(blogging article)

I was born in the south of Ukraine, on the edge of the steppes and the deep blue sea that stretches to the very edge of the sky. And when all the people went to rest at our beach, I dreamed of visiting the mountains. When I got older, I started hiking independently in the Ukrainian Carpathians. I want to tell you, this is an indescribable experience. It is difficult, pleasant, and interesting at the same time. Every hike is different, believe me. And this time was no exception. This time we went in search of crocuses — red book and high-altitude purple flowers. I began my journey with an air alarm, as it became customary for every self-respecting Ukrainian. Thanks to the eastern neighbors, so to speak. After standing in a long queue at the entrance to the station, which was formed during the alarm, I finally found my train – that day we would travel by Kyiv-Rakhiv train, with the final stop for me in Ivano-Frankivsk.

05:45 am the day after, Ivano-Frankivsk, station. From here we would start our small day trip.

That day, our guide would be Alina — she was only 21, a smart girl wearing long bright pink nails and constantly smoking an electronic cigarette. However, this did not prevent her from being ahead of all of us, the entire group of travelers.

At that moment, as many as 35 people were headed on our way. Like on a secondary school trip.

Already at 9 am in the morning, we were finally counted at the gas station in Tatariv, and so far, we had not lost anyone, which was not bad. Ahead of us, 6 hours of walking and an hour and a half pass was waiting for us. Our route was the following — we would go to look for crocuses, visit the Ozirna meadow, climb the Kukul Mountain and look at the snow-capped peaks of the Khomyak, Velyka Sivula, Petros, and Hoverla mountains. Well, only then we planned to descend and go home.

Everything started off great. We were hiking fast until we made the first stop, after which it was not as easy to go as before. Around this time, we saw a plane in the sky – a strange thing for Ukraine now – we had time to both get scared and calm down. Let’s assume that the future F-16 pilot was behind the wheel, right?

Somewhere along the route, whole meadows with crocuses should have started, but the very warm weather all week long decided differently – almost all the flowers bloomed. So, until the guide drew our attention to them, we did not see them at all. But on the picturesque lawn, where we had lunch and looked at Velika Sivula, there were already a couple of crocuses that were still alive, not wilted and not trampled.

However, this was not enough, and we decided to go further and look for more of these fabulous flowers.

After lunch, our path lay mostly through thick woodland, and already there was a whole sea of crocuses hiding in the shade of the trees. For about 40 minutes, we passed continuous meadows of crocuses. From a distance they seemed to us like small purple lakes.

At the same time, we could contemplate wonderful views of snowy Petros and Hoverla, breathe fresh, slightly cool air, and take many photos. And, of course, we climbed up, because we had not yet conquered Mount Kukul, which we actually climbed and crawled, clambered and scrambled.

Closer to 2:00 p.m., we were able to reach the top, where there was still untouched snow. We could not deprive ourselves of the opportunity to ride on the snowy peaks of the mountains. What we actually did. And that was the end of the good weather ride in the mountains; the sky switched slowly and started raining… Therefore, we quickly began to prepare for the descent – which, you know, is not an easy task, no easier than the ascent. After all, it is important to remain whole and unharmed, as well as with uninjured knees. We returned with a full crew (fortunately for the guide Alina), extremely tired, dirty and hungry. Now we were waiting for our bus and the way to Ivano-Frankivsk.