Plitvice National Park!!

Not much sleep in Senj, I wish it was excitement keeping us awake but it was the wind blowing our tent around. There was hardly any grass at the site (mostly rocks) so our spikes made it about a half inch into the ground, which lasted about 2 minutes when the wind started howling. We would find out later that this particular valley is known for its wind lol. We shook off the sleepiness with a cup of coffee, generously offered up by our new travel mates. Their names are Klaus and Hetier (spelling sorry) and i am not positive of their age but we know they are retired and they are from Deutschland (and i feel sooooo uneducated because i saw Deutsche on some travel books and thought it was the Dutch way of saying Dutch, and i was upset…thinking i should have known that…being part Dutch and all! Well then i found out Deutsche is how the Germans say German and Deutschland is Germany!!… so embarrassed!) Klaus traveled the U.S 50 years ago and we enjoyed sharing stories with each other!

So we got to know each other a bit more before we took off towards Plitvice! Our seats were at their makeshift kitchen table in the back of there van, comfortable and free! The park is approximately 100km away from Senj offering up some of great views of the Croatian Islands and Adriatic Sea as we traveled along the windy roads up and over the mountains. Approaching the park the land was very flat and mostly and ripe with tall pine trees and herds of sheep. Lucky enough there is a camp site 8km away from the park and we set up tent there in the mid afternoon. We had a nice nap, then woke up with a shower and a trip to the market. After dinner we enjoyed some good old American drinking games with our cheap,1L Croatian Beer and watched the sunset. Just the two of us played circle of death, which is definitely a group game, but it ended up being so fun with lots of singing and laughter involved!

We woke up early, as we usually do when camping and packed everything up so we could leave right from the park. Klaus offered us a ride back…so nice!! So we accepted! The sun was shinning bright, we had arrived at the park free of charge and got a student discount for our entry tickets.

Boardwalk through the falls!

Brad enjoying the trees :)

The day had started off great and was about to get better. As soon as we walked in we could see the largest waterfall in the park, which is about 78 meters high with offshoots shooting in every direction falling to the turquoise blue lake below. The natural bridges made of split logs rest right on top of the waters surface. They coexist perfectly with the parks landscape, not disturbing any views and more importantly any ecosystems.

In awe….

The treasures of the park kept coming as we were able to walk right up to a collection of waterfalls, which led is into a series of tunnels and pitch black caves. After finishing up with the first half of the park we hopped on the ferry boat to take us to the next half. Although the pictures may all seem similar, each falls had a different look and feel. The flow of water in an unstoppable force, something to admire and respect, a reoccurring theme of Plitvice. Our hike ended with a walk through the forest. The leaves on the trees seemed lime green and their trunks were covered with an awesome dark green moss which. The surface area of the park is over 270 square km and we covered nearly all of it. Not trying to sound cliché but it is impossible to justly describe the beauty of Plitvice National Park, you just have to see it. This was a dream made reality for us, a definite must for any nature lover with the proper means!

Loving all the greens!