Croatia, and more specifically Nacionalni park Paklenica (pronounced: Pahk lay neats uh), came at a very critical time in my travels. After a busy 3 week tour crossing from Germany to Luxembourg, France, Ireland, and England, I’d become overwhelmingly stressed and exhausted. I was spending no more than a couple nights at each place before I was off again. Difficulty finding Couchsurfing hosts lead to several last minute hostel bookings. Saying “Good Bye” on such a regular basis was really taking its toll bringing on feelings of loneliness. I began to feel homesick for the first time ever and I had started to become very ambivalent about traveling. I seriously considered calling it quits at least once and this was only about 4 months into what I had anticipated would be a couple year adventure. Something was not right. I was moving around too quickly. I determined then, it was time for a change. It was time… to slow down.

I arrived into Croatia via car with my long time friends Corey and Dave and their (and now also my) friend Braxton. We were heading from the US Army base in Germany where they live towards Split for Ultra Music Festival. They had purchased 5 tickets and had two people bail, so I told them I’d fill one of the tickets and Braxton’s friend, Sandra, filled the other. Despite the Bura winds forcing Ultra to cancel Friday night, the weekend turned out to be overall a lot of fun and a huge success. I left nearly every ounce (28.3495 grams) of energy on the dance floor and by the end of the weekend not a drop remained. On the last night, I don’t think it was more than 5 minutes inside the door before I was passed out, face down on my bed!

The next couple days were spent recovering from the festival with relaxing on the beach, swimming next to giant waterfalls, fancy fish dinners, and even a boat ride that was captained by Braxton for a bit! Eventually though, the others had to return to their lives and dispersed back home. I decided I would chill out and stay in Croatia for what I thought would be a couple weeks.

Once the others left, I moved to a hostel located right on the Adriatic Sea with the goal of doing absolutely nothing but laying in the sun and jumping in the water. So… that’s exactly what I did for three days straight! After that, I began climbing in the Split/Omiš (pronounced: Oh meesh) area with Marin, whom I’d met through my Reddit post asking about climbing in Croatia. In all, I spent two weeks relaxing and climbing in the Split area before I headed off to Starigrad, the small town where Paklenica is located.

About a week before I headed to Starigrad, I searched “Croatia Climbing” on Facebook and messaged the Paklenica Climbing Gekko, or Gušter (pronounced: goo shtaird; translated: lizard) as they call him around here, inquiring about the climbing and how to find partners. He was extremely helpful and we arranged to meet at Restoran Dinko when I arrived in town.

Dinko’s is the climber’s hangout in Starigrad and where I spent most of my mornings and evenings. It’s where climbers meet up for coffee before climbing, a few drinks at the end of the day, and to make plans for tomorrow. So on arrival we did just that, sat for a quick coffee before heading out to climb. While having that coffee, Gušter introduced me to Mak and Marin and in less than 10 minutes the next three days were planned out for climbing! I thought to myself, “Hmm seems pretty easy to find partners here, maybe instead of staying just the weekend I’ll stick around for a week or so.”

I ended up spending a total 74 incredible days in Paklenica and 69 of those days would be spent inside a tent at the Anića Kuk Camp, where I would move to the first Monday morning after my stay in Seline, the next town over, was finished. During my stay, the vast majority of those days were spent climbing. I think in Paklenica it is more difficult to find days of rest than it is to climb. On at least a few occasions I had planned for a rest day only to have someone ask, “Want to go climbing today?” “Ugh… Well when you put it that way… ok.”

Anyway, after we’d finished up our coffee, we began our 45 minute walk into the canyon’s main single pitch climbing area, Klanci. Later I would learn hitchhiking was more efficient cutting the journey from 45 minutes to just a few; however, for this first hike in I was ok with it. The deeper into the park we got, the more I felt like a child frolicking through a candy shop. I had a smile that stretched from one ear to the other as the craggy rock faces began rising up on either side of us increasing in height the further we walked!

Paklenica is a very large park with many different areas for climbing, but the main areas where I spent most of my time were Klanci, Debeli Kuk, Veliki Ćuk, and the crown jewel, Anića Kuk. Klanci is comprised of mostly single pitch climbing, however what makes Paklenica so special is the long, multi-pitch climbing which can be found at the other three I listed.

To get my feet wet, we just stuck to the Klanci area and after warming up on a few easy routes, we hopped on Kanjon Special 6a (5.10b). Characteristic of nearly all the climbs at the main walls in Klanci, Kanjon Special was really polished in spots where the texture has worn away over the many years of climbing. It often felt as if you were climbing on glass, which made for some spicy climbing! You never quite knew if your foot would slip and send you flying! Anyway, after wrapping up the day of climbing, we headed back to Dinko’s to share a few beers before calling it a day.

The walk from my AirBnB in Seline to Dinko’s was only about 30 minutes, however in the mid summer heat with temperatures reaching 30°C (86°F) at 9am, it was quite an arduous one. So when Gušter mentioned that the €6/night Anića Kuk Camp where he was staying was only a few minute walk from Dinko and the park entrance, I was sold. And on Monday morning I packed my things and headed for the camp. This would also be the first time I’d be using the tent that I had been lugging around for nearly 5 months and that effort paid off too. I estimated it saved me approximately €1,100 (~$1,300 at the time) over the course of my stay!

