Four of The Seven Rila Lakes

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.

Lord Byron

The Seven Rila lakes are for sure one of the most beautiful places in Rila mountain. And as there is a chair lift leading pretty close to them, that makes them easy accessible and probably the most visited mountain place here. I've seen them only once many years ago and even though I was impressed by their beauty, something was missing. The place just didn't "touch" me. It took me some time to figure out what was the problem (and A LOT of hiking) - I visited them in their top tourist season which makes the place to be felt more like a crowded market. Now I know that to enjoy a hike, I need the mountain to be (almost) only for me. The difference in the experience in crowded mountain and in empty mountain is huge!

That's why, after that first slightly disappointing time 7 years ago, I go there only in the winter, when there are no lakes, because they are hidden under the snow.

This year I found out that I have a huge gap in my hiking experience in Rila - I've never hiked there in the spring. Everyone would tell you that the spring is not the most appropriate time because of the melting snow and that you should wait at least until the middle or the end of June. And that's true for most of the beautiful places, located in a higher altitude, but for these lakes for example, if you're ready the sacrifice half of them(these that are higher in the mountain) , you can witness some incredibly beautiful scenes, different from the other seasons and another bonus - no one else around.

I knew that I should definitely visit them now after I discovered the magic of the spring mountain, and I tried a while ago, but there were still two much snow just before the first lake , my feet were sinking two much, got wet, and I got exhausted and turned back disappointed after 3 hours of hiking without seeking any lake. It took me some time to gather motivation to try again and knowing approximately where the snow boundary was, I was hoping that I could see 2 of them.

The first two hours were through a beautiful forest.

Then the forest ended and the mighty mountains showed up. Most of the time the pathway was covered with water or mud which was great for me, because I hike barefoot (except in the snow).

I reached the first lowest lake and when I looked up I was surprise to see in the distance that instead of the steep pathway leading to the next one there was a wide snow field looking pretty bad with deep holes showing something like a giant waterfall underneath the snow. The first lake is the less interesting and I was a bit unhappy that I hiked again three hours without the opportunity to see more of the mountain. I had to return just before the interesting part. Still I continued walking upwards hoping that at least I could see the first lake from a higher point before going back.

The first lake - "The Lower Lake", 2,095 m (6,873 ft)

And then I noticed another pathway in the snow that someone else had made before me! And soon I was near the second lake.

The second lake - "Fish Lake", 2,184 m (7,165 ft)

Luckily for me, I could continue even further. I didn't know the area very well but it turned out that the next two lakes are pretty close. And they were just amazing!!

The third lake - "The Trefoil", 2,184 m (7,165 ft)

It was so beautiful up there that I almost couldn't believe my eyes. I was lucky with the weather too - constantly changing amazing clouds. I managed to capture this photo above and minutes later the sun disappeared and with it also the reflection of the mountain in the lake.

A lot of dark clouds appeared while I was doing splits and handstands trying to be fancy enough for some photos with the gorgeous landscape behind me.

The fourth lake - "The Twin", 2,243 m (7,359 ft)

This is the largest one although most of it was still covered with ice. It was getting late and I could already hear thunders. I wouldn't have minded a little rain, but it didn't happen. It was good that the pathway ended here, because probably I couldn't have resisted the temptation to continue.

It was getting darker and darker up there and in the end it was more or less like this.

I almost fell many times. It was quite slippery. I'm a lady... Just a bit covered with mud though :D

As I was going back I met a lot of wild pigs with a lot of babies in the forest for the first time in the mountains. At first I was really afraid, but it turned out that they were even more afraid of my screaming so they run away pretty quickly from me. When I came back from the mountain, I read more (just to recall) about the right attitude when you met different wild animals. Luckily it's quite rare here in Rila. I' m not sure that I would manage to keep calm if I met a bear. The baby pigs were pretty cute though!

Some reflections in the forest

Expect soon the next three :) When the snow melt. Here are all of them(without the first one).

Source, The other photos are taken by me.

Thank you for stopping by!