Ukraine 2010 trip report - To the top
Red deers
The third hiking day started nicely at 4:30. I got out from our tent and started brushing my teeth when I heard a wildboar squealing somewhere not too far away. Inna heard it too and didn't like it at all. For a while I just stood there, listening. I didn't hear anything for a while but I still told Inna to give me my knife, just in case.
A wild boar
But the wild boar wasn't the only mammal around! Right after hearing the boar we were lucky enough to see a herd of red deers not too far away. They had apparently noticed us but weren't too afraid. I tried to stand as still as possible and took photos of these beautiful, big-eared animals. Inna was watching them from the tent. It seemed like the deers weren't in a hurry to leave and we slowly started packing our gear and cooking. While I carried the stove to a drier place I saw one more small deer and then a brown spot caught my eye. The spot was quite far away but there it was: a wild boar. I tried taking many photos but it was a bit too far away for my camera.
After the breakfast we hid our backpacks in the bushes nearby because we didn't feel like hauling them all the way to the summit just to bring them down again. The climb to the top was easy and the weather was even hot. I was walking bare-chested and Inna was wearing a pair of shorts. An hour of walking and we reached Roman Kosh, the highest point of Crimea. It's also the only ultra-prominent peak in Ukraine. The climb itself was probably the easiest we've done so far but finding the peak made things a bit more difficult than we had expected! We relaxed at the top for an hour or so and made some phone calls because we hadn't had any connection before. According to a tradition every climber who reaches the top of Roman Kosh should add one stone to the big pile of stones on the summit, thus making it higher all the time. Maybe one day Roman Kosh will be the highest mountain in the world?
The climbing couple relaxing on top of the Crimean peninsula.
On the way to Roman Kosh
A huge pine tree on the way down
Usually coming down from mountains can be boring, but not this time. Next to our tent place from the previous night there was a car and a group of armed men. One of them was carrying a shotgun for hunting and the rest had some pistols. I immediately started thinking about all the possible ways of corruption and I was most worried about my camera and the pictures in it: I didn't want to lose them. When we saw the group it was already too late to turn back so we just walked down to meet them because it was obvious that they were waiting for us. They asked various questions from Inna and she handled the situation really well. Eventually we had to give 100 UAH (about 10 euros) for "development of the national park" because it apparently was forbidden to hike in the area. The guy told us that the areas are marked in our map, but I must say that the markings are far from clear. Anyway we were happy that we had already summited and we only had to pay 100 UAH. The only downside was that we weren't allowed to continue our hike, because the destination was in the forbidden zone too.
The only way down was an awfully boring gravel road circling in the forests. It took us more than three hours to reach the first asphalt road with public transportation. Along the way we took a small shower with water we found in a spring. Just before reaching the asphalt road we had to cross a wineyard and to find a way around (or actually through in this case) the fence surrounding it. The day was burning hot and I felt really dehydrated with a horrible headache.
Before going anywhere Inna made some phonecalls and arranged a room for us in Sudak. There wasn't a straight bus to Sudak so we had to go to Alushta first. In Alushta we were told that all the buses to Sudak are fully booked for the day. Luckily Inna didn't give up and asked again and they told us that we can go to some smaller village from Alushta first and then take a bus from there to Sudak. And so we did. At around 8 pm the owner of the place met us and showed us our room. The room was small but at least something. Once again it was more than pleasant to take a shower, to eat and to rest after a long hiking day.
Wild boar diggings were all over.
The view from Roman Kosh
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