The Legend of a Hiking Tour

Report on the hike "Cave Cities of Crimea" 09.23.07 - 09.28.07. Participants: Andrey - author (Kyiv), Yuri (Moscow), Yuri (Washington). Guide - Kirill.

I have long dreamed of going hiking. I have already mentally walked around the entire Crimea. A beach holiday with organized excursions is good, but I got a little bored and wanted adventure, romance, travel. Over the past three years, I have tried bicycle and motorcycle trips, and I realized that this is a real vacation, this is mine.

The week I had free coincided with the “Cave Cities” hike. A short time of getting ready, the train and I are at the station in Simferopol. My backpack is 60L. It turned out to be quite enough for a 2-person tent, a rug, a sleeping bag, clothes, a bag of food (issued by Kirill) even without using external fasteners.

And now the whole team is assembled, it’s time to hit the road... Bakhchisaray met us with crowded minibuses. The group reached the Khan's Palace in parts. During the tour of the palace, it was especially interesting to look at the famous “Fountain of Tears” and hear the story about it. Further the route lay past the Assumption Monastery. There we collected 2-3 liters of water per brother, because... the next source was not expected until tomorrow afternoon. Near Chufut-Kale, I was impressed by the recently found and cleared cave - a well, inside of which a spiral staircase winds. Digging such a cave because of the water is a colossal effort. Having descended from Chufut Mountain - Kale, we spent the night at the Sarabey m/s, where tourists who had spent the night earlier had laid out a large scorpion with white stones. The descent was quite difficult and trekking poles would have been very helpful.

For dinner, Kirill cooked pasta and stew over the fire, which seemed to me the height of culinary art. And the tea compote made from ripe dogwood, ripe apples and pears, which were constantly encountered along the route, seemed like ambrosia.

The next day, remembering the previous descent, I found two suitable poles on Tepe Kermen, and was subsequently convinced how great they made the ascent and descent easier. We climbed to Tepe-Kermen light, hiding our backpacks in the bushes below.

By lunchtime we reached the Kachi-Kalyon cave monastery. Although we did not meet people in the monastery, one cave-room has a residential appearance and in the church of St. Sofia has a lot of flowers, icons and candles. Having gone down to the source, we filled up with water and looked at Tash-Air, where, if you look closely, you can see rock paintings of primitive people.

Having crossed the Kacha River, our group along Alimovaya Gully began to climb through the forest that had suffered from a fire in the summer. There was still a burning smell in the air.

We wanted to spend the night near the Chelter Koba monastery. But twilight found us still in Zmeinaya Balka, and by the river. Belbek arrived at night. Having decided not to tear our T-shirts, (we were all very tired), we found a very cozy parking lot on the river bank, where we spent the night. The morning greeted us with drizzling rain. We had to cook breakfast under it and break up camp. Belbek crossed the ford. The rain has stopped. After a short climb, the Chelter Koba Monastery appeared in front of us. Judging by the well-appointed caves and outbuildings, quite a lot of people live there, although we only saw one monk. Near the monastery there is a spring with a font made of stones.

Since our team was hardy, Kirill took us to the Syuren fortress along a short road, which was a very steep and rocky climb. All that remains of the fortress is one tower and a fragment of a wall, but the views from the mountain are stunning. The road to the village of Zalesnoye seemed somewhat boring (it ran through fields). Having bought bread in Zalesnoye, we went to Eski-Kermen. Here the road was more interesting, with mountains on the left and right resembling gums and teeth. We spent the night at the fifth balka camp, near which there is a lake and a spring. It was the coldest and wettest night of the entire trip. I put on everything I had and only got into my sleeping bag to warm myself up. Cheerful neighbors showed up at this parking lot; they entertained us with songs with a guitar until midnight, until they were completely tired. Finally there is silence. Hello dream. In the morning everything was wet with dew, like after rain. I had to fold the wet tent a second time.

In general, the weather was optimal for the hike - not very hot during the day, and not too cold at night (not counting the night in Pyata Balka). Having stocked up on water, we headed to the Sholdan Monastery, the tower of which we saw yesterday evening on the approach to the Fifth Balka. A very beautiful and richly furnished monastery, I can’t even believe that four years ago there were bare caves here.

The next point of our hike was Mount Mangup - Kale. I've been here before, but it's still interesting to look at these places again

Thus, our fast-moving team covered the entire trekking route in three days. Then we went to Sevastopol to buy return tickets. We spent the night in Balaclava, on the "Officer's Beach". Here the tents were finally dried out. The water in the sea was cold, but we couldn’t help but swim.

The next day we visited the submarine museum, an impressive underground complex with its grandeur. We admired the Chembalo fortress from below, leaving a closer inspection for later. We traveled part of the way by motor boat, which took us to Fig Bay. The places there are fabulously beautiful, I really want to go back there again. Next was what seemed like an endless climb up the ridge. Along the way we came across a spring and stocked up on water. My left knee started to hurt slightly.

Until evening we walked along the ridge, where there was one, as for me, dangerous section - the path went along the very edge of the cliff. Already at night, in a deep forest, we came out onto a deserted asphalt road. We walked along it for more than an hour - not a soul. We spent the night in the forest near this road. By this time, everyone had accumulated considerable fatigue, and the desire to absorb mountain kilometers had diminished. The next day we went down to the highway and walked along it for about an hour to the viewpoint from which Laspi can be seen. My knee hurt more, if the hike had lasted another day, I probably would have quit the race. We took a taxi down to the sea and swam. And here is Sevastopol, a warm farewell and a train home. Goodbye Crimea, see you again.

P. S. I would like to note several useful things that I noticed from Kirill: a “napopnik” - a piece of an old tourist rug, fastened with straps to the fifth point (at rest stops a very useful thing), knee pads - if I had those, perhaps my knee would have spared me, a thin windproof windbreaker - packed in a case, it takes up no more space than a soap dish, because when you take off your backpack at a rest stop, you appear wet to the delight of the fresh autumn-spring wind and wearing such a windbreaker would not be out of place here. In conclusion, I would like to thank all participants in the hike for the warm and friendly atmosphere, mutual assistance, “comradeship - brotherhood” and a special thank you to Kirill - the hike was a great success.