Colorful Crimea

Another story about the hike "Water and Stones" May 4-9, 2009
I was lucky enough to be a participant in a hiking trip in the Crimean Mountains, to which the tour operator gave a very interesting name: “Water and Stones.” For a long time I puzzled over what kind of water Kirill meant? No, I’m not even the only one, - half of our tour group asked themselves this question.

Perhaps it was the sea - yes, indeed, the sea was just a stone's throw away. Even more - our final destination was a coastal village called “Rybachye”. Perhaps these were waterfalls with fontanelles (every day, near our campsite there was some kind of fontanel, and sometimes waterfalls). Or, as the group members suggested, rain. Precisely rains, since half or even a third of our hike took place in cloudy weather, accompanied by rain and, in places, fog.

So, day 1. This is the day our group gathers. The gathering took place early in the morning at the railway station in Simferopol. A few words about the composition of our group: they were people of different professions and from different cities: Kyiv (actually, like me), Moscow and Odessa. If I forgot about someone, don’t hold a grudge;) Our Fuhrer or, more precisely, Fuhrerin (German leader) Anastasia Panina showed us the mountain trails of Crimea.

So, having gathered, we jumped into a minibus and drove off to the starting point of our hike. The beginning of the route is considered to be the monument to the victory in the Second World War in the village. Perevalnoe (Angara). From there you have an excellent view of Mount Sarp (853 m).

We once again checked our “combat” readiness and moved forward, or more precisely up, along the Ishacha trail... Now I understand why it was “Ishacha” - we, unprepared and unfamiliar from urban conditions, climbed with 20-kilogram backpacks on our shoulders, feeling in our mood notes of the character of this stubborn animal... On the plateau through which this trail led, it was gloomy - fog, light rain, strong and cold wind, but occasionally fog dispersed, and there were excellent views of the villages in the lowlands..

Next we visited the equipped cave Emine-Bair-Khosar. According to the guide, the remains of a baby mammoth, who was named “Vasya,” were found in this cave. Also there are the remains of many extinct mammals - they are also “Vasya’s friends”. The cave is replete with different forms of limestone formations, which, in turn, are beautifully illuminated with multi-colored lighting - this creates an unforgettable experience. This place could be of great interest to photographers if it weren’t for the “tripod photography prohibited” sign hanging at the entrance. The entrance price seemed very high: 60 UAH. for an hour and a half stay.

Having completed the excursion, we move to the speleologists’ camp “Mramornaya” - this is our first overnight stop. There is another cave nearby, after which the site is named. But we don’t visit it - the program is already busy, but we still need to put up tents and prepare dinner.

While preparing dinner, it turned out that Kirill did not take into account the demands of two members who do not eat meat for ideological reasons. (Organizer’s note: in order to avoid such misunderstandings in the future, we are introducing a discount for vegetarians, so that with the money saved they can choose “meat substitutes” themselves) Fortunately, in addition to stew, the camp layout also included canned fish. However, their quantity was insufficient for the entire trip - at the next stop we had to solve this problem by additionally purchasing several cans of canned fish from a couple of Russian tourists standing nearby. For which we are very grateful to them!

It was a hard day. Having gathered near the fire, the whole group eats, shares their impressions of what they saw and experienced, and continues to get acquainted.

Day 2. How nice it is to warm up near the fire after a cold night. You don’t even notice that it’s only 6 am. Closer to 8 o'clock we begin to make porridge with raisins. Then we have breakfast, wash our face, brush our teeth and start getting ready to go out.

At 9 o'clock we move towards the upper plateau of Chatyr-Dag. Today we have a great day, we will climb the eastern peak of the plateau - Mount Angar-Burun. On the way, Nastya shows us the Suuk-Koba cave, the regulated stop time is 30 minutes, but that was not the case!

This is a great place for photography lovers! There is no need to pay here, you can take a tripod (as we did). Using the light brush method, many beautiful artistic photographs were taken, including a group photo at a depth of about 43m. Everyone wanted to pose against the backdrop of the wet cave walls, stalactites and stalagmites. As a result, we stood there for more than an hour.

Now we are running at a pace to Mount Angar-Burun. But it seems that not all members of the group are as trained as our Nastya and a couple of guys. Most of the group, like me, fell behind and took the wrong path at one of the forks. When we realized that we were lost, it turned out that we had already walked 1.5 - 2 km. The group had different thoughts: return, go further along the path, stop, make your way through the forest closer to the mountain. We divided into two subgroups: some went to the mountain, others further along the path and soon stopped (this was at the foot of the mountain not far from Yew Gorge). The fragments of the group were busy trying to get through to their comrades (in conditions of almost complete lack of communication from all operators) and radial search exits. The search for each other took almost four hours. (Organizer's note: the main safety rule is not to separate. All tourists must go together, in a tight group. If the “tail” lags behind, you must immediately inform the conductor to reduce the speed of the entire group. If for some reason you fall behind the group, you must stop immediately, do not go anywhere, do not separate. You must stand, shout loudly, turn on all phones and call the instructor. If you can’t reach the instructor, call the organizers)

In the end, we got ready and went to conquer the mountain. There were wonderful views of the valley, Dzhimerdzhi-Yayla, Alushta and the Black Sea. At the top we took a break to take photographs against the backdrop of the sea, valley and snow.

