It's worth a visit

Finally, after a whole month of continuous terror, I persuaded my girlfriend to go hiking with me in the mountainous Crimea. She agreed, but on one condition, that at the end of the hike we would stay for five days by the sea, we had to compromise. And so the two of us, after much arguing and resentment towards each other, chose the “Water and Stones” route, since according to the description and reviews about it, it seemed to us the most interesting and picturesque. Already in the first two days of the hike, we did not have even a drop of doubt that we did the right thing: the feeling of delight from the beautiful views that opened up to us for six days could not leave even the most avid opponents of active recreation indifferent.

It’s impossible to describe all this; you have to see this beauty with your own eyes at least once.

I will say right away that I will not describe the entire route with all the geographical names and terms, as it is very boring and tedious. I will try to tell you everything cool and interesting that happened to us these days.

The first day of the hike left many members of the group with a not very pleasant impression, because on Kirill’s website it is written that you need to arrive at the group’s meeting place no later than 11:00, but most of the group had already arrived by the beginning of the first day and, as a result, we set off only at two o’clock. But good company, a sociable guide and the first impressions of climbing along the “Red Trail” (from Sosnovka) to the lower Chatyr-Dag plateau did not leave a trace of a slight decline in mood.

Wild cave.

It was not possible to get into the equipped caves on the first day, and it was decided to do it the next day. But on this day, those who volunteered to go with Andrey (our guide) for water were very lucky. As it turned out, we went to collect water in the unequipped “Kholodnaya” cave, which was located not far from our camp. And we were slightly amazed when we saw this “cunning” supply of water. It turns out that in any cave, condensation and seeped rainwater accumulate on the vaults, which then drip into the so-called “baths”, in other words, into the pits formed in the limestone floor of the cave. But besides this, we also saw stalactites and stalagmites, which, unfortunately, were slightly destroyed by “wild tourists” who wanted to get souvenirs as a souvenir; two small halls with sinter formations on the walls also opened before us; we did not go further into the depths because it was too damp, frankly speaking, a real swamp. Yes, some of you will say: “I found something to surprise you!” Now imagine the pitch darkness, from which the beam of your flashlight snatches out insignificant pieces of this unknown world, imagine the forking paths along the road, the uniform sound of dripping condensation that is trying to fascinate you, and the feeling that you are in this place for the first time. And only then will you understand all the beauty and romance of the impressions that have washed over us.

Dry acquaintance.

That evening, after dinner, the group got to know each other better near the fire, then Andrei (from Minsk) sang a couple of dozen original songs to us, and everyone went to their tents. Believe it or not, we didn’t even drink to meet each other; there wasn’t a drop of alcohol during the hike.

The next morning we got up, drank tea and went to the “Emine-Bair-Khosar” cave; we could visit the “Marble” cave if we wished, since they are located nearby; part of the group that had already been there remained to guard their backpacks and tents. The equipped cave turned out to be “cooler” than yesterday’s, because there was appropriate lighting, musical accompaniment, a greater variety of bizarre formations, but there was not that atmosphere of the romance of the pioneer.

On Mount Chatyr-Dag.

I was very impressed by the weather on Mount Chatyr-Dag. It changed several times a day. Here you could get wet to the skin, then get caught in a crazy wind and swim in the sun for dessert, and then repeat the whole procedure again. Frankly speaking, spending the night on this mountain was the coldest of all. But the climb to the upper plateau of Chatyr-Dag will be remembered forever and made my camera very happy. At first, the clouds floated above us and it seemed that we could reach them with our hands, then we found ourselves above them and suddenly fell into a huge cloud and had to wait until it floated to the side, because visibility was literally 3-4 meters.

The most interesting thing.

Also, the climb to South Demerdzhi awakened a whole storm of emotions in my soul. The most interesting thing began with the entrance to the Valley of Ghosts. Here we saw the nut from which Nikulin fell in the film “Prisoner of the Caucasus” and the stone on which Nina danced. Then the long climb to the top began. We walked under the stone chaos, made our way through the bushes, sneaked along meter-long cornices along the ravine (unfortunately, there was only one such section), climbed over huge stones. But when the cherished goal was achieved, everyone took their breath away from the views that opened up, the feeling of delight knew no bounds, and if “YOU” are reading this review, then believe me, it’s worth visiting.

On the way to the top, we witnessed a “hunting miniature”: a hare ran out onto the path, and an eagle soared above him, cutting circles, and at the most decisive moment our appearance ruined everything or saved it, you decide. As a result, the eagle remained hungry and lost the huge feather that we picked up, and the hare, as you may have guessed, disappeared into the bushes, his heels sparkling.

Real jungle.

We went to the Jur-Jur waterfall through the Khapkhal gorge. This is how the descent was - you couldn’t be distracted even for a second, you were constantly looking at your feet so as not to thunder down, and there was such a forest around, like a real jungle. Ferns grow everywhere, there are debris from trees everywhere that you had to either go around or climb over, and a mountain river rumbles below. I’ll tell you without lying, it’s such a beauty! The river consists of small cascades of waterfalls, and where the water flows from a greater height, baths have formed, into which in the wild heat you just want to climb, but I don’t recommend doing this - you’ll easily catch a cold, because the water there is icy, like in a well.

Mushroom soup with pasta

On the fifth day of the route, I was a little upset because the whole group (except me) voted not to climb Karabi-Yayla, but I really wanted to get there. As a result, we arrived at the parking lot early and by late afternoon we were all toiling from idleness. But there were also advantages in that we did not climb the yayla, since along the way we picked up mushrooms (butter mushrooms). At first, only my girlfriend and I were picking mushrooms, for which Andrei swore at us and said that we were delaying the group, but then several more people joined us. When we arrived at the parking lot and Andrei saw a whole bucket of mushrooms, he was surprised and said that he was yelling at us in vain. In the evening we had mushroom soup with pasta for the first course, and buckwheat with stew for the second, but still two members of the group were afraid to try the mushrooms, but the rest were satisfied.

The next day we went to the sea, and here our route ended...

Denis Tityaev, Gorlovka. June 2008.