Hiking Marathon

Two weekends ago we joined another Peace Corps couple, Dan and Jillian, on a 27 mile hike from one town in eastern Macedonia to another. The day began with a 4:00 am taxi ride from their town of Kriva Palanka to the town of Probishtip. After a tour of 800 year old Lesnovo Monastery where both Jillian and I had to put on skirts and Conor pants due to the presence of a monk, we set out. This 3rd annual marathon hike is organized by the Kriva Palanka hiking club and we accompanied 30 members ranging in age from 17 to mid-60s.

The views were amazing and as Dan puts it, "We passed through no less than half a dozen terrains and I think several microclimates on our journey, including a boggy marsh, a beautiful meadow, some loose boulders and for about 500 meters, a desert." During the first third of our trek we had to cross a river - not particularly deep, but with a rocky, uneven bottom. Up to this point two small dogs from Lesnovo Monastery had joined us and wanted to continue, and as we reached the other side of the river we heard much whining and splashing as the littlest jumped in. He got swept downstream and over a small waterfall, and instead of swimming to the side he relentlessly tried climbing back up the falls. He was pulled out by a fellow hiker and sat there drying off and resting from his laborious swim. We continued on our way, assuming the two pups had gone home until the other one showed up as we were eating lunch. After ten more kilometers it was obvious he intended to complete the hike with us. Near the end as we commented on his determination, the leader of the hiking club answered back, "Oh him? He comes along every year and then he walks home."

At the peak of our hike

We arrived at Osogovski Monastery in Kriva Palanka around 8:00 pm just as the sun was fading, and finished off our day with dinner and beer. It felt nice to finally put up our feet. While resting though we couldn't help but think of Jim (Conor's dad) who's on his own journey on the Santiago de Compostela trail in Spain, hiking nearly 500 miles in four weeks.

Osogovski Monastery in Kriva Palanka