Location – mountain:
- Jablanica
Starting point:
- The village of Steblevë
Description of the trail:
From the starting point of the village of Steblevë, this hike initially backtracks towards the border. When reaching the junction before the border (approx. 1.5 km), the trail turns right following the forest road that gently climbs through the woods for about 7.5 km, until it reaches a deserted military station.
From the ruined building, the trail leads uphill on a meadowy trail that travels southeast towards the border ridge before continuing along the ridge for about 2 km and then descending southwest. Before leaving the ridge, there is a view of Podgorechko and Labunisko glacial lakes on the Macedonian side of the border.
The descent leads to another ruined military post after roughly 1.5 km, followed by a short climb of 150 m towards the southeast. When it reaches the highest point, there is a junction where the trail on the left goes to the border with Macedonia, while the one on the right (southwest, following the trail between two big rocks), goes to the shepherds’ hut of Bilbil Biçaku. If this hut is not available for the night, there is the possibility to check the other huts in the area by crossing the field to take the dirt road and then follow it southwards. The first shepherds’ hut can be reached after about 1.5 km and the next group of huts after 3 km.
Technical and touristic information:
Altitude of the starting point: Steblevë – 1,135 m
Highest point: 2,120 m
Altitude of the ending point: Qafa e Kryqit – 1,790 m
Altitude difference: 1,275 m
Duration of the hiking tour: 8 hours
Length of the tour: 16 km
Difficulty of the tour: (Proofreader’s Note: Please add here) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Required fitness level: (Proofreader’s Note: Please add here) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Panoramas and landscapes:
After the first views, the big meadows start to open up and several shepherds’ huts can be seen. Along the crest one can enjoy the dense forest of Shebenik-Jabllanica National Park (partly a UNESCO World Heritage) and the small, few glacial lakes seen from both sides of the border.
Access to the starting point:
- Tiranë – Librazhd, 70 km
- Librazhd – Stebleve (partly unpaved), 34 km
Access to the ending point:
- It is possible to get up to the military post by offroad vehicle (beginning of the hike), afterwards walking from either Steblevë or Qarrishtë.
Accommodation and food:
- Accommodation
- Accommodation and food in Stebelevë can be obtained from the Mersin Hoxha stacker and catering facility Teqeralli
- (41°20’17.69″N20°28’15.75″E / 41.33824722, 20.47111111)
- In the Albanian side is possible to stay in high altitude by using sheperherd hut, Bilbil Bicaku.
- ( 41°14’36.5″N 20°30’21.1″E /243483, 20.505850)
- Otherwise, further down in the village is possible to ask the locals spending the night in one of the houses of the Qarrishte village but at the moment there is no official accommodation.
- Accommodation and food in Stebelevë can be obtained from the Mersin Hoxha stacker and catering facility Teqeralli