Smerekovyy stone. Part Three.

The continuation of the article about the visit of the regional landscape park "Enchanted Land" (ua: Zacharovanyy kray) on the territory of which the geological reserve of national importance "Enchanted Valley" (ua: Zacharovana dolyna), more popularly known as "Smerekovyy stone". The beginning is here.

We walk through the forest on the traverse in the direction of "Smerekovyy stone". There are a lot of boulders under rocks. It is difficult to say when they have fallen down. But it is a fascinating scene. Each one is of ten tons but they lie as cards.



We walk 200 meters more and we approach the back part of "Smerekovyy stone". It is a narrow path up; we carefully ascend and go to the observation platform. And there ... the curse escapes instead of "Wow" of the local lore shock. We stand above the forest and for miles around we can see the autumn woods and rocks in it.

The first, what caught my eye, is in the photo below. These rocks are called "Ruined Fortress". It takes a few hundred meters to reach them along to the line of sight. And it may take all the half of kilometer.



And this is - "Lower Throne Stone" and "Upper Throne Stone" (hidden behind trees on the top left, a thin strip just sticks out).



So that, what we stand on is called "Sheep's forehead" (ua: Baranyachyy lob). A view of the rock "Zub” and a birch in the foreground is in the photo below...



And this is the view from "Sheep's forehead" on the valley of village Osyy. The building is at 8-10 km from the observation point.



This is “Lower throne stone” shot through telephoto by one of the group members.



And these are two rocks (also telephoto was used) – "Senior Loner" and "Junior Loner". It takes more than a kilometer to reach them.



It is a close-up view of pockmark growing from a rock.



And these are roots of birch trees, creeping along the surface of the rock formation...



We descended the steep slope down. There is a grotto with a spring, which rises from the rock strata at the very foundation of "Zub". The water is cold and clean. There are a lot of places for tents near it. Local and visiting climbers like to hang out frequently near the "Zub" and "Stone".



There are two dark "holes" on the opposite bank of the creek. These are two entrances to the system of caves (they are joined in a few meters). Now it is difficult to say whether something was mined in these caves or is it just a natural formation. Guides are confident that they were used for the mining of ore. The entrance is currently overwhelmed.



There is a small hole in the cave in twenty meters down the creek, on the other side. The spring-water source "beats" from underground in the depth of the cave. Water is rich in iron and it seems to drain into the creek along the cracks in the rock. Drinking is not recommended. It is too stagnant.



The brook is babbling on a half and meter or two-meter cascades in the area of "Zub". There is a dark stain in the photo below, right in the middle. This is a small cave. Once someone shined with a flashlight into it, and a bird nested inside flew out of there. No one could explain what exactly motivation was to nest it there. It was wet, cold, dark.



There is a place, by the way, on the way back, just 100 meters down slope from "A snotty woman", from which, in the fall when there are not many leaves on the trees, you can notice two more rock formations -"The new cliff" and "Sokolets". You can reach them along the footpath from the "Sheep's forehead". But it is dangerous there and tourists are not led there.

In total, we spent half a day on the way, more than 13 miles were passed. The ascent was not difficult. There were several places where it was necessary to sweat. And so, above all, it can be taken even by the untrained tourists and budding historians. It took us a little more than two hours in one direction. The guides said that when they went here for mushrooms, it took them 40 minutes to "A snotty woman". Nevertheless, they praised us (especially me with my dimensions) for endurance.

What concerns the emotions and importance of the object, I will be brief here. Every resident of Transcarpathia, who has two working legs and two working arms, must visit this place. There are no words, how it is fantastically beautiful here!

To help the tourist. I drew a schematic map with the main (there are many cliffs) points over the image from Google.Maps. 470 килобайт, JPG.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Andrew and Alexander for the wonderful tour. It was really cool.


The beginning of the article: Smerekovyy stone. Part One.

29.11.2011. 16:38

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