After refreshing my multi-pitch skills with Mak on Veliki Ćuk, I was feeling pretty good and decided I was ready to hit the big wall of Anića Kuk. I’d met, Chiba, a fellow American, in the canyon while climbing some single pitch with Mak. He was in Paklenica with his wife and her friend whom were not well versed in multi-pitch climbing, so he was also looking for a partner to climb something on Anića Kuk with. We decided to partner up then and hit Ljubljanski 6a (5.10b), a 220 meter (720 feet), 8 pitch climb.

This would be the hardest, most sustained multi-pitch climb I’ve done to date and the most fun I’ve ever had on a climb as well. Much of it followed a wide crack system that required a lot of unusual techniques, such as jamming my entire body inside the crack and shimmying up! I’ve never climbed anything quite like it and I had huge grin the entire way to the top.

Then to “top” things off, around the last pitch the Bura winds began to kick in and gave me my first real introduction to how powerful they could be. The wind had gotten so strong at one point it was hard to think and concentrate and I had started to have difficulty reading where the route went. I needed another brain up there with me to decide where to go. Unable to find the last anchor, I had to get creative and build my own off of a bolt and a sling I’d wrapped around a large boulder. Once I was satisfied with it, I had to use rope commands for the first time ever to communicate with Chiba. The wind was so loud that there was no chance he could ever hear my shouts, so with tugs on the rope I indicated that he was on belay and could climb when ready. Then when he arrived at my belay, we discussed and ended up choosing the right way off the mountain. Success!

A few days later I was introduced to the coolest place I’ve ever climbed. Marin, one of Dinko’s two sons, waiter at the restaurant, and one of the best local climbers in Starigrad, drove Gušter and I about 40 minutes east of Paklenica to Vranjača (pronounced: vdran yah cha), a currently being developed, top secret climb spot. After parking on a dirt pull off, we hiked up this old, rocky, single lane road to nowhere. The hike takes you on a mildly steep incline for about 30 minutes weaving on and off the road following rock cairnes (stacks of rocks). Once you’re a couple minutes away, you can see a headwall off in the distance. You think, “There it is! That’s the climbing!” As you continue to approach, it is slowly revealed. What you saw earlier was just the cap to what appears to be a giant hole in the side of a hill. The closer you get, the bigger it gets. When you reach the mouth and start to descend into the cave, you are just struck with awe. This cave is huge. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could fit several Boeing jetliners in here!

I found one of my favorite single pitch routes here too, Velebitski Golemaš 7a (5.11d), a deceptively steep, constantly overhung 25 meter climb with big holds almost the whole way up. It’s on you from the start with an angle the continually gets steeper the higher you ascend. Then on the last few moves, after you’ve just climbed over 20 meters (65 feet) of overhanging rock, the holds get small and this last sequence of moves was the killer for me. It took me nearly 10 tries to pass, but I enjoyed every last one. This route has it all, big holds, small holds, a knee bar rest, desperate throws, and far 5 meter (17 feet) whips while failing on the last move. Such a joy to climb and I was so satisfied when I finally reached the anchors without a fall!

(Side note to climbers: Adam Ondra caught wind of this cave and said he’ll be going there in the spring to develop. Yea… I climbed somewhere before Adam Ondra did. #braggingrights)

A few weeks later, I had a vision for a photograph of Anića Kuk with the stars shown bright above the rock face and the Milky Way running perpendicular. To create the highest quality image, I planned to take a photo of the stars from the top of Anića Kuk because at the 712 meter summit, there are less particles and moisture in the air between myself and the stars providing a clearer rendition of them. Then I would take that photo and layer it in Photoshop on a photo of the rock face I would take from the ground. Should be easy enough!

So on the night of the next new moon, I left the camp about an hour prior to sunset trying to time my arrival to the the summit a few minutes before the sun dipped below the horizon. Having left a little later than I would have liked, I had to scurry along at a hurried pace and by the time I’d reached the peak I was drenched in sweat. That’s not good for the soon to be chilly mountain top. So to allow my clothes to dry a bit, I stripped it all off. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little refreshing to be naked on the top of a mountain. I decided then, that it would be a good idea to set the tripod up and take a quick snapshot. Enjoy!

Since I had several hours before the end of the evening twilight, I attempted to find a relatively flat spot to take a nap. To my surprise I actually got a couple hours of sleep before waking up around 11pm. After about an hour of experimenting with photos, I was satisfied with what I had and by that point it had gotten too cold that it would be too difficult to sleep up there, so I headed back.

Unfortunately, my headlamp began running out of battery causing it to only stay on for a few minutes before turning back off. The ambient light from the city, however, was shining bright enough that I could manage navigate fairly well without light, at least for the first 50 meters down from the 712 meter summit. Then I’m not sure if I placed my foot wrong or if I hit a loose rock, but my right foot slipped and fell between two boulders dropping down nearly to my hip. My left foot stayed planted on the boulder I was walking on causing my knee to twist severely inwards. Had I fallen a few centimeters farther, I probably would have been getting out the phone I should have been using to light the way with, to call the Mountain Rescue team.

