North Macedonia, an endless hiking trail

Crossing North Macedonia in an endless circle, savoring the beauty of its pristine mountains: this is the goal of a group of mountain enthusiasts who are implementing the "Sammiana" project

In North Macedonia, a group of mountaineers is tracing an uninterrupted, 2070 km-long hiking trail that passes through a huge number of natural beauties, historical sites, and other significant sights. North Macedonia, which is 80% mountains, has a lot to offer for hiking and mountaineering as a way of recreation, sports, and overall development of society.

“Sammiana ”, still under construction, is divided into eastern and western wings. Its circular path looks like the mathematical symbol for infinity (∞) on a map.

“For the greatest enjoyment, the route tends to the wilderness, away from civilisation. We believe that this route and our mountains offer solitude – there are simply no crowds like in the most famous European mountain resorts. This will be an opportunity for all those who want to leave civilisation and see the pure wilderness of the Macedonian mountains”, says the group.

The route passes over or mostly at the foot of all the most famous and a number of lesser known mountain peaks, which gives the opportunity to climb any of them in a short time through the additional side trails and adds an additional challenge to the trail itself.

“The eastern wing offers more diversity as it passes through forests and various archaeological and cultural sites and is 1180 kilometers long. The western one provides the opportunity to reach higher areas with more difficult peaks similar to the Alpine massifs”, say our interlocutors.

The path has one central point from which hikers can proceed in four different directions, and then after approximately 40-50 days find themselves again at the same central point and continue in another direction, or go back in the opposite direction.

“After two months, the season has already changed and you can continue again along a part of the trail that you have already passed to get a completely new experience. You can walk endlessly and not feel that you are walking on the same path”, Macedonian mountaineers say.

The goal is also to form a very precise route with GPS records that contains all the necessary information about the route itself and the surrounding environment, so that it could be used without difficulty for multi-day tours or a complete multi-month hike.

According to famous Macedonian mountaineer Sashko Kedev, who has climbed 8 out of 14 peaks all over the world with over 8,000 metres above sea level, Macedonian mountains have a strong potential for tourism.

“In North Macedonia, I use every opportunity to visit our beautiful mountains. These are really impressive conditions that, especially in winter like this – cold with minus 20, minus 30 degrees and a lot of snow and wind – provide very good opportunities reminiscent of the Himalayan ones. Our mountains and peaks, such as Shara with Titov peak and Ljuboten, Solunska glava, are an excellent place for preparation. In winter conditions our peaks are very challenging”, Sashko Kedev told OBCT.

The eastern and western flanks of Sammiana reflect the main division of the Macedonian mountains into two groups – the Shar mountain range (Dinaric mountain range) and the Osogovo-Belasica mountain range (Rhodope mountain range). The mountains in the Shar mountain range are distinguished young and chain-like with sharp peaks, while the mountains in the Osogovo-Belasica mountain range are old, huge and with rounded tops.

About 40 mountains or mountain massifs can be distinguished across Macedonia, some of which are grouped into separate mountain areas, according to the publication "Physical Geography of Macedonia" by university professor Dragan Kolchakovski. Of the 40 mountains, 13 have the highest peaks over 2000 metres.

The author states that, according to the hypsometric principle, the mountains in North Macedonia can be divided into “high” over 2000 metres, of which over 2500 are particularly high, then “medium high” between 1500 to 2000 metres and “low” up to 1500 above sea level. The highest mountain in the country is Korab, with the peak Golem Korab at 2753 m above sea level.

With the establishment of the newest, Shar Mountain National Park in 2021, the state reached the rate of 13.9% protected natural mountain areas.