These notes are addressed to the mountain hiking beginners. To those, who wants and can, but has doubts.
I tried to give detailed deions of the route especially for those who have never tried to travel before.

Trip to Slovakia happened extemporaneously. On the eve of the holiday of national drunkenness a desire to leave our country for a while appeared. My old acquaintance, Sigismund Grokhovsky was going to be a leader of a group of tourists that went to Kazbek, the aim of trip was very attractive, but fraught with two weeks long hike. Having thought his plan over I considered it was too long. Nothing ready was suggested in acceptable terms. There an idea of independent trip to the Slovak Tatras. I had got acquainted with those mountains two years before when we together with Sigismund had made a travel to Zakopane. There had been nothing difficult, rather reasonable for lazy tourist. There were a lot of articles in the Internet (for example: www.hantengri.org , www.hantengri.org/content/view/103/29/ ). There was not language bar, taxes were acceptable. I bought a ticket and flew away.

Some words about myself: 47 years old, absolutely unsporting, I have slow-moving job, and, as a result, excess weight, modest experience in mountain hikes. I am self-reliable, my character is steady, Nordic.

2. Way to the mounts.

The High Tatras starts from Poprad. ČSA flies there. Connection is rather bad: Riga-Prague at 6 o'clock, arrival at 6.40 according to local time. Then you have 5 hours before the next flight. It is too early to go to the city as everything is closed. And it is also not very interesting to pass so much time in the airport. At 11.40 a .m. there is flight to Kosice and from there a small bus was transporting me to Poprad during two hours. There is one more flight at 3.10 p.m. from Riga with a change in Prague and flight straight to a very little airport in Poprad. I abandoned this way because of late arrival, it would be at about midnight, and I had to go to the place where I would live. In such a way I appeared in Poprad at about 3.30 p.m., at a railway station bought a ticket to Tatranska Lomnica 20 minutes by train and I reached the place I wanted. Thus, it took me 11 hours to reach the Tatras. The next time I would like to find a new way, probably via Krakow .

When I was at home I looked for places where I would be able to live in the Internet. Everything seemed to be too expensive. From my experience I got after trip to the Polish Tatras I decided to find accommodation when I would arrive, in private sector or pension. It was my great mistake. Polish enterprise was lacking there, or the state had completely regulated private business, but I could even find private sector at all. Only once at the railway station in Lomnica a fellow of alcoholic appearance, fearfully looking around, came to me and in a whisper interested whether I needed a lodging. He suggested a room with feeding for 400 koruna. It was about 8 euro per day. Thanks, I didn't like him. In the Slovak Tatras three seasons are recognized: high winter, high summer (July, August) and low. At the end on June I fell into the end of low season. But even in that time it was very difficult to find accommodation without preliminary reservation. For 8 days I changed 3 pensions as there were not any free rooms. The first night I passed in the pension Slalom just near the railway station. Night and breakfast came to 1200 koruna (about 40 euro). A nice establishment gloomy owner spoiled the main things for her were to get from up-front money and send me on my way as early in the morning as it was possible. The second boon was pension Villa Park , across the street from the first one. That institution was newer and better then Slalom but it was also more expensive (1200 per night + 155 per breakfast). The last two nights I had to pass in another pension Enzian. That pension was worse than previous ones in every respect. When I came into the establishment a girl on reception said that passing time there would cost 950 koruna per night and breakfast. I thought it was rather appropriate price. At final payment the master took from me 1500 koruna per night. I didn't want to make a row, let him choke. Moreover, it was the only thing that marred my pleasure. Feeding in Lomnica was simple, rustic. I didn't find any gastronomic fads. In pensions they fed cheaply but very poor. They fed well in the institutions that were popular among tourists. I preferred restaurant “Stara mama” near the railway station.

4. Mountains.

I saw so small mounts for the first time in my life. Usually you go through foothills, and then step by step around you everything became higher and more majestic. And here from Poprad you can look over the whole panorama without turning your head. They are like toys. But, instead of their diminutiveness, they are absolutely serious mountains and many corpses are brought away from there. People die most of all because of their imprudence and foolishness. The Tatras are filled with crowds of people of different ages – from Young Pioneers to pensioners. When fine days happen, hordes went along popular routes. Anyone you like can be come across there: roughed maids wearing jeans of Gucci, families with children from babies, buxom elderly ladies in beachfront slipper carrying shoppers. The worst routes are those that start from hoists. Walking public doesn't like long rises and prefers to lift in a cabin upwards and to descent by feet. Further deep into the mountains amount of tourists sharply decreases. In the mountains small houses (Chata) are located, there you can have meals, wait through bad weather and, in most part of them, pass the night. If there are no free places, you will be accommodated in a hall. Unlike mountain cabins in the French Alps, nobody will turn you out.

