The article is devoted to the waterfall Goritsa (means a small forest) near the village of Ovchartsi in the northern slopes of Rila Mountains. The first time we visited the waterfall was a few years ago in a quite sunny and warm Sunday in July.
The waterfall is about 39 meters high. The river is also called Goritsa, as well as the eco path that leads to the waterfall. The latter is beautiful, tall, lush, noisy, full-fledged, distant. It is easy accessible and the route to it includes a short nice walk on a well maintained and marked eco trail. Really a nice place.
How to get to the Goritsa waterfall
The Goritsa Ecopath starts above the village of Ovchartsi, which is located about 4 kilometers west of Sapareva Banya. When you enter the village (coming from Sapareva Banya), you have to turn left immediately after the village’s central square and then to continue straight up to the mountain on an asphalt road. The road ends in a small parking lot near the river.
The eco-trail starts from the left side of the parking. You will see several information boards there.
What to expect along the route to the Goritsa waterfall
The eco trail starts with several wide steps, continues as a forest path, followed by a series of stone steps.
After them you will see a wooden bridge to the right with an arrow above it pointing to the waterfall.
Less than 5 minutes of walking after the bridge and the waterfall is visible. The eco-trail ends with a small observation deck with a bench.
It takes about 15 minutes in total to walk from the parking lot to the observation deck along the eco-trail.
Beautiful view to the Goritsa waterfall indeed, but unfortunately it is quite far and it is hardly to feel the water splashes. This fact, of course, has its explanation – the water catchment area of the region is located there and access to it is restricted. Understandable, but a bit disappointing for nature lovers.
Anyway, the other two landmarks in the area that we visited that day were the geyser at the center of the Sapareva Banya and the Resilovo Monastery.
Almost five years later, we repeated the walk to Goritsa waterfall. This time it was in early February. We expected to see it more luxuriant, but it was not. Rila is Rila – the highest mountain – and of course it was too early for the snowmelt. Still, we liked it – we had a nice winter walk and the Goritsa waterfall was beautiful at that time of the year also.
