DZRJL Summer Camp on Mt. Kanin High Mountain Hollows
July 30 and 31, 2018, 87 pictures
Most images are approximately 768 x 1024 pixels in size,
numbers in front of the picture descriptions are
serial numbers of the original photo files. Event participants
who contributed to the making of these pictures and related persons -
DZRJL team: Teo Delić, Nataša Sivec, Darja Kolar and Domagoj
Korais, Jure (Juki) and Svit Zakrajšek, Rafko (Cile), Nina, Ela, Samo and Ana Urankar, Kristofer (Bajsi), Lidija and Vanja Pečar,
Nika Pisek, Bor Vidic, Matija Poljanšek, Klemen Kramar, Vid Naglič, David Škufca, Dorotea Verša Paić,
Matic Di Batista - Diba and Špela Borko, Anže Oblak and Tomaž Kranjc - Garmin.
Klub Wysokogórski Kraków - Sekcja Taternictwa Jaskiniowego team: Michał, Marcin, Emanuel, Magdalena, Nela and Ula.
Adrian Wilkins helped with the karst form names of the picture 41290.
The content of this page, pictures, descriptions, sound file copyright (c) Primož Jakopin - Klok 2018.
To Go or Not to Go
41296 and 41297. The visit of the DZRJL summer camp on Mt. Kanin looked doomed even before the start. Sunday, July 29, was a hot day, appropriate for the visit of Iški Vintgar gorge and its river, Iška. Water sneakers in the left picture, acquired last year, would be a perfect footwear choice were they not a little tight. After the trip both little toes, the right one is shown here, were only good for barefoot walking. But the wish to visit this camp was many years old and this time seemed to be, sort of, a very rare opportunity, not to be missed. After Teo kindly contributed the .GPX file with the trail waypoints and after the author successfully downloaded the GPX viewer and learned how to use it on his cell-phone, all in all in half an hour, the decision to go was not such a problem any more.
Gozdec, July 30
41197. At Gozdec, close to 1.100 m above sea level, near the Kanin gondola lift'a B station, after two and a half hour drive by car, the trip also looked set for a good start, after this picture. It depicts a male silver-washed fritillary, Argynnis paphia, gospica in Slovenian and is also the author's first satisfactory cell-phone picture of a butterfly.
41199. (Many) cars of both parties, DZRJL and KW Kraków STJ, were parked at the forest roadside, left and right. Here the three northernmost cars are seen from the south. In the right lower corner of the picture ...
41198. ... this snack also took place: cooked chickpeas, corn bread, black cumin oil, garlic, two kiwis, aronia juice with hot water.
41200. Ready to go: the backpack with an 8-roll pack of toilet paper attached (Teo wrote that there is lack of this necessity on the mountain) and the classic Alpina boots.
The Trail to the DZRJL Summer Camp, Southern Route
41201. On the trail, below a mighty wall. The shoes were not too tight, the long walking cane was of great help, too, and so was Teo's .GPX file with route waypoints in the cell phone.
41293. The first intersection was actually the only one on the route - right uphill is the main trail, to Old Skalar Chalet, slightly left, even, is the trail to Veliki Babanjski skedenj, below which the DZRJL summer camp is located.
41294. Closer look revelas this signpost on the young beech tree, in the middle of the previous picture.
41202. A grove of Alpine cyclamen, Cyclamen purpurascens, navadna ciklama in Slovenian
41203. Forest boundary sign, carved in the rock at the trail side
41204. The trail, an old bridle path from the WWI, mulatera, winds gently through the dense, mainly beech forest which provides welcome shade.
41205. Fallen spruce invited ants to build this anthill on the trail.
41206. Another forest boundary sign
41207. Here heavy winds brought down quite a few beeches and spruces in the same spot, so a detour was necessary.
41208. But as every stick has two ends this detour uncovered this mighty solitary rock, detached from the mountain high above long long ago.
41209. At about 1.300 m above sea level the forest ends and the bridle path, obviously very little used, is heavily overgrown by tall grass and small shrubs. Teo's waypoints proved indispensable to check if all is as it should be, and so were the traces, left by the fellow cavers who passed here two days ago.
