Summertime memories from Slovak Paradise

Summer is raging. I love it. But unfortunately it's coming to an end, so I'll quickly share a summer story with you. The story takes place in Slovak Paradise. The National Park Slovak Paradise is situated in the eastern part of Slovakia, which many people visit from spring to autumn and some even go out in winter.

Route Dedinky - Zejmar Gorge - Devil's Head - Dedinky

We went to the Zejmarska Gorge, started from the village of Dedinky and came back from there, so we did one circuit. The hike is of medium difficulty and if all goes well, it takes about four and a half hours. But in our case, things didn't exactly go as we would have liked.

It is important to know that in one part of the Zejmar Gorge the ascent is secured by ladders, steps and chains and requires extra caution. Crossing the gorge is one-way, you can only go upstream! Other parts of the route lead through comfortable terrain on forest roads and trails, and the route is well signposted. So it would be cool and fun, just with the pure nature around us like in paradise.

The dog rescue

What happened? I forgot to mention that there were four of us, three adults and a 14-year-old boy. We'd all been there before, so we thought we'd hike the hard part again. But we also had with us a pet doggy, Bundi, whose owner takes everywhere. They have only been together for a few months, but they are inseparable. Bundi is a 2-3-month old labrador dog. So we thought he'd take the hurdles well. It's not easy to climb a steep ladder with a puppy on your lap.

Bundi moved excitedly. I think he got a bit scared, and slipped out of his master’s lap into the abyss. It was very lucky that this happened in a place where there wasn't such a great depth below us. Otherwise poor Bundi would have died there. It was a scary situation, but we had to deal with it. The guy had to climb down to the bottom to get the puppy, and we put a rope on him so he wouldn't fall. It may seem simple, but it was a serious rescue that took time. After the successful rescue, we had to continue our way up the ladder, as it is a one-way trip. To avoid the doggy accidentally falling into the deep again, we slowed down, and we put Bundi into his owner's backpack, which we should have done from the beginning. And we made it to the top of the ladder and continued on our way.

A successful arrival

All's well that ends well. We pressed on until we reached the Devil's Head saddle, where we relaxed a bit and the doggy also calmed down. From there, we turned off and down to the red sign and we got from the forest road to the trail. From there it was an easy trip through the meadow. We descended to the settlement of White Waters and from this point back to Dedinky. The village Dedinky offers several accommodation and refreshment options.

What is the lesson to be learned from this? Don't take your pet with you on trips to more challenging areas, even if you really want to! I wish you all a wonderful holiday.