Ukraine 2010 trip report - Searching for water in Crimea
Keep out!
Our five-day hiking trip to Crimea and to its highest point started with a train trip to Crimea's capital, Simferopol. Quickly after arriving there we took a trolley bus towards Yalta. An interesting fact: the trolley bus network in Crimean peninsula is the world's longest. The trolley bus wasn't completely full like they quite often are so the almost two-hour trip went better than expected. We had read a Ukrainian trip report about climbing Roman Kosh so we somehow knew what we were dealing with.
The abandoned plant
Knowing when and where to get out from the trolley bus wasn't too easy, but Inna's skills in Russian helped a lot once again and the local people told us when the time was right. The day was immensely hot and I applied loads of sun screen, knowing that I would burn in an instant otherwise. Once again finding the right direction proved to be slightly difficult. With some help from the locals we set on an asphalt road and saw a biggish mountain ahead. Seeing the mountain helped path finding considerably and soon we ran into yet another abandoned soviet-era plant. The small road we would have liked to take was blocked with "NO TRESPASSING"-signs so we kept walking a bit further, only to hear from a local worker that the forbidden road is indeed the one we have to take.
The mountain we were following
After walking for a while we once again faced problems with Ukrainian maps. According to the map there should have been only a few footpaths but we saw maybe a dozen of them. Somehow we tried to estimate our current location and used a compass to determine the right path. The big rock formation / mountain was still sometimes visible and it helped to keep the right general direction. The bad news was that not only we needed to find the right path but we desperately needed water too. There was only one bigger water source marked in our map and we needed to find it (because the smaller ones are usually not there or they have dried up).
Until we reached the altitude of around 1000 meters the mountain was covered in alder trees. And with alders come deer flies. The deer flies in Ukraine are smaller than the ones in Finland but every bit as annoying. At some point we reached a place where trees were scarce and some old places for campfires were visible. Immediately I had my hopes up and started searching for water. Quite soon we noticed a muddy place on the ground and started following it and maybe fifty meters higher we finally saw the water source slowly pouring water to the ground. What a relief.
Our original plan was to make food there and continue climbing after that but Inna felt a bit tired so we pitched our tent and relaxed for the afternoon and evening. In the night we heard some strange noise outside and many times I peeked outside to see what's there and it wasn't until after maybe three times when I finally saw what was making the noise: a small beetle crawling among the leaves. We also saw a group of hikers (?) walking in the forest in the middle of the night with headlamps. I'm always very cautious with strange people and especially when they are doing something out of ordinary. Fortunately these men just kept walking and in some minutes I didn't see or hear them anymore.
Mmm...shrooms.
I see dead people, no, wait...
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