41210. View of Bovec, its plain and the surrounding mountains, from the trail
41211. Earleaf bellflower, Campanula cochleariifolia, trebušasta zvončica in Slovenian
41214. At this rocky gate Nataša walked in down the mountain. She had to return to Ljubljana temporarily, to settle some family affairs, will be back on Thursday. Her backpack is still large, but much less heavy than it was during the ascent past Friday, when the camping equipment, tent and all, was also included. The author was advancing much slower than anticipated, little toes slowed him down considerably, as did the photography. To get up the mountain in 4 hours as it was forecasted, and back again, after departing from the road quite some time past noon, seemed quite of reach. But when Nataša told him that it took her 8 hours to the camp, heavily loaded and also a bit out of practice, welcoming him with a sip of water to refresh and after kindly offering the possibility to use her (currently vacant) tent, the concerns could be put to rest.
41213. Elaborate setup for the photo to illustrate the rocky gate as a selfie in the absence of a tripod, rendered obsolete by the arrival of Nataša.
41215. Branched monkshood, Aconitum degenii subsp. paniculatum, latasta preobjeda in Slovenian
41216. The bridle path was properly built a century ago, with supporting walls and all ...
41217. A pit cave on the outer side of the bend, where the trail changes direction from south to west
41218. Wild carrot blossom with quite a few airborne guests
41220. Darja ...
41221. ... and Domagoj ...
41222. ... during the descent from the mountain
41223. A grove of ox-eye, Buphthalmum salicifolium, vrbovolistni primožek in Slovenian
41224. View north, over the slope of Mt. Kanin ridge. The clouds gathered, but the storm remained further south.
41225. Another pit cave, north of the trail ...
41226. ... and one more, on the same side of the trail.
41227. While taking the picture of this fern the author moved around for so long that he accidentally kicked the long walking cane which he left at the side. All he could hear were a few clong, clong sounds and the cane found its new postion in the pit, out of reach.
41228. Earleaf bellflowers, in the wall cracks
41229. A grove of Zois' bellflowers, Campanula zoysii, Zoisova zvončica in Slovenian
41230. View of Mali Babanjski skedenj, 1.700 m a. s. l.
41231. An alpine bouquet
41232. Two warleaf bellflowers
The Camp
41233. Rummy card game (remi in Slovenian) at the table in the main tent: Ela, Samo and Vanja
41234. Lunch and supper: braised calamari on onions with potato and broccoli, bread, homemade peach jam topped with Frutek carrot and apricot jam, plum compote
41235. Enjoying the last sunrays of the day: David, Klemen, Dorotea, Juki, Cile, Ana, Lidija and Nina
41236. Evening view west northwest towards Vrh Laške Planje (2.446 m) in the middle
41237. Klemen in the camp kitchen
41238. View west with Veliki Babanjski skedenj (2.117 m) dominating the horizon and Nataša's tent below it
41239. Early evening's happening around the main, eastern side of the camp
41240. Klemen's supper - pasta with tomato sauce
41242. Large thin aluminum bowl, a makeshift pot with herbs Cile collected for tea: common lady's mantle, Alchemilla vulgaris (plahtica in Slovenian), kidney vetch, Anthyllis vulneraria (ranjak) and thymes, Thymus alpestris (materina dušica)
41246 - 41248. Panoramic view of the main social venue of the camp, under the big tent, during the dinner, clockwise from the left lower corner: Nika, Bor, Matic, Špela, David, Juki, Dorotea, Nina. Cile, Bajsi, Lidija, Ana, Svit, Samo, Vanja and Ela
41243. The following 40-something second sound recording was made accidentally during an initial (futile) attempt to take the above picture of the supper table. The loudest voices belong to Klok and Bajsi.
41249. A group gathered around the power generator, positioned on the ledge above the camp from where there was a clear sight of Bovec with a good phone signal. The generator ran for two hours or so to charge the cell phone batteries. View from the west: Matic, Garmin, Vid, Klemen ...
41250. ... and from above, from the south: Nika, Klemen, Garmin, ?, Vid, ? and Matic
41251. Night wiew of the camp from the west, from Nataša's tent. There was some slight turmoil when Svit went to pick something from one of the yellow illuminated tents (they were in the dark at the time) and quickly returned in panic because a strange large horny animal was sneaking around. Špela, professionally intrigued, made an inspection and discovered that her caving helmet, unseen the whole afternoon, was at the tent entrance but its straps were all wet and slimy. The animal that scared hell out of Svit was a capricorn female who found the helmet, discovered that its straps were salty (because of sweat) and licked the salt off.
