Kosmadei - Vigla (Kerkis) (Samos) (no. 11 / 10)
Starting point: Kosmadei (575 m)
Starting point Lat/Lon: 37.76104°N 26.6612°E 
Path name: no. 11 / 10
Time of walking: 4 h 15 min
Difficulty: easy marked way
Difficulty of skiing: no data
Altitude difference: 868 m
Altitude difference (by path): 1050 m
Map: 331 Samos
Access to starting point:
The starting point is on the Greek island of Samos in the village of Kosmadei (also Kosmadaioi, gr. Κοσμαδαίοι). Winding but paved roads lead to this point. The traffic slows down noticeably only through villages along the way, such as Lekka and Nikolaudes (it is 12 km from Karlovassi to the starting point).
On the road near the destination, in the middle of a dense forest, all alone a graffito nicely greets visitors with "Welcome to Samos".
The paved road ends at the top of the village at a scenic location where there is a parking lot. From there, only a rough dirt road continues, which is suitable for driving only with off-road vehicles (the first slope of this mountain road has a concrete base due to its incline, but later it does not; some people may still drive over this slope and then a short descent with a regular car).
Path description:It is highly recommended to take on the trail: a wide-brimmed hat, sunscreen, long pants (due to thorny vegetation), and plenty of water.
From Kosmadei it is 4.2 km or 1 hour 15 minutes of walking to the Panagia Chatzimanolisa Monastery in the area named Kakoperato at 580 m above sea level, dedicated to Zoodochos Pigi. Nearby is a cave with a chapel (source with more info:
https://www.isamos.gr/en/kosmadei-2/). The road has some branches, which are distinguished from the correct path by being in poorer condition, but they are more misleading on the return. One of these branches has signs for Iera Moni (gr.: Ιερά Μονή), here the "main" road is left and the descending road to the monastery is followed. The road is remote with no to very little traffic (one car in three hours on the day of the visit), and on the mountain there are no visitors for several days at a time (source: guestbook).
From the monastery the path begins, which is not visible from the upper road. The path on the terrain is indicated by numerous cairns and red dots. The steep path leads into a ravine between slopes with a shady grove. Caution is needed here, as the correct path steeply climbs on the right side towards Mount Zestani (numerous small paths lead straight ahead and can mislead the hiker).
Again a somewhat steeper path leads to the ridge and along it to the top of Mount Zestani at 1206 m above sea level. Below the ridge towards NE a huge canyon is visible.
From the mountain the path descends into the last grove on the path and then follows the ridge and sometimes slightly to the left of it to the fore-summit, where the path levels out and continues to Mount Kerkis. Numerous peaks in the vicinity are only slightly lower than Kerkis. At the top there is a box with a guestbook. The view is best to the west to the sea and the islands of Furni and Ikarija.
Return option towards south on a slightly longer but picturesque path.
Description and photos of the path are from June 2024 (on return at 15:00 it was 27° C at the starting point).
On the way: Panagia Chatzimanolisa (Zoodochou Pigi) (575m), Zestani / Zastano (1206m)
Pictures:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85