Hiking In The Rila Mountains
The Rila National Park , established in 1992, covers almost half the Rila mountain range (including its fourteen highest peaks), with a network of hiking trails and huts built in Communist times. These are slowly being refurbished with an eye to eco-tourism, though most are still rudimentary, and information on vacancies or the weather remains scarce. For any of the hikes, food supplies and a map of the mountains are essential, and it's prudent to pack a tent in case the huts are full or you need to take shelter. It's strictly forbidden to pick flowers or light fires (except at designated spots). A noticeboard in the car park maps out the options for hikers starting from Rila Monastery . From here, two trails (which later converge at Dodov Vrah) lead to the Ivan Vazov hut - about six hours' hard slog. This is a good base from which to press on to the Sedemte ezera or Seven Lakes , one of the most visually stunning areas of the Rila massif and an enormously popular target for hikers: the hut here is reckoned to be the most comfortable in Bulgaria. From here you can descend north towards Sapareva Banya (passing the Lovna hut), or east towards Malyovitsa (passing the Malyovitsa hut). The Seven Lakes can be treated as a day trip from Malyovitsa, providing you start reasonably early. The less well-trodden paths of the Rila mountains lie over on the eastern side of the range. Trails leading northeast from Kirilova Polyana, 5km east of Rila Monastery, take you up towards Suhoto ezero , or Dry Lake , before wheeling northwest over the range towards Malyovitsa - although there's no hut on this route, so you'll need to camp overnight at the lake. East of Rila Monastery, the Ribnite ezera ( Fish Lakes ) are another feasible destination, with a hut nearby. You can reach them by following the Kirilova Polyana road to its end, and then following the Rilska up to its source in the mountains, or by a trail bearing southeast about halfway along the road, which crosses the ridge and passes some smaller lakes en route. Both walks take six to seven hours. Southeast of Rila Monastery is another hut, Makedoniya , accessible by several paths originating from the minor road forking off a few kilometres west of the monastery. From the hut it's a day's hike west down to Bistritsa (from where buses run to Blagoevgrad), or a few hours' walk east to the Semkovo hut, which can also be reached from the Fish Lakes and may serve as a way-station for walkers making longer hikes (2-3 days) towards the Pirin or Rhodope mountains. Semkovo lies on the way to Belitsa and Yakoruda, two villages linked by bus or train to Razlog, Bansko and Velingrad. Hikers can also descend from here to the village of Dobarsko via the hut of the same name. Alternatively, the Granchar hut (named "Boris Hadzhisotirov" on older maps), due east of the Fish Lakes, serves hikers bound for Mt Musala and Borovets, or those pursuing a more easterly path down to Yakoruda.
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