The Camp, July 31
41252. Cooking breakfast on the vintage main kitchen gas stove
41253. The breakfast: porridge made from muesli found in the leftovers area on the table, peach jam, plum compote
41254. Dorotea is preparing breakfast on the smaller, single plate stove
41255. View northwest from a rocky outcrop south of the camp, across the entire Kanin plateau and its ridge from Visoki Kanin (2.587 m) top left to Prestreljenik (2.498 m) top right
41257. View northeast with Mt. Mangart (2.678 m) top left, Jalovec (2.643 m) top middle and Rombon (2.208 m) center middle
41258. Edelweiss, Leontopodium alpinum, planika in Slovenian, probably the most adored flower from Julian Alps
41259. Purple inflorescences on rich green leaves' base - what would it be?
41260. Vid
41261. Juki
41262. Nina
41263. The invincibles: Cile and Bajsi
41264. Dorotea
41268. Klemen
41269. There were 18 tents in the camp at its peak time. 9, on the eastern side, are seen here, sheltered below the rock ridge. The main, dark green one, served as the kitchen, eatery and living room.
41270. Jaka
41271. Matija
41272. David
41273. Anže, his contribution to the summer camp was most precious.
41274. Water-supply department. Cile and Bajsi kept bringing water daily from a small water catchment, carved into the rock by the Italian army during the World War I, 15 minutes walk down the trail to Gozdec.
From the Camp to the Old Skalar Chalet
41275. The land of Kanin plateau is mostly barren, weathered limestone surface with frequent openings in the rock.
41276. View out from the small cavern on the right of the previous picture
41277. Snow can still be found in shady indentations ...
41278 and 41279. ... here and there.
41280. The trail is often not visible, across the alpine meadows, but is marked by cairns in strategic positions. Sometimes, like the one depicted here, they are of original and inventive design.
41281. A small but well visible cairn, a nipple on a rocky dome
41282. View northeast with Mangart and Jalovec on the horizon
41284. A Sword-of-Damocles-like stone, about 2 m in diameter, caught on top of a large fissure, view from the south ...
41283. ... and from the north
41285. A mushroom with a smaller, more hidden sibling
41289. View of the old ruin, the chalet burned to the ground on January 1, 1972, this year preparations started for an upgrade into a new alpine caving shelter. It is also the venue of the Kraków cavers' summer camp for many years now, the main result of which is BC4 - Poljska jama / Polish cave, a cave itself among the deepest on Kanin plateau. On December 17, 2005 it was connected to the Mala Boka cave, the latter previously explored only from the entrance up. The entire system (Mala Boka - BC4) is now 1319 m deep and so the second deepest crossover cave in the world. This year's Polish efforts were directed to exploration of the cave area around the syphon at -900 m. The first group of cavers entered the cave on Sunday, July 29 and will stay in the cave for 60 hours when a new team will replace it. Polish cavers welcomed the author ...
41287. ... with a tea (Silver Grey variety), prepared on this modern cooking setup.
41288. A group selfie: Klok, Michał, Marcin, Emanuel, Magdalena, Nela and Ula. Nela is 4 years old and it is her third summer time on Mt. Kanin. A click on the picture brings it in original resolution, slightly cropped and with an enhanced gamma value.
41290. A slanted limestone plate with small channels, in England and Ireland it is called limestone pavement, the channels are grikes (žlebiči in Slovenian), which the rainwater carved, a herald of caves deeper below
41291. Kraków cavers provided the author with this walking cane, most helpful during the descent.
41292. Two Alpine cyclamen blossoms and six leaves, growing from the rock crack
Radošca / Radoshitza Cave, Day 85, July 25
Radošca / Radoshitza Cave, Day 88, August 22
This page, text and photos by Primož Jakopin;
send inquiries and comments to
primoz jakopin guest arnes si (insert dots and at sign as appropriate).
Page initiated on August 1, 2018; date of the last change: May 4, 2019.
