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At the end of March 2024 I traveled down to Croatia with trains and buses to the wonderful Velebit mountain range. The nature in these mountains is protected by several National Parks and Nature Parks and they include some ancient old growth forests. Therefore the Velebit mountains are a refuge for true wilderness, which is increasingly rare in Europe. When I hiked there for 7 nights and 8 days, winter had just ended and the last patches of snow were melting. So the colour green was mostly absent from the landscape and only the first spring flowers were popping up. The weather was also quite stormy and windy and I barely saw any other people in the mountains.
I slept in mountain shelters, which are entirely free and accessible to everyone without booking. Those shelters and huts can be found throughout the Velebit mountains, and (as I was told by other hikers) also in other mountain ranges of Croatia.
00:00 Intro
01:18 Arriving at Velebit
02:07 First hiking day
05:25 The mountain shelter
07:10 Chill day during the storm
08:12 Big hiking day
11:45 Old forests and military stations
16:46 The old hut and crazy rocks
18:41 Day hike with new friends
20:56 A final day hike