Trail Omalos - Kallergis - Katsiveli

One of the most mystical and most demanding paths of Crete is the part of the European trail E4 crossing of Mountain Desert of the White Mountains . Crossing the White Mountains usually takes three days and the route will fill our memory with amazing pictures from an unprecedented scenery.

The mountains in winter are covered by snow, so summer and autumn are considered as the best seasons to try this. The proposed route starts at the plateau of Omalos and the first night is spent at shelter Kallergis .

On the second day, the first part of the Mountain Desert till the shelter Katsiveli is done. On the third day, the course ends at Niatos and from there to the plateau Askyfou .

In the afternoon of the first day we hike from Omalos plateau to Kallergis shelter , either from the trail starting from Xyloskalo or via the dirt road that heads to Kallergis. Hiking from Omalos to the shelter Kallergis takes about 1.5 hour.

In the following morning we follow the dirt road to the east and catch the path to Melidaou Peak . We look for the typical yellow - black signs of the E4 and ascend at the south side of the peak Melidaou at around 2100m.

From Melidaou we start descending to Plakoseli plateau (altitude 1860m) and then to Papasifi Mitato (altitude 1800m) and keep looking for the e4 signs. We then come by the starting point of Eligia Gorge and finally reach the shelter of Chouliopoulos above Katsiveli plateau, in the core of Mountain Desert .

We stay overnigh and continue the next part of the route on the next day.