100 Peaks - the Carpathian Way by GRA Ukraine

Well, if you are reading the detailed plan, then maybe you are the one who will be able to walk the 100 Peaks trail - 687 km, all 50 days. The route will start in Lviv on July 31 at 6:00 am. All the trip participants meet and go to the beginning of the hiking route - to the village of Volovets, from where we go to the Borzhava meadow. In the first 4 days of the hike, we will walk the entire Borzhava and go down to Mizhhiria. On this part of the route, there will be only one peak out of hundreds - Stiy 1681m. We will have our first campsite at the top of Mount Stiy, near an abandoned military unit. Then, we will climb Hymba, Kicherya, Zvir, and Menchul along the ridge and go down to the village of Mizhhiria, where our first day awaits us.

Daypacks are days of rest to clean up, change clothes, and replenish food and gas supplies. A bus with supplies will come to us each day, and if any participants decide to leave the route, they will take this bus to Lviv. But this is only the beginning of the journey, and the most exciting things are ahead...

The second part of the route is the Pishkonya ridge. The ridge is relatively short, so this crossing will take only two days. Pishkonya is the shortest passage, but it is very beautiful. Here, you can eat blueberries dotted with meadows and see the Southern and Western Gorgany views.

After a day's rest, we move from Mizhhiria to the village of Synevyr and reach Lake Ozirce. The place of the camp is fabulous, this lake is hidden in the forest, we want to stay here for a few days, but we continue our route, and the next day we have to go to the Pishkonya ridge. It's hard to believe, but this is the sixth day of the trip, and today we will climb four peaks out of 100: Yasenovets 1628m, Velyka Gropa 1667m, Negrovets 1709m and Horb 1687m. We will finish the route on the sixth day on Mount Darvaika, where we will set up our camp.

The seventh day of the hike will be spent on the transition to the Gorgany massif, namely, to its southern part. But first, we need to have breakfast, and we will take a lot of dried food from James Cook, Green Tramps, and our own dried food. That's right, GRA also produces dried food for its hikes. Of course, we will also have the usual food: buckwheat, couscous with tuna, and our special cheese soup, so you can be sure you will not go hungry. After a delicious breakfast, we set out on the road, went to Mount Strymba 1719m, Stremnis 1652m, and stopped near the Mokryanka River. The next day, the hard part begins; we will have an impassable route with storms and thickets; tourists do not go there because there are almost no trails.

In these jungles, our following peaks are hidden - Stranzhul, 1630m; Molochna, 1645mand Bert, 1666m. This is a hellish part of the route, as you can see from the sixes, we will move very slowly here, but there are advantages: we will leave all our things at the campsite, and we will take these peaks radially, that is, without excess weight. We will finish the part of the Southern Gorgan with the 1691m Bushtul mountain, and after the last peak, we will return to the camp and rest. These hellish three days are over. You can rest and relax a little, but not for long because the Western Gorgany is ahead and will be fun, too.

The Western Gorgany is a big section of the route, which we will cover in 7 days. The good news is that we will have a rest day and a reserve day on this section of the route. A reserve day is a special day set aside to wait out bad weather or to catch up with the route plan.

On the morning of day 10, we meet at the campsite in front of Mount Probyta, pack up the camp, and set off. Everyone has probably watched “The Lord of the Rings” and remembered Gandalf's phrase: “Once you take a step, there is no telling where your feet will take you.” This is about our journey. The 12th peak out of the 100 highest in the Ukrainian Carpathians is next in line: Mount Koretivna (1671 meters). Behind Koretivna is such a mountain as Petros Gorgansky, 1702m, which will also be challenging to climb, but the route goes along the Grofets-Popadia ring. We reach Popadia 1740m, pass Parenky 1736m, and descend to Plisets - the hut where we will spend the next day.

Meanwhile, our bus will arrive in Osmoloda with new supplies for the following hike days. We will also have one extra day at Pliska if we haven't used it before. On the 13th day of the trip, we leave Pliska for Velykyi Kanusiak 1642m and Grofa 1748m. By the way, Grofa is the pearl of the Western Gorgany. We will take a group photo at this peak.

On the 14th day, we cross the Moloda River and head to the campsite in the Mshana meadow. We will pass by the famous Arshytsia Ridge, which leads us down to Osmoloda. But first, we have to climb Mount Moloda, 1724m, Sivania Lolynska, 1643m, Poganets, 1667m, and Yayko-Ilemske, 1680m.

The last day of the trip will be spent in the Western Gorgany, including a day in Osmoloda. For dinner, we will go to a cafe for dumplings and borscht. We think it will be the most delicious meal of your life.

We have already come a long way, and on the 17th day of the journey, we will become a small family. When life changes so dramatically, you also change as a person. In ordinary life, you have everything - work, rest, friends, affordable food, and much more... but on this trip, all the participants will become your brothers, and your attitude to food will also change: you will start to appreciate water, learn to navigate the weather. We can say that this is your forest school that will allow you to reboot. We won't try to convince you, so let's be honest - it will be challenging, but this hike will change your life, you will feel free and independent, forget about everyday life, reconsider your priorities and attitude to things.

