Written by
Aleksandar Veljković
Homolje mountains aren’t tall – they hardly exceed 1000 m at their highest point, but they’re a fantastic 4×4 playground of interconnected ridges with steep sides and numerous smaller and bigger stream and river valleys, ideal for exploring and searching creative ways to reach places. Springtime stretches a carpet of flowery meadows over Homolje, and early springtime such as the beginning of March (technically still winter) gives a rare opportunity to experience mud challenges while the higher mountains are still under a thick snow cover. This was one of such early springtime ventures into the wonders of Homolje.
On day one of the weekend (March 5th) we decided to make the attractive rocky Zdravča peak our goal, since it gave us an opportunity to meet the hikers from our club, who ascended the peak from the other direction.
It was an easy climb to start with – not too steep and not too muddy, following a shepperd’s trail that gradually ascended a side ridge from the northern village of Neresnica. Homolje has several very beautiful and rather long river valleys, and Komša, that we took to reach the start of the trail, was one of them. Our trail to Zdravča took us over Kupinova glava, with the altitude of 924 m one of the higher peaks of Homolje mountains, and not surprising, we’ve driven through some light snow on the north side, which was obviously fresh from last night’s precipitation.
Some 30 km after we left the last paved road, we reached Zdravča – a rocky, attractive, 897 m high scenic viewpoint with the cliffs facing south, but quite easily reachable on wheels. It’s a place that calls for a picnic, one of those that won’t let you leave on a pleasent, sunny day as this March 5th was. Our hikers were already there, and we spend some pleasent time together, before we parted different ways again.
On our way towards Selište, we passed through Valja Fusuli a charming little stream valley where the trail hops from one side to the other all the time. Visited the Homoljska potajnica intermittent spring, before returning to the main ridge to follow it westwards as long as we had daylight. With the main ridge slowly curving southwards and being about 100 km long, these mountains offer enough places to explore and hideouts to discover for several days of touring. But we hurried to reach the serene village of Lipovica and Ethno-house Milanović for the night.
Day two – Krilaš and Dubočica
On day two we joined forces with our friends from Resava 4×4 offroad club to explore forest trails north of Lipovica. It’s very exciting terrain, featuring Krilaš peak, a very nice scenic viewpoint, but also several very nice stream valleys, of which the one definitely most interesting to offroaders is the valley of Dubočica, flowing for almost 5 km into the Mlava river.
The trail along Dubočica passes almost more through the water than on dry ground (especially in the last kilometer, which is the most demanding part). Eventually it reaches Mlava, the biggest river in the area, which can’t be crossed anytime you want, but only when the water calms down a bit (no matter if you have a snorkel or not). And the surrounding area harbours a real labyrinth of grown-in forest trails, which are a true navigational challenge. It’s very easy to run into a dead end there, so great care is advised on unknown trails. Sometimes there’s just not enough space to turn around on the narrow trails surrounded by very steep sides, and there’s mud everywhere, so slipping off is a realistic prospect.
Watch the video from this weekend (4 min):
All in all, it was a very nice, early springtime weekend, warming up for the real 4×4 adventures of the main season 🙂
Postovani Aleksandre,
jako mi se svidje to sto radite i voleo bih da se prikljucim nekoj od narednih tura-ekspedicija.
Sta je potrebno za to i kako bi mogao da i ja postanem deo toga?
hvala unapred na odgovoru
S postovanjem
Dragan Radujkovic
Poštovani Dragane, druženje ovakve vrste ne podrazumeva bilo kakve formalne preduslove, jedino što je zaista bitno jeste da se međusobno dobro razumemo i da nam svima društvo prija (a to je nešto što je teško postići u bilo kakvim velikim, formalnim organizacijama). Prijatelje redovno obaveštavam kada je u planu nešto gde bismo mogli da se okupimo za zajedničku vožnju, pa biste mogli da mi pošaljete neku e-mail adresu ili telefon, kako bih i Vama javio. U principu nastojimo da nas ne bude previše, 5-7 vozila je prava mera. Sredinom aprila za vikend planiramo kampovanje na jednom jako lepom mestu skrivenom između Kučaja i Homolja (time ćemo simbolički otvoriti sezonu kampovanja), pa ako biste nam se pridružili, javite.