Crimean mountain-sea euphoria

Hiking through the canyons of Crimea from July 12 to July 17, 2009.
When going on this hike, I considered myself an experienced tourist and assumed that I knew what awaited me (before that I went on a hike with Kirill through the Cave Cities and generally visited many places in Crimea with a bicycle), but, looking ahead, I will say that “Cave Cities” in comparison with this hike is just a walk in the park. And how difficult and difficult it turned out to be for me cannot be compared with the delight and mountain-sea euphoria it caused, due not only to the beauty and views, but also to the friendly, cheerful and sincere team that gathered. But first things first.

In Simferopol, 16 people gathered us, who were divided into two groups: one was led by Andrey, the other (ours) by Taras. Both teams walked separately along the same route. The traditional distribution of heavy bags of food, filling out forms and we go to the beginning of the route (t/s Alsou). On the way, I found out a question that had interested me for a long time, that the name of the tourist stop has nothing to do with the singer Alsou and is translated as Scarlet Water. A short gentle descent and we hear the murmur of the river. Black.

The two groups walked together for some time, then separated. During the hike, we met Andrei’s group two more times. Having two teams brought some competitive spirit to the hike. The question that arises is: who is ahead? - created a desire to go faster.

On the first day of r. I had to ford the Black River four or five times, I’ve lost count. These crossings showed that it is necessary to take sandals with you. Constantly taking off and putting on sneakers took a lot of time and was a little annoying.

We stopped for the first night early, at 17.00, at the last suitable parking lot. Next, according to Taras, was a 4-hour trek along the steep, rocky slopes of the canyon. There is no place to pitch tents there. During dinner, a closer acquaintance took place, which showed that an international Russian-Ukrainian team had gathered, designed to further strengthen the friendship of the two Slavic peoples.

And at night there was a thunderstorm. It flashed, thundered and rained almost all night. In the morning, when I woke up first, I discovered that I had forgotten to hide my sneakers in the tent and they were naturally full of water. Then there were painful attempts to light a fire, which were crowned with success after an hour of pyrotechnic delights, which resulted in the loss of a roll of toilet paper and a box of matches. Before the amazed eyes of the awakened comrades, a picture of a cheerfully crackling fire appeared among the general dampness and shoes hung above it. For breakfast, as it turned out later - traditionally - there was milk porridge made from powdered milk with raisins. I didn’t dry my sneakers completely; I went in damp.

And then there was a real drive. Taras did not deceive - 4 hours of steep descents and ascents, slippery after the rain, often sprinkled with loose powder, climbing over stones over steep cliffs, and all around there were crazy beautiful views. It was even scary in places, but terribly interesting. At the end of the canyon we reached the highway. Here one of us, a sick participant in the hike, left us. Seryoga, respect to you, you need to have courage and willpower to go through this section of the route with a high temperature. Naturally, our backpacks became heavier by the weight of Seryoga’s provisions.

The section of the route to the Uzundzha settlement was covered by bus, along the way they raided and emptied the local grocery store. Some comrades, who ignored the warning that there was still a long way to go before spending the night, recklessly purchased beer (1 liter per brother). They had the opportunity to repent of this throughout the entire subsequent not steep, but protracted and lengthy ascent. Speeches of self-accusation, self-flagellation and determination not to do this again were heard regularly.

Thus we got to the Uzundzha canyon, which after Chernorechensky did not impress me. He's kind of small, although he's undeniably beautiful.

Due to its territorial location near the road, due to being busy with other tourists, and also for a number of other reasons that escape my memory, we did not like the Ai-Dimitri camp and we stood in the forest, a little away from it. For which we paid: only having fallen into the arms of Morpheus, we were attacked by an evil forester, who almost crushed our tents with his UAZ. Only by using all his diplomatic talent, supported by certain documents and a certain amount of hryvnia, did Taras manage to send the law enforcement officer away.

However, this incident could not spoil the impression of the gorgeous stewed potatoes with fresh pork (obtained the day before in the store), which were prepared by the skillful hands of Nadya and Katya, for which many thanks to them, as well as the sincere conversations that followed by the fire.

In the morning, using brainstorming plus the deductive method, we came to the conclusion that we had been handed over to the forester by a fisherman who saw our group approaching the parking lot. Suppressing the desire to inflict reprisals on this “radish,” we left this inhospitable place.

Our path ran through a dense beech forest, evoking thoughts of trolls, dwarves and orcs led by Sauron. Along the way we found an artifact - a dam built by the Germans during the Great Patriotic War and which led to the disappearance of the river, along the dry bed of which we walked for some time. For half a day we walked through this enchanted forest, practically not seeing the sky, and suddenly... we came out to an observation deck from which a fabulously beautiful view opened up, slightly spoiled by the clouds covering the sky. The clicking of cameras suddenly subsides and a heavy rain begins. We pack ourselves with backpacks in raincoats and go down to the Silver waterfall and further to the highway.

The rain does not stop, the sky is overcast with clouds, everything around is naturally wet - we make a cowardly decision to go to the village. Aroma, look for an overnight stay with a bathhouse. Having walked around several courtyards, we find an owner who is ready to shelter eight wet tourists at a reasonable price with a bathhouse. That evening we rewarded our bodies for all the “suffering” of the previous days - we took a good steam bath, dried our things and sat mentally in the gazebo, indulging in homemade wine. The night passed to the accompaniment of rain drumming on the roof, which also accompanied our breakfast.

