This report is about the tour: Orient Express
Impressions from the "Orient Express" hike August 3, 2008
The hike begins from the station: and if entering it in your hometown, the hike may seem distant and unrealistic, then when you get off the train and meet the members of your group, doubts dissipate: the journey is about to begin.
The further you are from civilization, the more comfortable nature seems. Forests attract with their coolness, mountains with magnificent views opening from the peaks, steppes on plateaus with winds wandering across them. That nice cooling power! It's much easier to walk with her. Your hair flutters in the wind, the spikelets pleasantly tickle your legs, you want to run and jump, and your backpack seems completely weightless...
Moving forward, you don’t know what to expect, where the path will lead back to the steppe, to a clearing or even deeper into the forest. But when you hear the distant sound of water (and it’s hard to confuse it with anything if you love water very much), then it becomes easier to walk and the last meters do not leave the hope of seeing it, albeit small, but living running water..
And in joy, when you see it, you forget everything: hard climbs and steep descents, and lying on the grass by the water and admiring the sun sometimes peeking out from behind the trees, you don’t want anything else and it seems that for the sake of such moments you will come back here again and again.
The path stretches further and there are many interesting things along it: sometimes nature pleases, sometimes human creations (such as a radio operator’s booth, a cannon and monuments)
The next day initially greets us with the boundless steppes of the mountain plateau. Along the way we look into a small cave and move on. By lunchtime we approach a cliff from which a magnificent view opens onto the stretching valley, small towns and the sea.
That day we still had a lot to go through, and at the end of the last difficult descent, the cries of “water” sounded especially joyful, because they meant rest, so long-awaited by that time.
The clean, cool water of the streams is incredibly pleasing. Washing your hair and pouring this water on yourself invigorates and greatly improves your mood. A small canyon with small waterfalls that have not yet dried up and “blooming” green stones becomes even more attractive at the end, when you reach a small waterfall and a bath in which you can plunge
Step by step, and the sea gets closer. Soon it “emerges” from behind the rocks much more often and with every turn or rise a wonderful, breathtaking view opens up. The grass sways in the wind in waves and we move on.
Our path ran not far from the waterfall (which we did not forget to visit), and along the streams of already warm water descending from it. At times it seemed that we were more like mountain goats, and jumping from stone to stone with backpacks was doubly difficult. But in the end we ended up in a small village, where we ate “nobody’s” plums hanging from the side of the street (yum-yum =)) and found transport to the coast.
The last couple of kilometers to the parking lot we walked along the sea, skirting the mountain and jumping from one bay to another. And although it seemed incredible that here it was, our favorite expanse of water a few steps away, and we still had not taken a swim, our path could not be called boring at all: for each step we had to look for a pebble (preferably stable;)), and other transitions seemed so steep that they caused congratulations to each other on the successful passage of one or another section.
Towards evening we were finally able to swim. Amazingly warm sea, amazing views opening in all directions - you just didn’t want to get out of it!
Since this time we spent the night not in the forest, but near the coast, at night we were able to admire the stars: they are so far away, but sometimes looking at them you feel how beautiful the world is, especially the natural one. ...and then the thought comes that you don’t want to come back at all...
A magnificent sunrise, an ever-increasing sunny path, bright reflections on the waves and the last joint breakfast. I don’t want to believe that there is only one last push left and all this will end.
Finally, we get the territory of the reserve. We walk along the paths of Hell and Heaven (the first gives the opportunity to cool off near the “magic” gorge, the latter offers an amazing view). Then we descend to civilization, which is less and less pleasing with every step. The time has come to leave, but I really want to go back to the mountains, on the road again, with the same people who have been there all this week. And although not everything is easy there: there are climbs on which you persuade yourself “just a little more and we’ll get out”, and around the corner a new treacherous climb is hidden, there are descents on which you don’t think about anything else except “how to better place your foot so as not to roll head over heels”, there are paths one foot wide and transitions after which only “oof” breaks out...
But even in the mountains there are such magnificent words as “halt” or “parking”. There are bonfires and gatherings around them, there are magnificent views and dinners in the most picturesque places; and what food on the fire! and already on the second day huge portions are devoured with enormous appetite))
There are no prejudices or unnecessary conventions in the mountains. And although you are very dependent on the leader and the group there, there is a great feeling of freedom and joy in being There! It is very pleasant to be in nature, and it also gives such wonderful things as teas with herbs, birds flying close to the ground and many many pleasant little things, because of which life is perceived more sharply and brighter.
There were no longer any of the hiking comrades left around, and on the way past the sea and mountains to Simferopol, I still couldn’t believe that it was all over. And only when you wake up on the train in the morning do you realize that that life is already far away and seems illusory.
P.S.: I won’t forget this hike, because it was the one that, as if taking me apart into pieces and putting me back together again, gave me back myself.
Deineka Lena