I hiked in the Theth area last year, in July.


1. GAS
Gas was very easy to find in Tirana, but only the type without fitting. You can buy a stove that fits these tubes. Both the stove and the gas tubes are shown on this photo:
http://karpaterna.se/balkan/albanien/02b.jpg

You can buy both stove and gas in many shops, even in small kiosks or (as in the photo) on the streets... The stove is quite large but doesnt weigh much.

2. WATER
We hiked Theth - Okol - straight north into Montenegro. Just north of Okol there was one source. And near a sheppereds house near the border was another. Otherwise we didnt pass any sources. If I would hike here again I would carry a LOT of water, at least in the alpine area. It can be baking hot as well, in July.

Down in the valleys you can use water from the streams (perhaps a good idea to purify it before drinking). But the alpine areas were very dry.

3. RAIN
It doesn't rain often in July, but it's of course possible... A simple poncho takes very little space and weight, so I would recommend that.

4. DAYS
Four days sounds good. You won't need to hurry then.

FINALLY
Just want to say that you will have a very nice hike! The Theth valley is amazing. I can recommend the Grunas waterfall.

Good luck!
Mats (Sweden)
www.karpaterna.se

Yes, in the alpine area north of Okol was a small lake with water. I would use a purifier for that water though (still water is not advisable to drink) to be on the safe side.

The spring on the map was not on our route, we walked straight north (a little bit west of that spring) into Montenegro without passing the 6 lakes (unfortunatley).

Grunas is a part of the Theth village, in the south-east part of the valley. On the northern side of the village is the waterfall.

We hiked from Okol around 9am and finished a few km passed the border in late afternoon. But we had very heavy backpacks...

The gas we bought in Tirana cost about 30 Euro Cents / tube (the cheapest I've seen anywhere) and the stove about 4 Euro. Try the stove before you head out...

Kolargol, are you Polish by any chance?
I know this area quite well, check out my trip reports from Prokletije (Accursed Mountains) at my profile page. As Mats said there's water just above Okolj. There's usually water from melting snow (or maybe a spring) flowing into the largest lake in Buni Jezerce. There is a spring at the Buni Gropaet katun (shepherds' summer settlement) to the east of Qafa e Pejes. Shepherds at Ropojana valley (Albanian part) must take water from somewhere but I dunno where is a spring there. Otherwise you can always melt some snow - there are places where it stays even in summer.
The way from Buni Jezerce into Valbona may be problematic, from the col north of Maja Jezerce down to the east to Valbona the route finding can be difficult, my friends went there up and down and I heard it from them.
Let me know if you got any more questions.

Maybe use this map, it's perhaps more detailed.

kolargol wrote:on the map there is a very small lake north to kolo (about one kilometer from there), at 900m hight more or less and i wonder if this is the lake you'r reffering to.

What do you mean by "kolo"? Okolj? That "lake" north of Okolj is a spring with good water that you needn't purify, the one I wrote about.

kolargol wrote:besides that lake, there is another one, a bit larger, on the way north, after cafa pejes, and i thoght about sleeping there in the first night and also fill water there (i'm going to use a purifier).

As I said, if you go east of Cafa Pejes (about half an hour uphill) there's a shepherds' settlement Buni i Gropaet with a spring with good water - no purification needed. In July probably the shepherds will be there, they're very friendly and always invite people to camp near them and use their water.

kolargol wrote:i'm still not sure how much water i should carry with me. i think that 3 litters is more than enough, considering those lakes i'm about to pass on my route. but i'll be more than happy to hear your oppinion on that issue...

Have at least 2 litres per person, on a hot day with a heavy backpack you're gonna drink it on the way from Okolj to Cafa Pejes even if you drink a lot at the spring And it's good to have some fizzy tablets (fruit flavour or so) to dissolve in water to keep your mineral salts level alright.

kolargol wrote:about the route from buni jezece to valbone, i'm thinking about going south-east bellow the ridge with the 2323m summit, from there north-east and east untill the path that goes down with the valley, and actualy it seems not so difficult from the map, but maybe i'm wrong... another guy told me that the way from buni jezerce to valbone sould'nt take more than 6 hours.

I dunno that route so I can't help you about that. You can always try and explore, just leave yourselves a way back

There's a chance we meet there, I might be in the area in mid July.

cheers,
kamil

There are homestays (like Bed & Breakfast) in both Okol and Theth. I didnt see any signs though... I guess you should just ask around when you're there (even though people wont speak English...)

There are no shops in Theth or Okol. Buy your food in Shkoder instead.

Kolargol, I completely forgot to check this thread recently - sorry!

kolargol wrote:when we get to theth, is it recomended to sleep in theth or in okolj (if it's possible at all)?

We camped at Theth, next to "Bufe" (shop-bar-campsite in one), in the upper part of the village which you reach first when coming from Boge. There was some sort of hotel just before it. I heard you can also find private accommodation at the villagers' houses, they are very hospitable.

kolargol wrote:can we buy food for the trek in theth, or is it better to buy food in shkodra (where we'll sleep the night before)?

You can buy some basic food at Bufe (bread, maybe cheese, vegetables etc) but it's better to have some supplies from Shkodra too.

kolargol wrote:the lake you wrote about (buni i gropaet) is north-east to cafa pejes, while i was reffering to the lake north to cafa pejes, at 1621m hight, and about 500m from cafa pejes to the north (is it buni i gropaet..?).
if we are not talking about the same lake (...)

I think we're talking about the same lake, there is no other there.

kolargol wrote:than the thing is that we are not planning on climbing to jezerce or popluks, so we have no reason to go east from cafa pejes

It's just an option because there is good fresh spring water there and the detour wouldn't be long.

kolargol wrote:how much time, more or less, should it take to hike from theth (or okolj) to cafa pejes?

Depends how much you carry. With heavy backpacks it can be up to 4 hours from the spring to Cafa Pejes.

kolargol wrote:about the posibillity of rain in the this area at july, was it raining at all in any of your trips?

In 2005 we had one short shower, in 2006 no rain at all but just before we arrived there were a few days with very heavy rain. Sometimes even when it's sunny in the lowlands, the weather can be much worse high in the mountains.