Then we descended to Bukovaya Polyana along the southern slope of the plateau. During the descent, they found the remains of mechanisms that looked like an unsuccessful attempt to build a cable car to the top of the plateau. We also saw a very strange structure made of stones (we came to the conclusion that it served, or even still serves, for some religious purposes). The day turned out to be very interesting and eventful.

Day 3. What awaited us next was a day that was not so rich in adventures, but no less interesting. Having closed the camp, we descended past the Shkolnaya and Angarsky Pass parking lots to the Simferopol-Alushta highway. Having replenished our food supplies, we climb through beech loess along route 128, passing the monument to the builders of the first road through the Angarsk Pass. Next we climb to the foot of Mount Pakhkal-Kaya (Bald Ivan). Next we walk along Dzhemerdzhi-Yayla, at one of the parking lots we “discovered” another place of religious worship, namely, spirals made of stone. This place was also valuable for lovers of artistic photography, as it offered a wonderful view of the sea with a slight haze over the mountains.

The overnight stop was near the Dzhurla waterfall, where the bravest participants of the hike, exhausted from the journey, took a shower. Later, this waterfall, after sunset, became the abode of “photomaniacs” (as we were called in the group). Armed with cameras, flashlights and a tripod, we went to get footage using the previously mentioned method. I would like to note that the photographs turned out wonderful.

Day 4. Our indignation knew no bounds. It seemed to the participants of the hike that the amount of calories received during meals on the hike did not compensate for the energy expended on the treks. During breakfast, it was decided to go down to the nearest village (Generalskoye).

We followed route 138, as the map said. Past Mount Basamak-Khaya. It was a forest path, meaning there were practically no beautiful views due to the trees blocking the view. But we enjoyed the local flora and fresh mountain air.

Next on the plan was the Jur-Jur waterfall. The entry price is 15 UAH - a little expensive, or rather, in general, it is not clear what the fee is for (since, apart from the checkpoint for issuing tickets, no service is provided at the waterfall - even the paths are not lined with stones - you have to squish through the mud washed in by the rains). The attempts of local entrepreneurs to make money for the opportunity to admire the natural beauties of nature seem absolutely disgusting. But in the end everyone was happy.

Immediately from Dzhur-Dzhur we run to Generalskoye, where we make money for, apparently, the only food store. Like swarms of locusts, we emptied the shelves, buying ice cream, cheese, chocolate bars, buns, bread and sugar. In a word, everything you need on a hike. Having walked 900 meters away from the store, we stopped for lunch, thereby compensating for the missing calories and getting rid of the excess weight of food in our backpacks. The overnight stay was planned at a parking lot near the spring Ai-Alexiy (St. Alexey). I want to note that it was very different from what I had seen before. This one was well-groomed, had something like an altar with an icon and a mirror in the middle, and most importantly, two streams flowed from it: on the left - Dead water, on the right - Living water.

As the ancient epics say, composed in Rus' during the times of military feats of great squads, at a time when Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich menacingly said “I’m coming to you!”, when the knights honored their honor above life and knew that they were the grandchildren of the Gods, Living and Dead Water had a special meaning: the body of a wounded or even killed warrior was first poured with Dead Water - and his wounds grew together, and then they gave it a living drink - and Life and strength returned to it for new achievements. We decided to repeat this time-tested method. After such a sequence, new forces arrived, well, to me anyway.

A strange place, of course, there are very few people, such a strange spring and this obsessive feeling of the presence of someone...

Day 5. Among our group, the desire to get into civilization was gaining more and more strength. It was decided to move to our final point - the village. Rybachye. Moreover, climbing and walking along Karabi-Yayla in rainy and foggy weather was not only pointless, but also quite dangerous. We walked along route 166 - the foot of Karabi-Yayla, and then turned onto the road to the village. It wasn’t so hard to walk anymore – we got into it. We walked probably 15 kilometers through the swamp in the rain. That is, the day turned out to be interesting and full of new impressions (how many descents and ascents, and this in such weather).

Our hike ended on the Black Sea coast. Those who wished took a swim in the sea (the water was about 12 degrees), exchanged contacts, paid and went in different directions. Some went to Sudak, some to Alushta, and some went to Simferopol, while my friends and I stayed overnight in Rybachye.

As a summary, I would like to say that the hike gave me adventure and a lot of fun. We experienced bad weather in the mountains and also enjoyed sunny days. We felt the importance of our daily things that we did not have during the hike. We also had the opportunity to swim both under the waterfall and in the sea...

Krivko Sergey, with additions by Andrey Bespalov.