ral Gorgany
By Volodymyr Gryniuk


We offer a 6-day guided tour through the wildest part of the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains.
 

Trek fee: 660/950 UAH per person (train/minibus)   Trek starting dates (for single entries): 02 June, 30 June, 28 July, 25 Aug, 22 Sep 2007 Please inquire about later dates. Any date is available for group booking (more than 3 people) Day 1. Arriving to Tatariv. Day 2. Khomiak (1542m). Day 3. Synjak (1665m) and Malyj Ghorgan (1592m). Day 4. Doboshanka (1754m). Day 5. Yaremche. Day 6. Departure to Lviv

Tour timetable:

Day 1. Tatariv
At 3 p.m. departure from Lviv to the mountains by train. At 10 p.m. arrival to the village Tatariv and staying for a night at a local hotel.

Day 2. Khomiak
Climbing Khomiak Mountain (1542m) - not the highest but the most beautiful mountain of this range. From the top you will see Petros (2020m) and Goverla (2261m) - the highest mountain in Ukraine. After that we are going down to the Khomiak meadow (1328m) and staying for the night. From this meadow you wil see the next range Yavirnyk (above 1400m).

Day 3. Syniak, Malyi Ghorgan
We will climb Syniak (1665m) and Malyi Ghorgan (1592m) Mountains which are covered with heavy stones and woods. This day the route will lie up above 1400m, so during all the way you will see beautiful mountain scenery. We will stay for the night near shepherds' hut, so you can taste famous "brynza" (local sheep cheese) and milk, and you will see how people used to live some hundred years ago.

Day 4. Doboshanka
We will climb the highest mountain of this part of the Carpathians - Doboshanka (1754m) (recommended for experienced in scrambling and fit people only), but if you are tired and not in a mood for more adventure we will stay one more day at the same place, to have a rest.

Day 5. Yaremche
Going down by the river via the Pereslop pass (950m) we will go to the Yaremche village and stay there for a night at a local hotel.

Day 6. Departure to Lviv
After a good rest you can visit marketplace in Yaremche to buy souvenirs - some handmade by local people stuff, taste local food or visit Dovbush Rocks not far from Yaremche (Oleksa Dovbush is a Ukrainian national hero). At 3 a.m. departure to Lviv by a night train and at 10 a.m. we will arrive to Lviv.

Additional information and advice
Route length is about 45km.
If you don't want to stay in Yaremche for the Day 6. you can go back to Lviv by a night train at Day 5.
Don't overload yourself because all your luggage and food you will have to carry yourself.
The weather in the mountains is unpredictable, it often rains, so you should take a raincoat and put all your things that could get wet into a plastic bags.

AdventureCarpathians Trekking in the Central Gorgany is an adventure trekking tour, so be ready for unusual things and new experience. During the tour you will have to camp, learn how to cook on the open fire, survive without civilization and not to get lost in the mountains. Tour time-table may vary because it depends on the things that we can not predict (for example the weather).

The tour fee is 660/950 UAH per person based on a group of 6 people.
Please contact us for an exact quotation.
The tour fee includes:
* transportation from Lviv to the Carpathians and back (by train/minibus)
* food during the trip
* guide fee (one or two English speaking guides)
Please check our accommodation deals in Lviv.

"Rucksack" or what to take with you in a mountain trip.

The Gorgany Mountains (or Gorganes). The central part of the Carpathian Beskyds, situated between the Mizunka River in the west and the Prut River in the east, and between the limits of the Carpathian Mountains in the north and the Middle-Carpathian Depression in the south. Covering an area of approximately 2,500 sq km, the Gorgany are the least accessible and least populated part of the Ukrainian Carpathians. They are formed mostly of hard and resistant sandstones. The transverse valleys of the Mizunka River, the Svicha River, the Chechva River, the Limnytsia River, the Bystrytsia Nadvirnianska River, the Bystrytsia Solotvynska River, and the Prut River dissecting the longitudinal ridges have transformed the latticed structure of the mountains into a feathered, and sometimes insular, form.

The elevation of the mountains increases from 1,400 m in the west (Mount Gorgan Vyshkivskyi at 1,448 m) to 1,800 m in the Limnytsia Basin (the peaks: Grofa at 1,748 m, Popadia at 1,742 m, Syvulia at 1,836 m, Ihrovyshche at 1,807 m, and Vysoka at 1,805 m) and then decreases towards the east (the peaks: Doboshanka at 1,760 m, Syniak at 1,664 m, and Khomiak at 1,544 m). The peaks, which are often separated from one another by deep ravines, are more differentiated than the peaks in other parts of the Beskyds. Extensive fields (up to 5 sq km) of sandstone boulders (the result of wind erosion) cover the higher peaks, particularly their southern slopes, and weak traces of past glaciation are found on the highest slopes. River valleys in the Gorgany are deeply incised (up to 1,000 m) and narrow and their slopes are steep. The rivers have an irregular flow, which is often interrupted by rapids and falls (eg, the Bukhtovets River and the Prut River). The Gorgany remain largely forested. Eighty percent of their total area is covered by forests consisting mostly of spruce; mixed forests are found only on the periphery and in Transcarpathia. Above the upper forest line (at 1,450–1,550 m) Swiss mountain pine is more widespread than in other parts of the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains. Because of this and the sandstone fields, mountain meadows seldom occur in the Gorgany. The Beskyds lying between the two arms of the Middle-Carpathian Depression represent a transitional form between the landscape of the Gorgany and that of the Polonynian Beskyd. This is particularly evident in the basin of the upper Tereblia River in Transcarpathia (the peaks: Kanch, 1,583 m; Strimba, 1,723 m; Streminis, 1,599 m).

Because of their inhospitable environment, the Gorgany Mountains are very sparsely populated. In the western and central Gorgany, inhabited by the Boikos, villages are situated mostly on the mountain periphery; the interior is penetrated only by settlements of the Hutsuls in the valleys of the Bystrytsia Nadvirnianska River and Prut River. The towns of Nadvirna and Diliatyn are located on the periphery. Non-Ukrainians — Jews, Poles, and Germans — appeared in this region in the 19th century when the forests began to be commercially exploited; in 1939 they composed close to 10 percent of the total population. These minorities are no longer found there.

The forests are the principal natural resource of the Gorgany. Their exploitation was facilitated in the late 19th century by the construction of a dense network of narrow-gauge track on which timber was transported to large lumber mills in Vyhoda, Broshniv-Osada, Nadvirna, and other towns. A small petroleum industry was located in Bytkiv, Pasichna, and Ripne. The health resorts of the Prut River valley—Vorokhta, Yaremche, Yamne, Mykulychyn, and others—acquired a nation-wide reputation; their development was facilitated by the only railroad in the Gorgany, which links the Prut River valley with Transcarpathia through the Tatarskyi Pass.

By Volodymyr Kubijovyč