Paklancia 2026

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Another early morning with the objective to beat the heat and the crowds. The objective was to head to the Paklencia National Park, just a few miles away, and make a plan there looking at a map and chatting with the ranger.

When I arrived at the park most of the people there were climbers. My casual observation of them climbing raised the question of 'where is the anchor for the belayer?' It looked like the belayer would just get dragged up the side of the cliff if the climber fell. Having someone fall while walking past to see what happened would have been informative.

My target today would be the Manita Peć cave, a 1-1/2 hour 1100ft hike. The cave is only open 10-13:00. I happily arrived at 9AM having avoided much of the heat from the rising sun. The ranger was a bit surprised to see me there as he arrived at 9:15. Age must be taking a toll because the heat debilitates me. (Well, I definitely don't like it.) A very cherie Croatian woman and her husband arrived after a spell. She spoke broken English sharing they the live on one of the islands and decided to be tourists. I wish I'd thought to ask her which island.

The Manita Peć cave has two large rooms descending about 300ft from the entrance. This range of mountains that parallels the Adriatic is called the Velebit with peaks upwards of 5000ft. They are predominantly limestone and dolomite. There distinctive characteristic is the karst. So karst is a surface phenomenon due to dissolution of the limestone by water creating jagged sharp surfaces. (On the Caymen island of Little Brac, the jagged pieces become so tall and thin that striking them sounds like fine china. They would slice a person up if they were to fall on them.) The same dissolution creates the caves. There are many in the area. We entered and returned by the same entrance without a guide.

After arriving back at the main trail I decided to continue on up the valley to the 'forest hut'. Along the way I stopped at a hut that sold food and drinks. A lone older man was there. When I asked about an item on the 'menu' he barked at me, "This is not a restaurant"! He then firmly laid out on the counter sausge, bacon, and sliced cheese and pointed to the big pot of bean soup on the stove. Again he said, "This is not a restaurant!" in a belacose irritated voice. I could tell that was the extent of his English. I ordered a water with gas.

As tired as I thought I was, I decided to continue on up the valley to the Mountain Lodge. It didn't take long. It is in a lovely setting next to the now flowing/cascading creek in a stand of birch and pine trees. The elevation was now high enough to be considered a different eco system. From here, after hiking for several hours, I decided to return to the start.

Going down is always easier. I found two places with cool drinking water and enjoyed them both lavishly. I paid €5 to visit the 'Underground City of Paklencia' an entertaining museum with the geological and human history of the region. The 'underground' is because it was dug into the limestone as part of WWII defenses. Once at the car I decided to do one more short hike with about 300ft of elevation gain to a ruin called Paklarić overlooking the sea, coastline, and valley I'd just hiked.

This evening I tried sitting next to the water to prepare the blog. After sitting still long enough the crabs would come out to dine. The mosquitos didn't take long to find me. They are very small and silent. Spotting one deserves a gold star. The win still goes to the northern Canadian mosquito for numbers, size, and veraciousness, but dang these Croatian ones are a tight second. Fortunately the itch only lasts a couple of hours.