I7 – Stracin- Kapinovo- 185.2km

General details:

• Length: 185.2Км
• Best time to hike: April – June and September – November
• Mountain Huts on trail: 0 . Plan for wild camping
• Waymarked: Partially, in progress. You must use the provided GPS track
• Trail type: mountain paths, forest roads, dirt roads, less than 1% paved and gravel road
• Surrounding on the trail: Mixed type of deciduous forest, plenty of open views, plenty of meadows, history and culture
• Elevation profile:

GPS track:

Section I7 is complete with all tracks, markers, photos of points of interest, and added digital elevation..

Download the complete GPS track (KML format) for this section HERE (Macedonian version – English coming soon )

You can read instructions for the meaning of the markers, the types of trails, and the colors used HERE

Google MAP- ( How to use it ? )

More significant peaks accessible directly or via spur trails:

• Kukuljatica
• Gjurishte
• Crn Vrv
• Breza
• Prerok
• Bel Kamen
• Jaloarnik
• Kale

Description/Status:

Stracin – Beljakovce Bridge:

The trail starts on the highway E871 – Kumanovo – Kriva Palanka, at the pass in front of the village of Stracin. It starts on a narrow paved road to quickly turn into a dirt forest road in the first 2 km of the trail, and then we move along a mountain trail that, due to the low vegetation, offers spacious landscapes all the way to the bottom of the Kalugjerica peak, from where it slowly descends through the short canyon of the Kuklichka river ,to the famous locality Kuklice (famous locality with stone dolls), which is 50m below the trail . This area is also one of the few where you can find natural cactus in Macedonia. Further, the trail continues through the area of “Large Kuklice” , a less known but more impressive part with larger rock formations. Further on, the path briefly rejoins the local dirt Road to continue with a beautiful path over the Krtichno hill and down to the valley of Kriva river. After a pedestrian bridge over river Kriva , trail goes under the rocky site of Kralitsa and then leads you through Svinski rock to the famous historical site of Cocev Kamen.
The path continues through the historical site of Konjuh near the archeological site of Golemo Gradiste and continues under the rocky spikes of Kaliman through the wide valley of the Kriva river to the Elenec peak.
This segment has no major changes in elevation and the highest point is 810 m above sea level. It abounds with interesting rock formations, as well as natural sites that were additionally built (the ancient city of Gradište) or shaped and repurposed (Cocev Kamen, rooms and caves in Konjuh) in the distant history and used for dwellings, sanctuaries, etc. You’ll definitely want to take the extra time to review them.

Status: There are no markings or the like anywhere on the path, but with the help of the GPS record it is easy to cross this segment. Most of the time you move along narrow trail that occasionally intersects with dirt roads that are not exploited as truck/off road roads and are pleasant to walk on.

Beljakovce Bridge – K’sanje:

This part starts near the Kriva Reka river bridge in the village of Beljakovce and leads south over the rocky Elenec hill to the beautiful old monastery of St. George, also known as Beljakovski Monastery, from where you start to climb the slopes below Kula and Lipec. Although there are more lively villages in the relative vicinity, the trail in this part leads through rather wild nature where you will feel as if you are far from civilization, until you climb the ridge below the peak of Mircevec, from where you will have wide views of the wider Kumanovo region. Further, the route continues to the area of the village of K’sanje, from where it descends and intersects the highway Kumanovo – Sv. Nikole.

Status: In a few places the path is a little more overgrown, but nothing major that can stop you if you follow the GPS signal. There is marking only in a very short part in front of the monastery.

K’shanje – Bislim gorge:

From the highway Kumanovo – Sv. Nikole the trail climbs slowly along a wide forest road and then along a mountain trail to the church of St. George. Shortly afterwards you are already on the nameless peak above the monastery, from where you descend through the area of Arbanashko to the monastery complex of St. Petka (Gabresh monastery) above the village of Gabresh and then through the forested hills below Ostrovica peak to the village of Skachkovce, more precisely to the monastery of St. Troitsa (Skachkovski monastery) which is located above the village. From here, the path continues through the forests of Golem Rid to the ridge of Peshter above the village of Oresac, where it turns slowly towards the beautiful Bislim gorge.
The part of the Bislim gorge starts from the Krushcinja ridge and leads to Zuta Karpa, where the path begins to descend into the gorge towards the river. After the descent, the path passes through a picturesque gorge, passing several caves and ending at the outskirts of the village of Pcinja.

