Mestia - Ushguli
A three-day hike, you can spend the night in guest houses along the route during the warm season.
Distance: from the village of Mestia to Ushguli, 55 km.
Before starting the hike, be sure to visit the information center, it is located on the main square of Mestia and get a map, consult on the route. After a short section of the road, the trail sharply climbs up and the first settlements on the way are Zardlashi and Murshkeli. There are no people, just a clear feeling of deathly silence, after about 10 minutes I walk along the narrow trail of the village, past the Svan towers and see that the whole village has gathered in one open courtyard. There is a funeral. There is bread on the tables, two tables of bread, the old people greet me with a look, I nod my head and accelerate guiltily, I didn't want to disturb people.
It's not unusual at all that the cemetery is located right in the village, I even had an unpleasant experience in Stepantsminda near Kazbek. When I had to pitch a tent in the dark, it was one of the most restless nights, it turned out that there was a cemetery 20 meters away.
As you leave the village, green pastures open up, this is a picture-perfect view. Cows grazing, mountains... just like Switzerland)))
Passing through another village, I noticed a black silhouette by a leaning fence. A stout man, his arms resting on the crossbar, stood frozen... I greeted him, and a conversation began. The man asked who I was, what I was doing, where I was going, at some point I didn't like it and asked a counter question, what did you want?
- I'm a border guard, if you're going there, you need a pass.
- No, I'm turning to Adishi. My father is a border guard, by the way.
- Come in, why are you standing?
-No, I still have to go.
- Come on in.
I squeezed in with my backpack through the narrow gate and we walked together to the table in the shade of the trees.
There are two more Svans sitting at the table, they don't speak Russian at all, they pour beer and give a plate of meat.
The Georgians have an extraordinary gift for getting their guests drunk. You say that this is the last glass, but as soon as you drink half, they discreetly refill it to the brim and pretend that it was always like that.
I still managed to get up, how quickly I got drunk, barely lifted my backpack. They equipped me with apples, very sour ones, and I set off again, looking for a place to camp outside the village, because clouds were already gathering behind me and evening was approaching.
There were no flat areas, everything was on a slope, but whatever. I'm waiting under a tree for the rain to stop and run out to pitch my tent.
There is a spring here, similar in taste to Borjomi. I filled a bottle, you can feel the gas, like a store-bought one.
Then this happened... The nights were dark at that time, I sleep soundly, in my sleep I feel something's wrong, I open my eyes slightly and see the tent shaking, someone is breaking in. I grab a knife and a flashlight, freeze listening to the silence. There's someone's breath nearby, probably someone from the village... For a moment everything went quiet and then the tent started twitching again, I realized for sure that things were bad... The seconds of waiting only increase the tension. I decide to jump out like a devil from a snuff box with a flashlight and a knife at the ready to catch everyone by surprise! In reality, it turned out like this: I put down the flashlight, the crackling sound of the sleeping bag's zipper breaks through the forest silence, 5 seconds later, the zipper of the inner vestibule (Lord, why so many zippers, I've been exposed 10 times), the zipper of the outer vestibule, and I jump forward with bare feet, turn on the flashlight and hold my Swiss sword 5 cm long at the ready.)))….
Eyes shine through the darkness... a cow looks at me, one foot tangled in the wind deflector. The picture is “Frightened boy and forest cow on the night before Thursday”. It's curious how quickly we get used to everything. During that trip, I spent 2 months camping and leading a rather wild lifestyle. Towards the end, similar incidents occurred and even worse, but my reaction had already changed. Leisurely peeked out of the tent to check who was disturbing me again. The fear that overtakes us in the tent is mostly leaves, falling branches from trees, animals that don't mean us harm, and even people who have something wrong and are looking for help or have mistaken your tent for someone else's.
The next day started with a steep climb, we had to pass through very suspicious thickets at the top. You know, the leaves are like in the tropics, saturated with moisture, dampness everywhere, centipedes, spiders, I realized that I had mixed up the path with a dried-up stream. I run through the bushes hoping that the locals of the Amazon won't get caught in my hair and backpack, I get out to a clearing using GPS.
Construction of a ski resort is underway on the hill. We have to walk a small section of the road, but then the most panoramic viewpoint of the ridges begins. After the stream, I go down into the gorge, horses are grazing on the right, a large but unremarkable eagle is sitting on a rock on the left, and I take off my backpack and fall on a haystack.
The entrance to the village of Adishi is guarded by a formidable calf. Seeing me, it immediately attacked me with its love and licked all my legs in half an hour.
The view of Adishi is simply amazing, although time allows us to go further, but without hesitation I look for a beautiful place for the tent. I set up camp, contemplate nature, play with the calf. One of the most memorable landscapes.
September 3. It got noticeably colder at night, somewhere around +2C, I tossed and turned all night, came out to dig the skirt.
There are about 5 families living in the village, I met a local and he offered a horse to cross the ford. But why do I need a horse when I have long legs that are sore from new socks. Our guys bought a Swiss machine and made a quality product for reasonable money. These are summer, lightweight socks with maximum moisture wicking. Absolutely soaked socks just need to be squeezed and within a minute they are completely dry. The only, but significant drawback, is the vertical fabric уплотнители on the inside of the sock, which rub the foot. It turned out that not only shoes can cause friction, but also the wrong socks.
I bandaged my blisters with plaster and only by 13:00 limped to the river, which rushes out of the glacier. It took about 2 hours to look for a place to ford, but everywhere there are deep, rocky sections above the knees with a strong current. Abundant melting of snow and ice under the sun raises the water level twice, so I decide to wait until the next morning. Unfortunately, the forecast showed that the weather was getting worse and it rained all night and the next day. At 8:00 I easily jumped across the stones without even changing into sandals.
Ahead is the pass, I climb and feel vibrations in my chest from the roar of the falling pieces of the glacier. The noise is such that it resonates throughout the gorge. There is wind and incessant rain on the pass.
With попутчиками from the river, we break through the tall and wet grass. Ahead is a Scandinavian landscape, houses in the clouds by the cliff. The rain gives the opportunity to see how the abundant channels of streams cut through the mountains.
After some time, the clouds closed the road, I look at my feet and suddenly bulls fly out of the cloud at full speed, at the last moment I press against the edge. The bulls are followed by cows and a huge wolfhound with a silent rider. Authentic.
It's raining all day. We come to the village and decide to spend the night in a guest house to dry our things. We stayed in a Svan house, lit the stove, everything is as it should be.
On the way to Ushguli, it is clear that the village is thriving. The fields are sown, racehorses are everywhere. You can climb the Svan tower, which is not on private territory. This is definitely worth seeing with your own eyes.
As I said earlier, in the information center in Mestia, you can get a printed map of the entire route. The elevation change and distance are marked there.
For the past two years, I've been following the Trans Caucasian Trail (TCT) project. The guys decided to make a world-class hiking trail through the Caucasus. Now you can go all the way from Cheberi through the upper Svaneti to Ushguli, i.e. if you want to increase the kilometers of the trail, check out their website. When they finish the project, the trail will go through the whole of Georgia to Armenia. Currently, they have updated the section I passed, Mestia - Ushguli. I.e. the organizers and volunteers with a pickaxe and saws, build bridges and clear the trail, mark and make a detailed description on the website. You can join them as a volunteer.
I'm attaching links, there you can get the elevation change and a map for printing, I'm leaving a link to the site and immediately to the maps.
