Slovakia's High Tatras mountain range sits quietly in the shadow of the Alps yet within a compact 40-by-15-mile range stand two dozen peaks between 7,000 and 8,700 feet.
Don't feel bad if they weren't on your radar. I'd never heard of them either until I escaped Rome's August heat for four days of trekking.
Bravo for planet Earth's little secrets.
I've hiked and climbed in Asia, South America, Europe, Africa and the U.S., yet only the vision of the sun rising over Africa from the top of 19,340-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro surpassed my views while trekking in the High Tatras.