i know, it took forever but . . .

the backpacking trip (cont.)
where did we leave off, oh yes, lunch. so we had lunch consisting of fruits and sala (fatback). after lunch we started to head up to ukraine’s tallest ridge. on the south part of the ridge is a mountain called black mountain, ukraine's third tallest mountain at 6000ft. it has a lot of mythology around it, like one of the gutsul gods stepped down from the heavens on this mountain(told to me by a gutsul). also this ridge was a border between poland and czechoslovakia before world war II. at the top of black mountain the polish built an observatory that was used as a fort in world war II and during short resistance by the carpathian people against the russians. btw, parts of ukraine fought against the russians during world war II, but not on the german side. through all this, it now lies in ruins. so enough of the history . . .

still a little ways to go to the top














we are almost there














lyala and the view from the top














here’s the ridge that we will hike the next day, oh the view will be great!(or so we thought)

at the top the wind was very strong and cold! we spent some time exploring the observatory. there were some pieces of the boiler left. all the walls used to be insulated with cork, now falling apart. the dome and the third floor had collapsed. the roof was gone because it was copper and the communist seized all the valuables. it was not a place to camp because of the wind and the cold. plus we had to backtrack a bit because we were going to hike north on the ridge. we descended from the ridge where we would have water for the night and the next day because there is none on the ridge. the wind was still strong in the valley and there are no trees so the fire was really hard to get going and stay going. so we ate and turned in early. we woke in the morning and came out of the tent to face a very thick fog. being backpacking/warned before i knew that this meant the weather could do anything. but we decided to try to brave the ridge, which was about 100 meters higher than we were at the time. we hiked and hiked and the clouds did not break. after a couple of hours, ice balls(or ice grain as they call) started to swirl in the wind around us. the day was the most surreal thing that i think i ever experienced. everything was a bit wavy in the thick fog which added to the effect.



during that time we hiked ukraine's second tallest mountain(~6100ft). we couldn’t see more than 10 feet so it didn’t matter to us.








later in the afternoon the clouds broke slightly. it is amazing being in the clouds when it is 'mostly' cloudy.

shortly after this we hiked down a little off the ridge to a mountain lake, it was a small little lake that is at the elevation of about 5900ft. the clouds continued to pass over us the rest of the evening. we did have a pretty good fire that night.
we were a little ahead of schedule so we decided to sleep in the next day. we got up a little before noon and saw the weather was a little worse than the previous day, so we decided to forgo going to the highest point in ukraine, haverla. the weather would be really bad up there! so we start to head down, on a little less traveled trail, there were a lot of mean(as lyala called them) pine brush that we had to wade through. the weather turned great coming down as it snowed the whole day. it was beautiful.

we ate lunch in the cover of the 'mean' pines

we had someone pick us up at the bottom of the mountain since the closest village was 8km away and we had already hiked 40km(26miles)in three and a half days. pretty good for lyala's first backpacking trip. and we enjoyed it thoroughly, it looks like mountain trips are a good present for lyala's birthday (last year we went canoeing as some of you might remember).

well that’s that. i hope you enjoyed it and it was worth the wait.

sorry everyone that i have not finished the story of our backpacking trip. i will as soon as we get the photos converted. we have been really busy lately. well here's the story, our landlord all of a sudden decided that she had to move to kiev. since there are no real laws here on contracts and if there are, they are not really enforced, we had to move out. she gave us about a weeks notice. so we had to find a place, which is hard with a dog and move out. we found a place that we really don't like too much, but it was a place, so we moved there temporarily until we do find a place that we like. luckily movers are pretty cheap (about $30). when we finish this whole movement thing i will give yall my new address and phone number. we were gifted a cell phone, anyone that wants to call us there, please do so! (remember we are 7 hours ahead of yall). the number from the states 011-380-96-383-9975.

on other fronts, it is cold here already. in the 30s in the day and 20s at night. the sun never really comes out, there is a constant fog. it is kinda cool. actually today for the first time in weeks i saw a little color sky! no snow yet though :(

i am working a lot still and the job is going well. it is mainly a solo project, i have to figure a lot out by myself. its a different approach than working in an office with a lot of people. the only thing about working from home is that i seem to never make it outside, except to take meeshka out. its cold out there anyways!

that's it for now
until next time ...