We hope we have wrapped it up and motivated you for adventure. So, we are starting the 17th day of our journey, moving to the Central Gorgany - the highest part of the Gorgany massif. The crossing will take 4 days, and one will be a day in Bystrytsia.

We leave Osmoloda and climb Mount Vysoka 1803m, Mount Serednya 1693m, and Mount Igrovets 1804m and go down to the Borevka meadow, where we will set up our campsite. A few words about the evening: this is a time to relax, discuss various topics, and enjoy a delicious dinner. The next day, we go to Syvulia, but first, we go to the Syvulia ridge, namely Mount Borevka 1695m, Lopushna 1694, Syvulia Velyka 1836m and go down to the Peklo tract to our next campsite. From the tract in the Bystra meadow, we will have to go through the thickets to Mount Boyarin, 1675m - this is another problematic peak, but we are experienced wolves, so we will not be intimidated by this.

On the 20th day of the hike, we will stop at a hut in the village of Bystrytsia. We will spend the next day there before the final part of the hike through the Gorgany.

We've already said so much about the route and what awaits us, but we haven't told you about the rules of behavior in the mountains. The Carpathians are a region with many nature reserves and recreational areas. In the Eastern Gorgan Mountains, there is the Dovbushanka Ridge, which is forbidden for tourists; only scientists accompanied by reserve staff are allowed to go there. The purpose of this ban can be understood because we want to preserve at least a small part of the Carpathians untouched. We respect this, so we will walk around five peaks from the Dovbushanka ridge, among the hundred, and look at them from the outside.

The Eastern Gorgany will take us 6 days, and we will start in Bystrytsia, the village where we finished the Central Gorgany. The route is designed so we don't have to make any transfers. That is, we walk the entire route.

So, we leave Bystrytsia and start traversing the Dovbushanka ridge so as not to enter the reserve. We will spend the whole day on the traverse, and only in the evening will we get to the campsite in front of Mount Dovha, where we will spend the night in a hut.

On the 23rd day of the trip, we will climb Mount Sinyak, 1665m, and descend to Bukovel, where we will live in super conditions: hot showers and luxury conditions will allow us to relax a bit. But we won't stay there too long; we'll relax a bit and then hit the road again.

On the 25th day, we transition from Vostochni Gorgany to Svydovets. We will cross the Dovha mountain and then climb the Chorna Klyva mountain (1719m), Ruska mountain (1677m), and Bratkivska Velyka mountain (1788m). The route is quite long, with large elevation changes so that it will take two days. On the second day, we complete the route, go to Gropa 1758m, Durnia 1705m, and move on to Svydovets, where the first peaks will be Tataruka 1707m and Trojaska 1702m.

In the evening, we will celebrate because the most challenging part of the path with impassable trails has already been passed. Ahead of us is a lake paradise - Svydovets- but we will talk about it in the following description of the trip plan. Turn off the light and go to bed;)

The beautiful Svydovets, also called the lake region, will seem like paradise. After the rocky Gorgany and the impassable lot where we have been traveling for the last 19 days, the trails of Svydovets are like an easy walk. Let's try to describe its beauty because people go to the mountains to relax and look at nature and landscapes, and we have told you very little about it. Hiking on Svydovets takes only 4 days, which is so little to feel the magic of this place. This ridge has the most significant number of mountain lakes of glacial origin. The water there is always clean and cold, but we ask you not to touch it, just look. You can sit somewhere on a slope and watch the silence in the lake for a very long time because it is not for nothing that they say you can look at water forever. That's what we will do: sit and look at the water for a while, in complete peace under the starry sky that will be reflected in the lake.

The route will be easy, with almost no elevation changes, and the most exciting thing is the equator of the journey. We will overcome more than 50 peaks. So let's go along the route: Ungaryaska 1707m, Pidpula 1629m, Tempa 1634m, and near Trojaska, we will make the next campsite for the night. We wake up happy and satisfied, have a delicious breakfast, and set off to the mountains Geresaska 1762m, Dogyaska 1761m, and Vorozheska 1731m. By the way, there is a beautiful legend about Vorozheska and its lake, which tells about a young girl and two boys in love with her, and we will tell you this legend, as well as many others, during the trip.

It remains to walk just a little bit to Mount Stih, 1704m, which will be the 50th peak of the 100 highest mountains in the Carpathians. But before it rises, Velykyi Kotel, 1770m, and Krachunyaska, 1686m. That's how the 28th day of the trip passed, and on the 29th, we stopped for a day in a hut on Dragobrat.

We will say goodbye to Svydovets on its most beautiful peaks, which offer incredible views: Gendarme (1785 m) and Bliznytsia (1881 m). After passing Svydovets, the path will lead us to the village of Kvasy, where we will go to Chornohora.

The route through Chornohora is the longest and takes 9 days, two of which are a day's rest and a reserve day. You can talk about Chornohora no less than about Svydovets because all seven of the highest mountains in the Carpathians are on this ridge. The first peak of Chornohora will be Mount Sheshul, 1728m, and on the same day, we will visit Petrosul, 1848m, and Petros, 2020m. We will spend the night on the bridge between Petros and Hoverla in a two-story Euro-hut.

