Via Dinarica XI, Motel Snježna Kuća, Rujište to ridge at 43.617333°N 18.099517°E

Friday, June 28, 2024, Rujište to cabin at 43.554739°N 18.073585°E
We went down to breakfast just before 7 am. I paid our bill, 402.50 km (US $220) for two nights and all our meals. The receptionist/waiter, Mahmut Zuskic, was ever such a nice guy.
Outside was a whiteout but by the time we'd finished eating breakfast and were ready to leave, at 8:30, the fog had cleared.
It was road walking all the way to Boracko Lake. We met another Via Dinarica backpacker headed in the opposite direction. Vlad was originally from Latvia but now lives in London. He went to Manchester University, the same as me. My Ph.D. was in Biochemistry, his was in digital marketing. Vlad had started out with a friend who had twisted his ankle and bailed so Vlad was now hiking alone.
Patsy and I descended to Boracko Lake and ate a late lunch at the first cafe we came to, Caffe M. It was okay, but not great. We've been spoiled. We had salads and pizza, plus I got a ham and cheese sandwich to eat later.
We set out again just after 15:00, figuring the temperature would start cooling off. Walking down the asphalt road we came to a potential shortcut but a sign warned about potential land mines so we stuck to the road. We turned off the asphalt onto a concrete road just after crossing the Naretva River. Cars still kept passing us, however.
These cars were all headed to a couple of Muslim cemeteries. When we reached the cemeteries there was a crowd of men, but no women. I said, "Dobardan", but didn't receive a reply so kept walking.
We crossed paths with two fishermen and then five Italian guys who were hiking the Via Dinarica but were sleeping indoors every night. They were sweating up a storm.
We continued to the Naretva river itself but the canyon was too steep so we backtracked and thought we might camp near a cabin we'd passed. There was no one at the cabin but it had everything we needed, running water, a flush toilet, USB power, and a place to sleep under a roof.
Just after we'd eaten it started to rain but we were cozy under the cover of the roof. No problem!
18.5 miles
Saturday, June 29, 2024, Cabin at 43.554739°N 18.073585°E to camp on ridge at 43.617333°N 18.099517°E
We slept really well until 2:30 when the noise of something rustling around woke us up. We'd hung our food, and my backpack. Patsy uses her backpack to lengthen her sleeping pad. I finally caught sight of it, black and about the size of a rat but more agile than a rat. I never figured out what it was getting into. None of our stuff. Nevertheless, it was hard to fall back asleep.
Since we couldn't sleep well we got up as soon as it was light enough to see. Having chairs, tables, running water, and a WC sure makes life a lot easier. We were able to set off at 5:45.
The going was hard right from the start. We had to climb 1,000' up a very steep ridge. It was hot, sweaty work. As soon as the sun hit us the climbing was brutal, although we were hiking through a forest so did at least benefit from intermittent shade.
We had to contour around the side of a mountain. This wasn't quite as sweaty but it was scary in places because of a tremendous drop-off. Quite a few places had fixed steel cables to hang on to.
We followed a gravel road for a while and were finally able to use our chrome dome umbrellas.
We reached the location of a spring, but couldn't find it. Then we couldn’t even find our trail but there were a lot of flags for the "Vucko (Wolf) Trail" race that was held the previous weekend. Luckily, the race followed much of the Via Dinarica and was well-marked. By following the race markers, we soon also picked up the Via Dinarica markers. Patsy spotted the spring, 600' away from where it was marked on our maps. The spring was a little cave but a rusty bucket provided a handy way to fish out some water. We filtered the water and made cups of tea.
Then it was another big climb. We lost the trail again climbing towards Vranske stigene (1,299 m) but continuing along the flank of the mountain I spotted the house that we were aiming for.
I looked around but I couldn't find a spring or a well. However, there was a large, fenced vegetable garden so I figured they must have a water source. Inside the fence was a concrete rainwater catch basin and cover. Aha! but the cover was locked! I'd never encountered this before. The padlock was small and rusty. I thought it might even be too rusty to work so I tried tugging on it to see if it was really locked. The concrete had crumbled so I lifted off the entire concrete cover, metal cover, and lock. I fished out 2.5 litres with my weighted water bottle on a cord.
From here on, it was a superb ridge walk overlooking the deep Rakitnica river canyon.
We set up camp on the ridgeline. After dinner, I walked 1/3 mile further down the trail looking for water. I found a tank with a few inches of water in the bottom. The area looked very forlorn. All the houses were wrecks, just some walls left standing.
9 miles, 4,000' gain