Home » Bulgaria » 100 National Tourist Sites » “Skakavitsa” Hut And The Seven Rila Lakes

“Skakavitsa” Hut And The Seven Rila Lakes

100 National Tourist Sites

Skakavitsa Hut is located in Northwest Rila, on the left bank of the Skakavitsa River, at the foot of Mount Kabul, at 1869 m above sea level. It was built on the site of the first tourist hut in Bulgaria, built in 1921-1922 by the Dupnish people tourists, destroyed by a natural fire in 1951. The current building Skakavitsa was built in 1958-1960 with the financial assistance of BTS – Sofia.

It is a complex of two buildings with a total capacity of 120 beds, with its own electricity supply, tourist canteen, restaurant, buffet, indoor sanitary facilities and bathrooms, ski storage. There is a ski slope opposite the hut with a lift. About 20 minutes from the hut is the picturesque Skakavishki waterfall – the highest in Rila (about 50 m).

The hut is located about 2 hours from the resort village of Panichishte and about 1.30 hours from h. Pioneering. From the lodge, you can go on trips to: the circus of the Seven Lakes – 2 hours; x. “Rila Lakes” – 1 hour; x. “Seven Lakes” -1.45 p.m.; x. “Lovna” – 1.45 am; x. “Ivan Vazov” – 4 hours; x. “Malyovitsa” – 6:30 p.m.; Rila Monastery-7h.

The seven Rila lakes are located stepwise in the cirque of the same name in Northwest Rila from 2,100 to 2,500 m above sea level. The cirque is enclosed to the east by the peak of Haiduta (Haramiyat) and the ridge that descends north of the peak; to the south of the steep rocky slope of the Razdela plateau and the Otovish Ridge; to the west from the nameless peak above the third lake (Kidney) and from the eastern rocky slope of the Dry Ridge ridge.

The circus is open to the north, and the lakes are the most picturesque sight in Rila. When a person steps on these places, he feels in a real lake kingdom, he finds himself in the midst of a complex and huge Rila circus, where the lakes are scattered amphitheatrically, surrounded by chasms, rocks and precipices and between the personal peaks of Haiduta (Haramiyat), Ezernia and Otovishka peaks. The lakes are numbered and named.

The officially accepted numbering follows them from top to bottom. In this order, they bear the following names:
– the Tear, about 4-5 meters deep;
– Okoto, 37.5 m deep (the deepest lake on the Balkan Peninsula);
– Kidney, in whose waters you can see the reflection of Mt. Haiduta (Haramiyat), with the largest water volume and transparency (about 18 m deep);
– Bliznaka, 27-28 m deep, with the largest water area;
– Trilistnika, 6-7 m deep;
– Ribnoto, the shallowest (2-3 m), on its shore is h. “The Seven Lakes”;
– the Lower (Black), 10-11 m deep, collects the waters of all the lakes that give rise to the German River, a left tributary of the Struma River.

Regardless of the high altitude, there is life in them. In the “Kidney”, “Eye” and “Tear” many different freshwater algae grow, some types of lower mushrooms, crustaceans, trout. They are poor in higher flora, because the vegetation period is short – only about 100-150 days a year, from July to October, when they are not frozen. Access to the circus is greatly facilitated if you use the passenger ropeway from the village of “Pionerska” to the village of “Rila Lakes”.

It climbs those who wish from 1580 to 2100 meters in just 16 minutes, thus saves the effort of climbing the steepest part of the route.

Contacts:
tel. 0878 706 531, 0701/5-05-13, 0882 966 396

Did we get something wrong? Contact us!