In the middle of my study abroad experience, we all got a week off of school. We had school on Thanksgiving later in the quarter, so this week off was a sort of replacement for it. I decided to go to three countries in the Balkans: Albania, Montenegro, and Serbia. Though I originally planned on doing this just to get out of the Schengen area for a week, I ended up having an amazing time and falling in love with Albania. This is mostly because of an amazing hike that I did, which somehow beats every other one I’ve done in my life (and I’ve done a good bit of hiking). 

The hike went from one national park to another; it started in the Valbona Valley National Park and ended in the Theth National Park. To get to the trailhead, it took an entire day of transportation from where I was staying in Shkodra, and a stay in a guest house in Valbona. This consisted of a two-hour van ride, a three-hour boat ride up a long winding lake, and another two-hour van ride through a sketchy mountain landscape. The transportation was all arranged by the hostel I was staying at in Shkodra, so I was with a group of fellow hostellers the entire way through. This was a wild journey just to get to the trailhead, and it brought all of us strangers very close together. The guest house in Valbona had a beautiful open field for us to lay in under the sun, as well as a river going through (which was very cold but well worth the swim). That night, we all received a wonderful home-cooked meal from the owners of the house.

In the morning, we started bright and early on our trek to Theth National Park, as it was a long hike that would likely take us the whole day. Right as we got started we were surrounded by the most colorful fall leaves I’ve seen in ages, as well as massive mountains and cliffsides. I hiked with the whole group for the first hour or so, then we came to a fork in the road. One was the actual trail we were supposed to follow, and one led down to a waterfall about a mile out. I was not going to turn down a waterfall, so I ended up splitting up from the group and trekking to it all by myself. It was a little scary to be alone in the remote mountains of Albania, but it was well worth it. The waterfall was absolutely gorgeous, especially when standing behind it and having the sea of autumn foliage in the background. The serenity of sitting alone at this waterfall brought an immense feeling of peace to my day, and I’m so glad that I decided to venture off on my own to find it.

Eventually I had to hop back on the trail and hike my way through countless switchbacks, eventually arriving at the top of the mountains to cross over to the other side. At the peak I had a 360-degree view of all of the mountains in the area, as well as the brightly colored trees sprawling out for what seemed like forever. This scenery was breathtakingly gorgeous, and I never wanted to leave. I danced atop the mountain by myself, trying to soak up every second I had in this paradise of nature. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay on top of the mountain forever, as I would hate to be stuck out on the trail in a remote foreign area after dark. I started walking my way down and eventually caught up with my group again. I was never scared of losing the trail when I was by myself, for there were many other hiker groups on it, but I was happy to run into the people I knew again and navigate it together.

The sun was setting by the time we got into the town of Theth, illuminating the mountains around us in pink. We eventually got to our guest house in town and had another delicious home-cooked dinner. This entire day was one of the best in my whole life, and I’m so fortunate that everything worked out. From the weather, the timing with the seasons, and the people I got to hike with, it all went to perfection. I found this hike randomly while searching around for what to do in Albania, and I could have never imagined it’d be as spectacular as it was. I’m so grateful to this country for giving me my favorite hike I’ve ever been on.