The next day, we will have a long hike to Lake Nesamovyty, on the way to which we will pass many mountains: Kamynya 1850m, Hoverla 2061m, Breskul 1911m, Pozhyzhevska 1822m, Danzig 1882m and Turkul 1933m. The route looks complicated, but only at first glance; it is an easy walk in the high mountains.

So unnoticed, summer has ended, and we will meet in the fall at Chornohora. We have been hiking for 33 days, and we think most participants will not blow their whistle and stay on the route. There is very little time left to finish, so we continue our path to Lake Brebeneskul. We pass the Spikes 1863m, Gomul 1787m, Ribs 2001m, and Gutyn Tomnatyk 2016m. On the 34th day, we climb Mount Brebeneskul 2038m, Polonyna Lemska 1825m, Menchul 1998m, go to Stepanets 1650m, Dzembronia 1877m and descend to the campsite at the site of an old tourist shelter. The route is quite long, so we added a reserve day in case of bad weather or difficulty transitioning to Mikuleska 1728m and Staiki 1743m. This section is quite tricky, so we go to Mount Smotrych 1898m and down to the village of Dzembronia for a rest.

There are still a few more peaks in Chornohora, but we should comprehensively talk about them because we will go from Pip to Pip - one of the most popular tracks in the Carpathians. Read the continuation in the description of the days on the Marmaros...

Chornohora has not yet been passed; on day 38, our route from Pip to Pip will begin: the transition from Chornohora to Marmarosy. In the morning, we leave Dzembroni and climb the Eared Stone 1864m, then go to Pip Ivan Chornohirsky 2028m and descend to Lake Maricheika for the night. The last peaks out of 100 on Chornohora will be Shuryn 1773m and Vaskul 1730m, ending the Chornohora ridge. Then we will move on to the Marmarosy.

Oh, these Marmarosy—we have a lot of memories with them. The ridge is stunning, and the rhododendron flower blooms there in season. But we will be there in early September, which is also good news because, at this time, the Marmaros are dotted with porcini mushrooms, so many of which are collected in buckets. The Marmarosy are rocky mountains on the border of Ukraine and Romania, meaning that the trail of this ridge runs along the state border.

We reach the Marmarosy from the side of Chornohora on the 1650-meter-high Stig mountain, near which we will set up our campsite. This place is wonderful because you can see the Romanian Carpathians, such as Farkeu and our Hoverla. From Stog we move towards Pop Ivan Marmarosky 1938m, this transition will take 2 days. On the first day we will pass: Korbul 1696m, Bersineskul 1682m, Shchaul 1762m, Neniska Velyka 1815m, Mezhypotoky 1713m, Deseskul Hrun 1676m and stop for a rest at the campsite in front of Tomnatyk mountain. On the 41st day, we will reach Pop Ivan, Strong 1736m and go to Sherban 1793m. After that, we must leave the tourist route to get to Mount Polonynka 1627m - this is already the 88th peak out of 100.

Days 42 and 43 will be spent in a luxurious kollyva, where you can take a steam bath. You have never experienced such a buzz. At the end of the trip through the Marmaros, we will climb Berlebashka 1734m and Petros Marmarosky 1781m.

On this optimistic note, the route through the Marmaros will be completed. We return to the campsite under Mount Stig and move on to the Chyvchyny Ridge.

Chyvchyny is a place, a “logistical ass”; it is pretty tricky to get here; if someone decides to leave the route here, they will not be able to. There is no way back and the bus will not bring supplies, we will get everything we need in the kolyba near Strungy, where our supplies for the next 7 final days will be delivered.

So, we've been through fire and water and can't give up now. There's just a little bit left, and we'll do it! On the 46th day, we will climb the Budychevska Velyka mountain (1678m) and the central mountain of Chyvchyny, namely Chyvchyn 1766m. We will spend the night near a stream that flows into the Dobryn River. Everyone will feel nostalgic in the last days of the trip because we have gone through an extraordinary journey of adventure, and we do not want to end this story.

In the following two days, we will be closing 100 peaks; we are going along the route: Siligul 1688m, Ryzhovata 1641m, and Lostun 1653m. On the 48th day, we will climb the last peaks: Koman, 1723m, Komanova 1734m, Palenytsia 1749m, Hnatasya 1766m and the last, the hundredth peak - Pryluchna, 1646m. We could have ended this, but we wanted to finish well, so we crossed the Perkalaba River and climbed the Pamir radar station. This will be our finish, the end of the adventure, and the next day, we will go down to the village of Shepit and return to Lviv.

If you want to experience these emotions, then come with us. The main thing is the desire for adventure, and everything else is not so important. Life is too short not to enjoy it.

This project is unique for us. We spent a lot of time creating the plan and describing the route. The route plan is entirely copyrighted and belongs to the GRA company.

If you are interested in participating, please register, and we will contact you. For more information, please call: +38 (096) 40-33-5890-33-589