Status: The path is marked only in the part between the village of Pcinja to the locality Gradiste in Bislim gorge, i.e. in the direction of the village of Orasac in the final part of the gorge. There is also a part that is marked between the church of St. Gjorgi and the village of Gabresh

Village of PCinja to Kastel on highway A1:

The trail begins with a beautiful path through an evergreen forest over Karlovacki hill, continues through a deciduous forest through the area of Crvena Shuma, descends briefly through a small gorge of a small river called Klisura and soon after it emerges on a wide forest road that climbs to Golik peak where it starts to descend and passes under the highway “Goce Delchev” to climb again to the famous Gjuriste monastery and Gjuriste peak. Then there is another descent and ascent to the next peak – Crn Vrv, from where it slowly descends to the canyon of the Pcinja river, immediately below the locality of Castel na Pcinja, while passing under the eastern and then the western branch of the A1 highway.
On this part, the trail leads along mixed mountain trails and wider forest roads, however, the wider forest roads still prevail.

Status:
The route is complete and the path is clear except for the first crossing under the A1 highway where you may need to check the GPS record more often. There is no marking anywhere in this segment, except in a very short section from Gjurishki monastery to the top of Gjurishte, where there is fresh, beautiful marking.

Castle of Pcinja – Topolka:

The transversal begins immediately below the castle, goes down the short canyon to the bank of the river Pcinja and along the coast through the picturesque gorge of Pcinja continues to the cave church of Sv. Bogorodica where you cross the river on the suspension bridge . After a short time, the path crosses the larger suspension bridge over the Vardar River and the railway and begins to climb the Goleshnica mountain. It climbs first to the monastery of Sv. Ilija and then to the village of Karabunishte, from where it continues over the ridge of Iliitsa and Drenovski preslap to the peak of Breza (1405 m asl). From Breza, the trail descends along the ridge and abounds with beautiful camping spots and wide panoramic views of 360 degrees until Zemkov Kamen, where the trail separates from the ridge and descends to the Topolka river.
The trail is a mountain trail up to the village of Karabunishte. Then there is a part through the forest and a shorter part along a dirt road, and then again a longer part along mountain trails and under the peak of Breza again a part with a dirt road. From Breza, almost to the Topolka river, you follow a beautiful mountain path that eventually turns into a forest road and ends on an asphalt road in a short section over the Topolka bridge.

Status:
The trail at the beginning in the gorge of Pcinja has been cleared not long ago, but there are 2-3 short sections that grow quickly due to the wet climate, but you should not have a problem. A problematic part of the trail is the ridge of Iliica, where the path in several places is unclear or rather overgrown and not recommended except for adventurers who want to help tidy up this section. There is a marking of this segment in the part from the suspension bridge of Pcinja to the monastery of Sv. Ilija.

Topolka – Kapinovo:

The last segment of this section with a length of 30 km takes you along the entire eastern branch of the Jakupica mountain. It starts with a climb near the bridge on the Topolka River from 500m above sea level and slowly climbs towards Dolni Prerok, passes through the Lukovo Pole plateau, under the Prerok peak and through the Zabin preslap pass to the foot of the Bel Kamen peak, from where it turns south. Further, the trail passes on the southern side of the mountain under the peaks of Kale and Ivanov , through the area of ​​Begovi virovi and descends slowly to the area of villages Bistrica and Creshnevo. Finally the trail descends to the center of the transversal at the village Kapinovo. The trail in these 30 km passes in the foothills, ie. in close proximity to several high peaks that can optionally be climbed.
Throughout this segment, the transversal leads along mountain paths, except at the beginning under the peak of Kutlishta where the path follows a wide forest road and at the end between the villages of Bistrica and Kapinovo where there are several parts where you walk along a wide but beautiful forest road.

Status:
In several places that are marked on the map, the path is overgrown, but not to the point of being impassable. In many places the path is unclear and in some places it is not there at all, but with the help of the GPS tracks this should not be a problem. This segment has markings in very short sections, so it can be said that there is no marking along its entire length