is the tail of the season here: the guesthouses are still open but most of them shut within a fortnight, and the high katuns empty out as soon as the first snow lands.
Out of the Plav basin and onto the slope. From here the trail leaves the treeline behind and works south toward the Albanian border ridge. The valley floor drops away fast, which is the first honest measure of how much height there is to make up before the pass.
A katun is a summer shepherds' settlement, occupied from roughly June to September and abandoned the rest of the year. By the second week of October these are shuttered. Passing through one out of season is the clearest signal that you are travelling at the very end of the window.
The last pull to the pass. Qafa e Borit sits at 1,850 m about 700 m south of here, on the watershed between Gusinje municipality and the Valbona valley. Above 1,800 m snow can arrive any time from late September, which is the gamble you take crossing in October.
Over the ridge and into Tropojë district. This is a Peaks of the Balkans cross-border crossing, which is why the trail needs a police-issued permit arranged weeks ahead. There is no post, no barrier and nobody to check it, just a change of country underfoot.
The border wiggles along the crest here, so this point still reads as Montenegro despite being south of the last one. Looking south the whole Valbona valley opens up, with Maja Kollatës (2,552 m) on the ridge to the east.
The descent into the valley floor. Valbonë is a scattered set of hamlets along a wide white riverbed rather than a village with a centre, most of it guesthouses that grew out of family farms in the last fifteen years.
Working up the southern side of the valley. The Valbona riverbed here is enormous and almost entirely dry by autumn - the water runs underground through the limestone and surfaces further down.
One of the small settlements strung along the upper valley. Off the main Theth crossing, so it sees a fraction of the traffic that the Valbona-Theth path gets in August.
Climbing north out of the valley toward the Farumit saddle, back up on the Montenegrin border. Steep, unshaded and rarely walked compared to the main circuit. No water. Everything is dried up this time of the year
Back over the line into Gusinje municipality at another abandoned summer katun. Grazing grounds like this one are the reason the border here has always been more of a suggestion than a frontier.
The high basin under the north face of Jezercë, named for the small glacial lakes scattered across it. This is the standard approach camp for the summit, along with Gropat e Bukura and Lugu i Valit.
Above the lakes, on scree. From here the route is loose rock and route-finding rather than path - Jezercë is regarded as one of the harder and more exposed ascents in the Albanian Alps.
The summit. Highest peak in the Albanian Alps and the highest point in the entire Dinaric range, from Slovenia to Albania, first climbed in 1929. It is the 28th most prominent peak in Europe. On a clear October day the air is better than anything you get in summer.
The descent south toward the head of the Valbona valley. Long, loose and hard on the knees, with the light going early now that it is mid-October.
The last settlement at the top of the Valbona valley and the trailhead for the crossing to Theth. Everything above this is footpath.
The classic crossing between the two valleys, about 1,000 m of climb out of Theth in the other direction, 6 to 7 hours end to end. In high summer this path carries a steady file of walkers. In October it mostly does not.
The Theth side of the pass, roughly 700 m of descent to the valley floor, with the limestone walls of Radohimë (2,568 m) closing in on the west.
The second pass, the way back into Montenegro. Steeper and rougher than the Valbona crossing, climbing over 1,000 m out of Theth beneath the cliffs.
North of the pass and back on the Montenegrin side, with Krošnjin prolaz (2,165 m) on the ridge above. From here it is a long descent into the Ropojana valley. Night in the middle of nowhere
A straight limestone canyon with a dry riverbed and karst springs, walled by Maja e Madhe (2,552 m) on one side. The Blue Eye of Kaprre sits further down the track. Easy walking after two passes.
Out of the mountains and back onto flat ground below Gusinje. End of the loop, six days after leaving Plav about 25 km east of here.