Movement along mountains is rather comfortable. A little train rides along two branch lines. The central point is Stary Smokovec and to the right and to the left from it there are two terminus – Lomnica Tatranska and Strbsko Plesa. It will cost you 20 koruna to ride to one side along one branch line. You can buy a ticket at the station or in the train in a special automat, but in the last case you need to have coins. The weather. A storm, rained down to Tatras in the evening of the 21 st of June impressed me a lot. I had never seen anything like it. It consisted of tropical downpour with heavy wind and nearly uninterrupted thunders and lightings. It was an enchanting sight, very pictorial when watching it through a closed window. But I would not like to come across such a storm on the route. The owner of pension said that storms like that one are often in June in the Tatras, but at the same time she reassured me: as usual, storms happen in the afternoon, so the tourists go to the mountains early in the morning and turn back at about 12 a .m. – 2 p.m. o'clock. I must say that during the next week the weather was wonderful. But, nevertheless, I advice all tourists, especially, beginners, buy for 50 koruna Slovak mountain insurance. If something unpleasant happens there is only one rescue way in the Tatras – a helicopter. Certainly, you will be saved, but, as everywhere in Europe , they will bill. If you have insurance, it will meet everything. Paths in the mountains and on the maps are marked by lines of different colors. But, when Poles mark with different colors routes of different grades of difficulty, in Slovakia color doesn't define the difficulty grade of the route, it determines only its direction. The marking is wonderful, it is very difficult to get lost there, especially because behind or in front you fellow travelers are seen all the time. The lack of loneliness in the Tatras in guaranteed.

5. Routes.

The first day was warming-up one. According to the advice of the owner of Villa Park , whose advice appeared very useful, I took a short route Stary Smokovec- Hrebienok-Rainerova Chata-Tatranska Lomnica. General duration (according to the map) equaled 2 hours 30 minutes. Rise Stary Smokovec-Hrebienok was slightly sloping along the line of the hoist. Hrebienok turned out to be rest home at the end of the hoist. Then I walked for 15 minutes along even path up to Rainerova Chata where I took very tasty dense herbaceous drink named tea. It was cooked in all the mountain cabins. I heartily recommend you to taste it.

Many times I saw a situation when people suffering from overweight, with large paunch, rolling over the belt, with great difficulties overpowered an hour-long rise, and at the moment dashed to buy beer, beer, and once more time beer. Were they afraid of growing thin? At high altitude the organism quickly lost water and, certainly, it was necessary to make it up. But it was impossible to do it using alcohol, even the weakest one.

From Rainerova Chata I went along the blue line to Tatranska Lomnica. The whole way lied through a forest zone. Path state was from good to excellent. That strip remembered me enlarged Sigulda.

The second day began at the station Štrbske Pleso. Way from Tatranska Lomnica to Štrbske Pleso took about an hour of riding with change in Stary Smokovec. There a very beautiful lake with great amount of fish was located. It seemed they purposely bred it. The path went around the lake and then I found blue leading up to Chata pod Soliskom, an hour and a half according to the map. I met steep Russians: “And what is there? Let come and see! Oh, shit, cool!” During the whole week I saw Russian people only twice – that steep tourists and, on the third day, classical swots, wearing glasses, on thin legs, with huge rucksacks, tents and sleeping bags (I didn't see anybody like them in the Tatras). According to response book in the pension, the Russian went there in winter to ski. Not very often.

In the morning I planned to make a 4 hours long hike with 500 m long climb from the lake up to Chata pod Soliskom and to turn back home from it. The rise was very pictorial, went along blue path along the supports of hoist (it didn't work that season) and crossed all classical alpine zones – from pine forest, through evergreen bushes, alpine fields and up to stones. It took me an hour and a half. The cabin met me with tea. Weather and mood made me to ascend to the first in that season mountain of more than 2000 meters high – to Predne Solisko (2117). The rise equaled 280 meters , it was rather steep, but so comfortable that even families with seven year old children went their. That rise took me 50 minutes. I returned to the cabin and went on descending along yellow and red paths. Yellow pass was very difficult, very degraded, but it was changed with red path, that was absolutely even, covered with little stones. As I wrote above, color of the route didn't determine its grade of difficulty. In another place yellow route could be simple and red – nearly impassible. When you plan you day, you have to take into consideration duration of the route, pointed on the map. The route of the second day took me 5 hours 30 minutes.