We arrived by bus before the start of B. Canyon, and then the weather improved. Having failed in an attempt to find a workaround and go on a ball, we paid 15 UAH each and began moving along the canyon. At the place where the path goes up, they left Taras with their backpacks, and they themselves, lightly, went to the baths of youth. Due to the rains the day before, the river level rose, and in many places the trail was completely flooded.

At first, we climbed like real climbers, along steep walls, clinging to snags and ledges in the rocks. Then I had to take off my shoes and splash around in the river. The water is so cold that after a minute of walking you can’t feel your legs. A very beautiful place where the Pania River merges with the Kokkozka waterfall.

There are a lot of people around, brought here by excursion buses from the coast. It is interesting to observe the change in expressions on the faces of these people when they are in flip-flops, with beach bags and towels over their shoulders (they came to walk along the B. Canyon as if along an embankment and swim in the bath of youth) and see where they need to go. We observed a man in a T-shirt, ironed trousers and patent leather shoes, who, without taking off his shoes, walked along a stormy stream with a dull look and an expression of complete indifference on his face.

Returning to Taras, we learned that 20 minutes ago Andrei’s group passed by him and, ignoring the baths of youth, cheerfully went up the canyon. Full of determination to catch up and overtake, we rushed after them. For quite a long time, the path wound upward in a dense forest and finally we came to a viewing platform, from which an amazing view of the B. Canyon opened up from above. For about 30 minutes we couldn’t tear ourselves away from this panorama, ignoring Taras’ increasingly insistent calls to move on.

And the sky began to become thick with purple rain clouds, which forced us to cover our backpacks and get our raincoats closer. But this time God was merciful, and the sky gradually cleared. Walking briskly, with rare pauses, at about 17.00, we caught up with Andrei’s group, which stopped for the night at the Bash-Dere m/s. We moved on, because... We hoped to spend the night on Ai-Petrinskaya Yayla near the spring. But our hopes were not destined to come true - having estimated the time and the remaining distance, we came to the conclusion that we would get to the spring in the dark.

Therefore, we stopped at a nice parking lot we met on the river. Kuru - Uzen. The evening was very fun playing “Crocodile” (you need to silently explain the hidden word with only facial expressions) and lasted until almost one in the morning.

And then there was the ascent to the yayla, which frightened us throughout the entire hike, which was surprisingly easy and cheerful and took us to the town of Lysaya, which greeted us with an almost hurricane-force wind. Here you feel like you are on the roof of the world - the mountains stretch as far as the eye can see. The four-hour march along the plateau was somewhat monotonous and was remembered only by the Bedenekyr observatory visible in the distance and the full bag of butter that we collected along the path, almost without leaving it. They planned to cook the mushrooms in the evening (as a result of shaking, they turned into solid crumbs and had to be thrown away).

Having reached the spring, we sat down for lunch and began to give advice on what to do next. Today was supposed to be the last night of the trip and everyone wanted to spend it on the beach near the sea. Using group pressure, we convinced Taras to change the route - we went down to the highway, caught a minibus and went to Balaklava.

We had a hearty dinner in a cafe, stocked up on wine and went to Officer Beach (I spent the night there during a previous trip with Kirill). This place was no longer as wild and deserted as last time - there was a retail outlet and several tents with tourists. Until three o'clock in the morning (not everyone, only the most persistent) played cards, drinking wine. As it turned out, Nadya knows countless card games, a considerable number of which she taught us that evening.

The next morning, having fed us breakfast for the last time (we had to go looking for firewood two kilometers uphill), Taras left us. The next day was spent sunbathing, swimming, jumping from rocks into the water and playing cards. Towards evening, having hired a motor boat, we crossed to Balaklava Bay and still managed to visit the submarine museum. The museum made a mixed impression on the majority of our group (we expected to see, at a minimum, a real submarine there, climb in it, and generally wanted to see more exhibits).

We dropped into yesterday’s cafe, where they recognized us and greeted us as regulars (they don’t often have orders of such volume). At dinner, a strong-willed decision was made to make every effort and get together with the same group for another trip next year. Having called the hostess in advance to spend the night, we went to Sevastopol. Katya left us early in the morning (we set several alarms so as not to oversleep). Our thinned company used the time remaining before the train to visit Chersonesus.

Then there was a warm farewell, the station, the train and the way home. Personally, I was a little sad to leave, because you don’t often meet such pleasant, cheerful, erudite people.

Separately, I would like to note the perseverance, willpower and desire for victory of our girls - the hike, in general, turned out to be quite difficult, but we never heard from them a hint of whining, not the slightest complaint, not a single request for a rest. Nadya and Katya, respect and respect to you.

Thanks to our team, I somewhat changed my priorities in assessing the hike - if before the main thing for me was to have a hardy group and be able to cover as much as possible in a day (at the limit of possibilities), now I realized that the true pleasure of the hike (which is characterized by the title of this report - “Crimean mountain-sea euphoria”) is obtained when such a company as we had gathered.

Andrey Dolya, Kyiv 2009