I immediately stood up and moved my left leg around to see if everything was ok. My knee felt pretty injured, but I could move it around well enough and my adrenaline was going good, so I quickly got on my way. From this point, the next couple hundred meters of the descent is rather technical as you must scramble over big boulders, but now that I was using my phone’s flashlight to light the way I managed to carefully make my way to the main path below.

Once I reached the path, I stopped and thought, “Ok, I have the star photo, but I don’t have the photo of the Anića Kuk rock face. If I don’t have that, I don’t have the picture. This might hurt a little, but I have to complete the photo, otherwise I’ll have nothing to show for getting injured.” So, I headed about 5 to 10 minutes further up into the park and had to climb up and down a V0 boulder problem to get to the perfect spot for the photo. In all, from the time that I had gotten hurt to arriving back at the camp, it was about 2.5 hours of hiking!

I gave it about 2 weeks to see how the injury progressed before I decided to go get it checked out. I hopped on a bus and headed to a physiotherapist in Zadar, the closest city. He took an ultrasound image of my knee and diagnosed me with a medial tear of my meniscus and said I would have to have an operation to repair it. Because the inside of the knee receives so little blood flow, tears in this region do not heal on their own.

My knee had begun to slowly feel better and about a week later, my desire to climb became strong enough that I eventually got back on the wall. I figured I’m going to need surgery either way, so why not climb as much as I could in the meantime and leave the long recovery from surgery to the winter. I started off slow and easy on a 4c (5.7), which is 11 grades of difficulty easier than my limit. I felt confident that I could probably climb it without using my legs at all if I had to, so it was a good route to see how things would go. Well, it went perfect. I found if I kept my leg more or less straight to the wall I encountered no pain!

From that point on and over the next couple weeks, I slowly began upping the difficulty as my knee started to feel better. Eventually I was projecting Geisha 7a+ (5.12a) in Vranjača and Vodan 7b (5.12b a grade of difficulty I have yet to achieve) in Paklenica, and I’m 100% confident I would have gotten both clean without falls if I could have had another week. However, the 90 days on my Croatian tourist visa were quickly coming to an end.

Finally on Monday, October 10, I bid a very fond farewell to Paklenica. It was really a magical 74 days that will live in my heart forever and I can’t wait for my next visit and the visit after that… and the visit after that! I am certain I will find myself in Paklenica many more times in the future!

On my way out of Croatia, I stopped in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Mak, being from there, had offered several times to host me if I’d be passing through, so I took him up on his offer. I had a great time seeing the city and hanging out with him. I only wished I could have stayed a little bit longer, but October 13 was my 90th and last day I was allowed in Croatia. I now had to bid Croatia a very fond farewell and was off to Ljubljana, Slovenia to spent a few days visiting some friends there that I’d made while in Paklenica.

To finish out the trip, I hopped on a train headed back to Germany. Because my health insurance plan is an international one, it doesn’t cover care within the United States. So if I was going to repair my meniscus I would have to do so outside of the USA. I decided then, that I would do so in Germany because I could comfortably recover at Corey and Dave’s home before moving on to where ever the world would take me next.

After some delays due to doctors on holiday, I finally had an appointment and headed down to Munich for my examination. The orthopedic surgeon prescribed I get an MRI before going any further, so I headed back to Weiden and had that done. It turns out that the MRI showed no visible lesions on the meniscus, but it did show some degradation of the meniscal tissue. The doctor explained is basically a bruise and recommended surgery was not needed at this time.

No surgery means no recovery time which means… I can travel! Now, where to!? I’ve had a strong desire to revisit Norway since I lost my laptop and photos back in April! So in a few days I will be making my way back to the Lofoten Islands. I’ve arranged for myself to spend 2 full weeks there and will be spending all 14 days in a tent, wild camping! The “Right of Access” laws in Norway make it legal for anyone to set up a tent anywhere so long as it is not closer than 150 meters to the nearest building and is not set up on cultivated or fenced in land. I know I can spend 70 days inside of a tent at a cushy campground and when the weather is favorable, but I’m really looking forward to seeing how I handle the challenge of roughing it in less then ideal conditions. It could end up being really fun or really miserable, but I will be surrounded by some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, so either way I think it will be worth it!

After Norway I will probably bounce around Europe until my current 90 days of Schengen are finished. Then I believe it will be off to Southeast Asia!

To conclude, I’d like to give a huge thank you to Gušter, Marin, Ante, Dinko, Dijana, Damjan, Mak, Stjepan, Vanja, Sara, Dora, Dino, Fil, Zenga, Vladka, Chiba, Karl, Marine, Nelle, Tajša, Alenka, Martina, Carolin, Dejan, Boris, Perica, Čorko, Aleksandar, Peter and Katrin, Jere and Ana, Cristoph and Mica, Doug, Dan, Vasily, Logan, Ingmar, everyone on the Mountain Rescue team, and the many more incredible people I haven’t mentioned for making my time in Croatia so incredible! Hvala puno svima!

Vidimo se Hrvatska!
See you later Croatia!