How to enjoy your hike?
Reading the descriptions of the route, you most likely note for yourself a list of attractions that you will pass through, assuming this is the main charm of the hike and the main source of pleasure.
Everything is wrong!
Numerous attractions with loud and mysterious names are a decoy, an invention of excursion organizers, their daily bread. The essence of the excursion is to take a person from the beach directly to the attraction, give him 15 minutes to take photographs and take him back. The essence of the hike is not at all to travel on foot between attractions, accompanied by carrying heavy loads. The essence of the hike is to immerse yourself in nature. What is important is not only and not so much the result (kilometers traveled, animals photographed and peaks conquered) as the process itself. You need to enjoy every step, and not just the 10 minutes spent at the top.
Don’t expect the unearthly thrill of communicating with nature to come upon you with wild force, don’t expect the instructor to throw you into this thrill with the help of some kind of shamanism. You need to listen to the rustling of leaves, you need to look for a blooming fern on Sparrow Night. Even to see the mountains while in the mountains, you need to make some effort in order to break away from contemplating the heels of the person in front and your own mental assumptions and finally discover what kind of beauty is “hidden” around. Almost every day on the Crimean hike, on the third journey, tourists puzzle me with the question “where is the sea?” They ask and are surprised to learn that the sea is that pale blue thing that for the second day now makes up most of the space we see.
To make your hike a joy, it is important to take care of the selection of equipment. A heavy and uncomfortable backpack will make it impossible to look around. A sleeping bag that is not warm enough will not allow you to fully rest at night.