Digital Wanderer

We live as long as we fly

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Crimea — 9, Grand Canyon of Crimea, part 1

2011-12-24

Even though we were a bit tired after the cave city, and arrived at the Grand Canyon around 2 PM, we decided to wander around it. We didn't take the tourist route, but went straight along the very bottom of the canyon, which, of course, isn't any easier, but is a hundred times more interesting.

Judging by my GPS, we walked 14.6 kilometers, gaining and losing about 600 meters of elevation.

A man in a brown t-shirt stands on the right, pointing into the distance, while a woman in a red t-shirt sits on the left, petting an orange and white cat. Behind them is a wattle fence and green vegetation.

Waiting for Vova to figure out where to go and how to get there

 

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Vova is thinking so hard that steam is literally coming out of his ears

 

A man in shorts stands on the roof of a white van with several bicycles attached to it, against the backdrop of a blue sky and a rocky cliff.

The bikes are ready

 

The entrance to the Eski-Kermen tourist base, decorated with a wattle fence and several billboards. The road is strewn with fallen leaves under the crowns of autumn trees.

That very same base that charges money for everything

 

A green information board with a map of the Grand Canyon of Crimea landscape reserve, surrounded by autumn trees.

Long story short, we got to the Canyon and set off

 

A group of tourists with backpacks crossing a wooden bridge over a rocky riverbed in a dense forest with yellowing foliage. In the background, at the end of the bridge, there is a white information board.

The canyon is being spruced up bit by bit

 

Five tourists in hiking gear and with backpacks stand on a forest trail near a "Forest Guard Post" sign. Around them is an autumn forest with lush green and beginning-to-yellow foliage, and the ground is strewn with fallen leaves.

But they charge money for it

 

A group of five people with backpacks walking up a rocky dirt trail in an autumn forest.

At first, the walking is easy and pleasant

 

In the center of the image is a massive, highly curved, and partially rotted trunk of a dead tree with gray, rough bark and exposed roots. It stands on a forest floor of fallen leaves, against a backdrop of dense green foliage.

It doesn't take long to reach the post office oak

This is where they used to leave mail. Then it burned down. And that's about it.

If you go a little further along the tourist trail, there'll be a magical, beautiful blue lake. I don't remember which photo it is, so we'll just look at all the shots with pretty bodies of water.

A traveler in a red t-shirt stands on a rock near a small pool of emerald water, surrounded by an autumn forest with yellow and green leaves and fallen foliage on the rocky shores.

Gorgeous!

 

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Magic!

 

An information sign "Karst Spring Paniya" by a rocky forest trail with exposed tree roots and fallen leaves. Next to the trail, among moss-covered rocks, flows a small stream with a metal pipe.

Even further on there is the PANIYA karst spring, with an average water flow of 370 liters per second. Even Pasha and Vova combined couldn't drink that much.

 

A forest stream with clear water flows over a rocky bottom covered with bright green moss. The banks and stones are strewn with fallen autumn foliage, and trees can be seen in the background.

So here's how it flows

 

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Me on the slippery rocks near the blue lake

 

Two tourists, a man and a woman, stand among rocks and fallen leaves near a mountain stream with clear water; the woman is drinking from a bottle, while the man is standing in the water.

Drinking water is so drinkable

Further on it got more interesting, new terrain features popped up.

Two male tourists wade through the rocky bed of a river in a gorge. The trees on the slopes are covered in yellow-green autumn foliage, and fallen leaves lie all around.

Footprints of giants were imprinted in the stone.

A woman with a backpack and a blue bandana stands on a rocky ledge in a gorge, looking into a small fanny pack. In the background, among the rocks and autumn vegetation, a small pool of a mountain river is visible.

For such an occasion, Olya even takes out her camera.

 

A man in black sportswear stands on the rocky bed of a forest stream with small pools and fallen autumn leaves, leaning forward and looking into the water.

And I decided to wash my glasses.

By that time, my neck had been hurting pretty badly for a few days already, which didn't bode well for me, and many readers know how it ended.

Two tourists on a rocky trail in autumn. One stands near a small stream with fallen leaves, while the other sits higher up on gray rocks.

While it's still possible to rest on the warm stones

 

A reflection of a bright cloudy sky and dark tree crowns in rippling water. A light strip of sky is visible in the center, surrounded by wavy silhouettes of foliage.

Breathtaking puddle

 

The rocky bed of a forest stream with shallow pools strewn with autumn leaves. On the left, a person with a camera stands on the rocks against a backdrop of dense trees.

And look at the reflections and refractions of the trees and sky in the karst hollows

 

Two light green leaves with a pronounced vein structure on a thin stem against a background of a carpet of dry fallen brown leaves.

Autumn is arriving here too

 

An autumn stream flows along a winding rocky bed carved into light-colored rocks, among fallen yellow-brown leaves.

And with that, the footprints of the giants came to an end

 

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This was from earlier, but inserted here for variety

Here we were scrambling up, trying to find the source of the spring. Plenty of energy, but only a fraction of brains — we ran all around the hill for nothing.

A shallow forest stream with clear water, through which a rocky bottom is visible. The surface of the water and the banks are strewn with fallen autumn leaves in shades of orange and brown, and dense green vegetation is visible in the distance.

For now it's cute and pretty, but further on it's going to get brutal and gloomy

 

A group of tourists is walking along the rocky bottom of a gorge between steep cliffs covered with moss and autumn foliage. The man in the foreground looks up at the rocky slopes.

Pasha looks to the future and with optimism, while Andrey looks to the past and with apprehension

The walls on either side were closing in more and more, the sky was darkening in anticipation of rain, and Pasha kept pulling out the route complicator in the form of a local tincture with spices and cognac. The most interesting part was just beginning, but more on that in the next part.

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