This report is about the tour: Ghost Valley 🗓 April 30 – May 5, 2009
Hiking "Water and Stones" April 30 - May 5, 2009
So the next May holidays fell on our heads. What to do when you have several days off in a row and your body asks for adventure? Crimea was chosen. Or rather its mountains.
This time I didn’t go on my own, but organized a small group of “mountain ducklings”, bought tickets, agreed with a guide and sat on my backpack to wait for the 29th.
Not all of us have been on such trips, so there were some minor mistakes with things. Some didn’t have a rain poncho, some had problems with their shoes, and given the weather we found ourselves in, it became a science for everyone.
Otherwise, I’ll tell you everything in order.
We started on the train: a couple of cases of beer, some kind of food, partying until late and hateful glances from our neighbors in the carriage =)
In Simferopol we successfully met our instructor, Oleg, and rented a minibus exclusively for our group for 20 UAH. from the bow and drove towards Sosnovka.
Here is Sosnovka, the beginning of our 6-day route. The weather is good, the sun is shining, everyone is in high spirits... no one even suspects that the first steep climb lies ahead.
Of the entire team, only two people did not smoke: Oleg and Nastya. We, having smoked a cigarette before climbing, rushed to storm the mountain... The mice were injecting themselves and crying, spitting lungs, sweating like metallurgists, skidding on the sand and stones, began to want to go home and curse me for the idea of a mountain walk, but... having gone up and catching their breath a little, they stuck a cigarette in their teeth again 0_o
The weather began to deteriorate, the fog was thickening, clouds were constantly flying past, visibility was on the verge of blindness.
On the way to the first site we came to the Emine-Bair-Khosar cave. Seven of us went on the hour and a half excursion. The rest were either already there or simply didn’t want to. But what kind of guide did they get... It's just a fairy tale, not a guide. He soaked such pearls that people held their stomachs, crawling up!
Starting from the second day it rained almost constantly. Visibility was poor. There was no point in climbing up, so we tried to avoid most of the climbs. We spent the night in wet tents. And only the evening fire and a hearty dinner warmed the soul.
On the second day we passed some kind of camp site. We decided to go have a snack, warm up and dry off a little. We bought mivina, begged for boiling water and bought all the canned food that was available.
The appetite was excellent, everything was spoiled only by the stench from the lifeguard, which was applied to neighboring cyclists. An aunty bartender with the appearance of a Soviet sleeper-layer gave them such crap for this that they quickly retreated and ran in different directions =) Because it’s not great!
During the hike, many original ways were invented to get rid of the annoying rain.
On the third day we passed the Dzhur-Dzhur waterfall. These bastards made it a paid entrance for 15 UAH! There was no choice, we had to get to the other side and had to pay. Imagine our surprise when during all this time no one asked us to show the purchased tickets!
We were especially pleased with the “white tourists” - glamorous girls in light tracksuits and white sneakers, who walked disdainfully through the terrible mushy mud from the waterfall, and we, boldly walking with dirty boots, knee-deep in mud.
On the next climb, in the fog, cold and rain, the remains of a certain animal were found. By voting, it was decided that it was either a goat or something similar, because... there was a crest on the back. Neither dogs nor foxes are equipped with such a device, but goats seem to be.
Near another waterfall I was pleased with a tree decorated with Christmas tree decorations. Respect and respect to the people who were not too lazy to carry them throughout the campaign and decorate the tree with them. The inscription on one of them, “Interesting acquaintances,” warmed my soul throughout the hike.
It was nice to drink water from clean mountain springs. There are a lot of them in spring. The water is tasty and cold
And only on the penultimate day in the evening the sky began to brighten. The sun appeared. The clouds were moving into the mountains. At the next lunch stop, my “ducklings” tore off half of their clothes, shoes, socks and laid out their yellow bellies to warm themselves in the sun. It was the most wonderful lunch of the entire trip. My mood was improving. The strength to move on appeared again.
On the last day we practically skipped towards the sea. The water beckoned with its coolness. No one cared anymore that the water was cold and wet, everyone rushed to swim.
Beer and hunting sausages pleasantly filled our stomachs, and the sun pleasantly burned our bodies. We did it. We walked the entire route and didn’t regret it a bit!
May 7, 2009, Kyiv.
P.S. In addition to the photographs, I have attached a map with the route marked. File sizes are 1.8 and 1 MB.
