Today is our big mountain hiking/camping trip to ПоднебеÑные Ð—ÑƒÐ±ÑŒÑ (Teeth Beneath the Sky). We start our journey at 2AM. Andrey drives myself, and his cousin Alec on the initial 4 hour car ride. Sergey drive in a second car with Gosha and Dmitry. The place we are going has no roads, so the goal is to get to МеждуреченÑк (Mezhdurechensk - City between the rivers), where we will pick up a train for a 2 hour ride. Our stop doesn't even have a station. It's just a blank spot in the trees and a trail down to the river(Tom River). Waiting at the river is a couple of guys with a boat that is really more of a large canoe. We don't have more than 20-30minutes down the river to get to the place where we disembark to hike up to the cabin. Now is a good time for a nap.
Next was our hike up into the mountains. The trip was 10km up the mountain, so I assumed it would be a slow winding path up. I was a little unprepared by our starting immediately climbing straight up the ridge line. Very steep, maybe 55-70 degrees. It was a very hard climb. We kind of walked/climbed along the ridge line across the tops of the mountains. I'm glad I've spent the last year getting myself into shape, or there is no way I would have made this climb. The views are pretty spectacular.
This was an exhausting hike, so we all opted for another nap. We didn't stay down for too long, though. We took another walk up into the mountains, this time without a guide. I couldn't keep up with the these guys, most of them just out of university. By the time we got back, not too long before sunset, my legs were jello.
To end the evening, Andrey grilled some pork chops, while everyone else argued about how to best get he fire going to cook. It took a long time, but they were pretty good. Well worth the wait.
It started raining sometime in the night and continued trough the morning. It had been so sunny and warm the day before. All we really could do was sleep and eat. The sun did finally come back out by early afternoon so we could walk around a bit for one last time.
We left to catch the train at 3PM and we arrived back at about 9:30 or so. This time I rode with Sergey and Gosha in the car leg of the journey. I could hardly keep my eyes open until we go to my hotel. I just took a shower and hit the hay. Was teh best sleep I had since I got into the country.
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