Beauty of Old Mountain: They do not call it BigAir for no reason (My Travel Blog)

A little walk through Old Mountain - part #5

“You are not in the mountains. The mountains are in you.”

-John Muir

Previous day was ordinary, if any day in mountain can be ordinary. It was about ten degrees above zero, cloudy and a little windy. It seamed to us that we can plan some long climbs in next days. We relocated our little camp near peak "Black Peak" ("Crni Vrh") somewhere around 1000 meters high. Our goal was to climb near, higher peak called "Grandmother Tooth" ("Babin Zub") at 1700 meters, stays there for a night in refugee, and next day climb highest peak in Serbia - Midzor at 2169 meters.

I woke up really early. Even though I like to sleep and have problems to woke up for work, in mountains I am usually witness of sunrise without any effort. I climbed out of tent to find out that visibility is exactly zero and that first traces of snow are in the air. We were in cloud. Mountain and September can give you such welcome. More by touching then by sight I found nearby tent, and his occupant, Marko was sitting in front, waiting me with cup of hot tea and that look 'What the heck we are going to do now' on his face. We are unofficial guides on our little adventures, and other people often relay on us to make decisions. We are voices of common sense when adrenaline is high, and in our little company, it is unwritten rule that when we make decision - everybody should follow. When rest of company crawl out of tents, they will expect us to have our opinion what to do. This one was easy; if clouds covering our altitude, then on 1700 meters is already 10 centimeters of snow and Midzor is unacessable. Not to mention that nobody with even trace of common sense will go into high path with zero visibility. So we decided only thing we could; we will descend to lower ground and find something to do there. We didn't have slightest idea what to do when we are in lower parts of mountain, but having in mind how often Old Mountain surprised us in previous days, we were more than sure that we will find something.

At lower ground and some ten miles to the west, everything looked completely different. It was obvious that only high peaks are in clouds and bad weather. Lower, we had occasional rain combined with moments when sky was blue and only trace of rain was fresh smell in the air. So, we went on couple light hikes, just following some mountaineers paths and enjoying ease of that day. We were suppose to put our bodies to limits by climbing two high peaks in two days, and now we were just walking around, lightheaded. When you mentally preparing yourself for hard effort, having lighter hikes instead, seams easy like walk through the park.

At the end of that day, Old Mountain decided to reward us for being faithful to her. Along one path we find sign for waterfall Bigar, some 5 km trough the woods. Well, it was time to put that strength we kept for climbing peaks in use. Even though we know that getting off our path for 5 km in one way will mean that we will return to camp at night, we decided to go there. Old Mountain is huge and in many areas unexplored. If somebody put sign for some place, that place must be worth visiting! So we speed up pace and decided to find that waterfall, even if we return to camp under flash lights. Actually, Marko and I keep in secret that map showed us local road very near to waterfall, which could give us shortcut to camping site ;) Always keep a good news for very end ;)

We reach waterfall late that day. Coming out of woods, we find source of water thunder we were listening for last few minutes. Bigar was mountain reward for us by all means. It was huge, beautiful, wild and again peaceful as only waterfall can be. With peace in our minds we sit around waterfall and enjoyed our reward.

That was also moment when rest of company realized that returning to camp can be much easier then they expected. Just few hundred meters from waterfall, road was leading back to area where our camp was. Even more, on parking site near waterfall, big red pickup of Mountain Rangers was parked with two vaguely known faces siting on his bonnet. Long time ago, in my much younger days, I was a member of an voluntary rescue team which, with time, grow up to Mountain Rescue Service of Serbia with full time Rangers in their staff. My friend Marko was one of Rangers for many years. Those guys were aware that they sow our faces in different Rangers Huts couple times, but even if they didn't - our jackets and backpacks with patches of old Mountain Service were more than enough to welcome us as a family. Some relaxed time latter, spent in talk, laugh and couple sips from our flasks, they offer us ride to camp site. Sunset was very near and light showers become boring cold rain which could ruin our return. Without hesitation, we accept ride back and that was the end of one surprisingly full day. We didn't climb those peeks, but mountain find way to reward us with some spectacular views and unexpected warm-hearted company.

At very end, I owe you explanation of that little wordplay from title of this blog. Bigar actually does not mean BigAir. His name is derivation of name of light stone named 'bigra' which is in the walls that make this waterfall. But it seamed to me that it can come from Big Air :) It's big and air around him is amazingly clear, so maybe someone in distant times had English in his mind when he was naming this waterfall ;)

“I’ve realized that at the top of the mountain, there’s another mountain.”

– Andrew Garfield

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Part #1 -Amazing Canyon of Rosomac River
If you missed first part of our little walk across Old Mountain and story about another stunningly beautiful place Canyon of river Rosomac, you can find it here. It is a travel into one of most surprising places on Old Mountain, and a view of another untouched beauty of nature this area has to offer.
You may also click on the photo to reach Rosomac Canyon blog entry.

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Part #2 - Unbeliveable beauty of spring Jelovicko Vrelo
In our second day we visited place from some other planet - Jelovicko Vrelo. It looks more like scene from Elfish Kingdom than something quietly pampered in one, almost urban corner of Old Mountain. To reach beauty of this amazing place click here or at the photo of watery spring.

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Part #3 - Just exploring
Touch of wild beauty. On third part of out travels across Old Mountain, we simply walk around. You may witness some amazing places and pure natural beauty, while reading about what outdoor means for me and how I believe anyone should experience it. A little ode to modern society and how this monumental place can bring you to another level of knowing yourself and Nature around you.
To take third leg in our walk around Old Mountain, click here or at the photo.

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Part #4 - Water is source of all life
Surroundings of Temska village. One of those days when every step surprise you. One of those days when you expect to see nothing, but Nature has some other plans. In this blog entry , you can see some amazing usage Nature give to water, some beautiful waterfalls and springs around that little village in Old Mountain.
Visit this blog entry here or click at the photo.

If you like what you seen so far, stay tuned, our travel across Old Mountain is not over yet ;)

_{Camera info: Canon PowerShot SX50 HS
Post processing: Adobe Lightroom CC}

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<sup>To see all locations from my travels, visit my @SteemitWorldMap author link at:

http://steemitworldmap.com?author=dejan.vuckovic</sup>

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