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The Ultimate Full-Length Durisht (Petrela) Ridge Hike

Summary: We are not prone to exaggeration, but this is one of the most engaging ridge walks on offer near Tirana. There are always great ridge walks, but this one can beat many others hands down. More than 10 kilometer long, and almost every meter is a pleasant and often engaging hike. But beware, just when you are proud of yourself of having reached one or more of the many summits, usually a view opens up exposing even more kilometers of beautiful (and sometimes steep) ridgewalking. Most hikers in Tirana will end up at one time or the other in Petrele or nearby, and will do shorter loop hikes in the area. We also had done all parts of this hike before, in bits and pieces, but now decided do do it in one go.

Maximum altitude:	782 meter
Minimum altitude:	321 meter
Cumulative height:	731 meter
Cumulative length:	10.45  kilometer
Difficulty	moderate
Time:	5 hours
Date of this record	November 2011
Download GPS info:	Durisht Ridge

General location and approach: TYou need to have two cars or be prepared to stop a bus or car on the Elbasan Tirana road to take you back to where you started. Put one car at the treil-end (Kasemi Restaurant), just 100 meter before the Tirana-Elbasan Road hits the ridge for the first time (with views to both sides). The go back to Petrele village and park there.

Of course it is possible to do the hike in reverse. The bonus is that you have good views on Tirana for much of the way, and that you hike more down than up. The bad news is that route-finding is a bit more complicated near the Pass that separates the northern half from the southern half of the ridge.

Other Information: The trail follows , for most parts and after having left the radio tower behind, on top of the ridge itself. Where not sure where to go, the top of the ridge is usally the best way to go. One notable exception is the descend from the highest summit, near the south end of the hike, where the trails runs west of the actual ridge. 

Some parts of the trail are exposed and may not suitable for children. Overall, the trail while "only" about 10 kilometer in length, requires stamina.

GPS and trailmaps: The map and trailinformation is generated by www.wikiloc.org, based on GPS information collected from the actual hike. Waypoints can be downloaded to a GPS device from Wikiloc. If necessary, use GPSBabel to convert GPS data to different formats. For more hike descriptions by Palmtreetreeproduction, browse this website or visit Wikiloc and search for "Palmtreeproduction". You may also find nearby trails from other authors.

Google Earth: You may also view the trail in 3D by clicking "view in Google Earth" when on Wikiloc. You need to have Google Earth installed on your computer.

Images: Click the button at the end of the page to view the slides in full screen