Visiting The National Park Risnjak In Croatia

Spring is taking over. The temperatures are rising and the nature is slowly waking up. However, today is a rainy, wet, drooling day in my town. It’s nothing new, since Rijeka is one of the rainiest places in Croatia, if not even the rainiest.
You know, we have a saying here ‘’One day in Rijeka it was raining for two days…”

Apart from the rain, today we are also submerged into fog. I went for a run after my job and I was jogging through the forrest. As I was running I noticed how the trees are disappearing into the fog and that reminded me of an amazing day spent with some dear friends, last autumn in the National park Risnjak. If you like fog, trees and nature, scroll on...

The name of the massif, Risnjak, probably comes from the Croatian word for the lynx (ris). The area is a natural habitat of this endangered species…

The park is located in Gorski kotar, the most mountainous and heavily forested region of the country, about 15 km inland from the Adriatic Sea. That's 'air distance'. Roads take up a bit more km, but still, it would take you maybe 30-45 minutes to drive to it. So basically, you could visit the park on a summer morning, enjoy the forest at about 22 degrees Celsius, and spend the afternoon on a beach, frying yourself at 30 - 35 degrees…

Or, you could spend the night at this place. It's the mountain lodge just below the Risnjak peak. It is opened from May to the end of October. During the winter it's closed due to the fact that the only way of supplying it is by walking to it and carrying all the goods on your back. And, that's not an option when the snow is up to your waist...

Nikon D750 / ISO 100 / 1/1250s / AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1.4G at f2.8

The lodge is named after the botanist Josip Schlosser who wrote numerous publications about Risnjak and its flora. You can approach it from a couple of different directions, and depending on your choice the hike can take 1,5 hours, or 3 to 4 hours…

This group of Italians ran to the Risnjak peak from the Mt. Platak, which is approximately 4 hours away when walking.

Nikon D750 / ISO 100 / 1/640s / AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1.4G at f5.6

As you can see the fog was quite thick at the top, so there won't be any landscape photos here :)
Just a couple of more shots from the magic of the forest covered in fog…

Nikon D750 / ISO 400 / 1/800s / AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1.4G at f6.3

Stay on track and follow these, especially on a day like this…

Nikon D750 / ISO 400 / 1/1600s / AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1.4G at f2.8

Otherwise you might loose yourself and wonder of in the forest. It is not as romantic as it seems on the photo :)

Nikon D750 / ISO 500 / 1/2000s / AF-S Nikkor 50mm 1.4G at f2.2

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Cheers,
Nino.