A mountain stream |
Two lone beech trees on a mountain pasture |
Taking a break from the blazing sun in a makeshift shelter at 1200 m. |
Velykyy Verkh mountain, 1596 m., still with some snow on June 1st. |
A rich plant community |
These slopes are one solid mass of red whortleberry bushes |
A rare rock outcropping on a smooth ridge |
Those hazy blue Carpathian ridges |
Tomorrow's goal: Stiy mountain, at 1681 m. |
Our camp on the ridge |
These mountains are blanketed with deciduous woods, while most other high Carpathian peaks are covered with coniferous forests |
These ridges are not "naturally" bare, but are grazed by sheep and goats |
Fuel tanks left from an old Soviet observatory on Stiy Mt., now covered with hikers' messages |
More scrap metal with inscriptions |
One of three destroyed observatories on the summit |
Glacial cirque on the north side of Stiy Mt. |
Beech forest at sunset |
In these old-growth woods enormous rotting logs feed fungi and moss |
Yes, there are bears in the Ukrainian Carpathians. These tracks are proof |
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