A Walk to Falls & Villages in Slovenia - No Talk, No Music, Just Nature. - 4K Virtual Hike
A virtual countryside and forest walk & hike to mountain villages & Kozjak Falls in the Julian Alps of Slovenia, with no talk, no music, no close-up shots of my ugly mug... just nature (well, mostly) & relaxation. The full journey in real-time, 4K video.
And now for something a little different! I was very privileged last year to cross off a destination long at the top of my bucket list: Slovenia, an endearingly compact nation that packs a mighty punch scenery-wise. Soaring gray peaks, surreally blue rivers, and a sea of emerald forests, fields, & rolling hills - it's seriously the greenest country I've ever seen (with a charming capital to boot). Hopefully this hike showcases a little bit of each.
Cozy, tourist-oriented Kobarid is the launching point for this trip, which first goes from the town center to its outskirts (included for those curious what a Slovenian town is like), then crosses Napoleon Bridge before strolling along the high banks of the beautiful Soča River. Next is a sidetrip through a small gorge to unique Kozjak Falls, then up and away on tranquil backlanes to an upper valley & two mountain villages - Magozd and Drežnica. Finally, a scruffy circuit loops down past farms and eerily quiet woods, atop another gorge, and back to the bridge.
Next will be 1 or 2 more "traditional" hikes in Slovenia, then back to our regularly scheduled program in the Pacific NW. Big thanks to Roy Clark, Justi Carey, and @CiceronePress for their invaluable "Walking the Julian Alps of Slovenia" guidebook, without which I would've never discovered the wild & woolly second half of this walk (and might still be stumbling around the backwoods to this day). Enjoy!
Highlights:
00:00 - Intro
00:48 - Kobarid
13:30 - Napoleon Bridge (Napoleonov most)
27:46 - Soča River Views
30:00 - Bridge Divers
35:35 - A Cave, & More Views
43:36 - Entering the Kozjak Gorge
47:45 - Kozjak Falls (Slap Kozjak)
56:48 - A Junction; Up through Forest
1:08:55 - The Meadow Pasture; Mt. Krn Views
1:13:48 - A Clearing & More Meadows
1:20:07 - First Valley Views & a Distant Village
1:25:20 - The Village of Magozd
1:30:13 - Church Bells & Back Roads
1:47:50 - First View of Drežnica Village
1:56:15 - More Valley Views (and Sheep!)
1:59:00 - The Village of Drežnica
2:08:55 - San Fermin Church
2:17:37 - Loop Down the Village (& one shy cat)
2:25:28 - Parting Shots of Village & Valley
2:27:55 - Quiet Country Lane & Farms
2:33:55 - (Invisible) Goats; Into the Woods
2:39:45 - Old Farm Buildings; Overgrown Tread
2:44:03 - Ročica River Gorge Rim
2:49:40 - Last Views of Mt. Krn; Continued Descent
3:15:30 - Distant Village View, Then Even Further Down
3:24:02 - The Road At Last, & One More Detour
3:34:10 - Closing the Loop (but where on Earth am I?!)
3:46:34 - Outro & Ratings
Hike Stats:
* Distance: 8.1 mi / 13 km
* Elevation Gain: 1050 ft / 320 m
* Trailhead GPS: 46.24695, 13.57965
Filmed July 2022. I'm still ironing out the camera setup, as well as the format/structure for future videos. Please feel free to comment on the good, the bad, or the ugly; this is an on-going learning experience. My hope is for each video to improve on the last.
Пікірлер: 17
love that it is quiet but with captions available
Absolutely stunning!!! The villages, the valleys,the meadows and the beautiful falls. What a great place to hike!! Your camera work is excellent and makes me feel like I'm right there. Thanks!!
@ExciteHike
Жыл бұрын
So glad to hear that, thanks so much!
I finished the full hike today, start to finish with a few breaks in between. Happy I came across your channel! I really appreciate that you uploaded the full loop. It gives a sense of satisfaction to complete a hike in such stunning surroundings, even if it's only on a treadmill. Fantastic scenery! If paradise is half as nice as Slovenia, I think I will buy a ticket. Thanks for the upload! Also you did a great job on the subtitles, which makes the hike even more interesting.
@ExciteHike
Жыл бұрын
Thanks so much for the kind words! Slovenia really is paradise, can't recommend it enough.
Your videos are honestly the best virtual hikes I've come across! Usually I put on nature videos as background for my AM journaling, but yours has successfully distracted me. Your witty and interesting commentary is quite entertaining! Feeling like I'm experiencing your hike creates motivation and excitement to discover new hiking spots. Thank you for making these!
Thank you for sharing a beautiful and wonderful video. I hope you have a lot of good things this week.
@ExciteHike
Жыл бұрын
Hope the same for you, thanks so much!
Perfect video, great job.
@ExciteHike
Жыл бұрын
Thank you much!
I've never been to Slovenia. But strangely, my little green parrot loves this video. After work and on weekends she and I have started watching walking videos. This is her very favorite! I don't know how she distinguishes between the videos. They all have beautiful trees, mountains, and waterfalls. But when I put this one on, Queen Cleo-Parrotra wakes up and begins dancing-- even though you are just walking through the town. When the waterfalls are shown, she jumps in her water dish and takes a bath. When the bells in the church ring, she sings. It's a little bird's delight! Thanks so much for your tireless walking! Do you ever get to sit down?🦜
@ExciteHike
5 ай бұрын
I love this so much, thank you (and Queen Cleo-Parrotra!) for watching. I usually take a few breaks when I can but for this hike surprisingly I didn't, except at the church. I think the scenery kept drawing me on... I always wanted to see what was around the next corner!
@ExciteHike
5 ай бұрын
I love this so much, thank you (and Queen Cleo-Parrotra!) for watching. I usually take a few breaks when I can but for this hike surprisingly I didn't, except at the church. I think the scenery kept drawing me on... I always wanted to see what was around the next corner!
*waves at the sheep* 😅 no judgement, interacting with nature is healthy
You are a very brave guy, hiking through remote uncharted (by you) territory. I loved the beauty of that place, and I appreciated your comparison of it to the US. When I was a child, I lived in the woods in western WA and my parents would take me and my sister for walks on trails similar to those you were hiking. There was a small creek and abandoned very old buildings. This brought back memories and it kept me spellbound. The waterfall hike was beautiful. I was a little anxious when you were walking close to the edge of the precipices. I was thinking the trail could give way. The hike through the last woods was a little monotonous, but not boring. I stuck with you because I wanted to see the next meadow. I imagined I was you. There's just something about a trail in the woods that tweaks my curiosity and compels me to keep going. Thank you for this very refreshing experience.
May I ask what camera you are using? I am disabled, but my niece is going on a vacation to northern New York, and I thought I would buy a GoPro for her to record a walk in Palmyra that is important to us. I'm thinking of a GoPro 12. Do you put your camera on your hat? Or do you carry it on a stick?
@ExciteHike
4 ай бұрын
Certainly! I use a GoPro 10 but from everything I've read I'd highly recommend going with the 12. Longer battery life, wider field of view - there's no reason not to if price is no object. The 10s & 11s would definitely be a little cheaper now. A stick is ideal if a) the walk is not too long (since they'll have to hold it the whole time) and b) they don't care about capturing the 'natural' ambient sounds... the gimbal-type sticks actually make a surprising amount of noise, which a GoPro will capture. If either of those are a factor, then yes I'd use a hands-free hat attachment or somewhere else etc., which is what I use. Good luck!