The new morning dawned on Durmitor and it seems to me that neither this time will I spend enough time to hug this mountain the way it hugged me when I lived here. Back in the time the mountain was my cruel professor, teaching me everything that helped me to be great every time the world threw me under its feet. That’s why I feel every moment I spend here have to be special and every day I have to do something. Same thing this morning. The clouds have gathered over the Durmitor and a drop of rain tells us that we should pack up our plans into a cup of coffee in one of the local cafes. No. We will go up. If it rains, we will choose to do the shorter route. That’s what we do.
After breakfast we drive to our starting point – Dobri Do, which is located approximately 3km from Sedlo, on the way to Trsa. The car goes back to Zabljak and now we’re here, there’s no turning back. The only way we will choose is a sharp rise which we climb until the drizzly rain and the wind increases, although I have a feeling that it will soon calm down and will let us get to the mountain hut where we will spend the night.
We leave Sedlo behind. The track is a combination of rock and soil, and vegetation is rare – grass and wildflowers from which I made wreaths when I was a child. The climb is steady and quite tiring us, and then we reach the saddle Škrčko zdrijelo, located in the middle of imaginary path that I mapped in my head. This is the highest on the track, at an altitude of 2114m. Before the saddle is steady climb, but after it everything becomes easy, only a strong wind is trying to take us off the road.
Our view is changed, the vegetation is different, like it’s announcing Škrčka lakes that are waiting for us. From the rain that had threatened us, now there is no trace. Above us are peaks Bobotov kuk, Prutaš, Soa and Sareni pasovi and we know that we’re close.
We are going down and on the horizon appears Škrčko lake located at an altitude of 1686 m. We give it a moment of attention, with the intention to come back later, when we leave things in the hub, and visit the small lake located behind the home, at an altitude of 1711 m. It welcomes us bathed in the sun, and we sit for a while on its coast and absorb rays, which felt amazing after icy wind that whipped us through the mountain.
Škrčko lake was the main goal and we spend more time on its coast.
I sit on a rock, looking at turquoise color around me. If I look up, I see the peaks that are still illuminated by the sun, even if the day comes to an end. The wind is ruffling my hair and I’m not trying to move it from the face anymore.
-This mountain is so unusually beautiful. But how it happened? – I ask Jelena, who is sitting on a rock next to mine.
-You wish it all on your chest. But not in a negative sense, but to hug it. To hug it, and then to put it back, where it belongs – she answered.
We continue pleasant silence and watch the thin waves moving from the left to the right, as if they want to convince me that they are transient. Like I do not know that I know her more than them. The mountain taught me everything as well as that the time is just a despicable lie.
We’re going back to the hub, which is a place with immense potential, unused. To sleep over is 5e and let’s say that it is functional. To a certain extent. Fireplace, which I saw when I came in and that made me imagine a crackling fire with a glass of wine is not working from ’86.
We are sitting on a bench outside and watch the moon that’s size of a coin, nestled between two peaks and it perfectly enhances the panorama with fluffy shy clouds crawling under and over it.
-What is the love for the mountain, sit and freeze up – Jelena breaks the silence.
-Oh .. nothing here is important. You can be no one, with no name. Human being. Alive. I close my eyes and feel. My mountain loves me.
Photos by my dear friend Jelena Jovićević