Hiking in Borjomi

Last weekend, Sam and I were invited on a hiking trip in the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, near to where we had our Pre-Service Training and currently about a 2 hour mini-bus ride away. Our friend, Gizo, had been trying to plan this hiking trip for the better part of the year and weather or work kept intervening to cancel his plans. Even though the forecast called for rain and cold, he decided that the trip had been put off too long. He and his friend were going, rain or shine, and we were welcome to join if we wanted. Sam and I had been wanting to hike in the park and even though the weather gave us doubts, we decided to go for it.

Happy hikers

We met up in the city of Borjomi and bought our last provisions before going to the park's administration office, where we got maps, rented some sleeping bags (the ones we have from Peace Corps are gigantic and weigh at least like 15 pounds, so we decided not to take those) and hoped that the rain would slacken or cease before we actually started out on the trail. Our plan was to hike along trail number one for 15 kilometers, climbing from 800 meters of elevation to 1800 meters, where we would find a cottage to stay the night. On day two (Sunday), we would take trail one back to the intersection with trail 6, climb back down the mountain, and then depart our separate ways after the 13km hike.

This little guy marked the start of Trail 1

The intersection of trails 1 and 6

It was drizzling when we got to the ranger station and walked along the service road to the trailhead. After an unplanned river crossing right at the start, though, where we all got a little wet (Sam especially), the weather started to brighten and the rain stopped. We ended up with a pretty nice day for a hike.

Sam had to change socks after stepping into the road-turned-river right at the start

But then things cleared up for the hike

We had lots of pretty views as we climbed

The mountain meadows that opened up here and there were sprouting flowers

We came across this remnant of some past industrial pursuit in the middle of the forest after lunch

Getting closer to the top

More pretty flowers

Once we started climbing higher, we could tell that we might be in for a cold night and were glad to remember that the nice park administration lady told us that there was a load of firewood waiting for us at the cottage at the top. We saw some remnants of snow as we got higher up and as evening approached, we started getting some really eerie fog rolling in.

There was dream-like fog as the evening came on

We made it to the top of the mountain in about 6 hours or so, stopping for lunch and some breaks along the way. A small group of fellow park enthusiasts passed us on horses and were pretty confused as to why we would climb the mountain on foot when we could have rented horses to do the work for us. Just before reaching the cottage, we passed a group of 4 men, 3 sheets to the wind, riding 2 horses and managing only 1 near-fall from their mounts. We didn't really think too much of it until we reached the shelter, when we discovered that our promised firewood had been mostly used or scattered by the apparently raucous party that we could still smell throughout the cottage and its surrounding areas.

Reaching our shelter/cottage after a long slog to the top

Trying not to be too discouraged, feeling pretty awed at the amazing views and nicely worn out and tired from our slog to the top, we set about gathering up what wood was left behind by the just-departed drunken partiers and what other downed wood and kindling we could find that was dry enough to use. The cottage had a small pechi (a small, metal, wood-burning stove) and there was something of a fire pit near the picnic shelter where we could have a good ol' mtsvadi (fatty pork, skewered and cooked) roast. After eating our well deserved feast, we all collapsed in our sleeping bags on the not-really-beds-but-just-planks-of-wood bunk beds and slept contentedly.

Not too shabby a view from our shelter, eh?

Men making a fire for the mtsvadi

I think we all were awoken by pounding rain a few times during the night, which was a slightly worrying sign, but we were all exhausted, so we just rolled over and hugged our sleeping bags closer and went back to sleep. When we woke, it was still pouring. We went about stretching our stiff necks and sore legs, eating breakfast and packing our bags, hoping that the rain would let up so we could make it off the mountain. We coaxed the fire back up and the room slowly warmed and eventually the pounding rain stopped, but that was just because the rain had switched to big, fat snowflakes. After a while we decided we couldn't wait any more and that we'd just have to test out our rain gear. The rain/snow only held up for the first 40 minutes or so, and we did manage to stay mostly dry. We made good time getting back to the point where our trail number 1 connected with trail number 6, the way we'd decided to descend.

Snow in mid-May. Lovely.

Thank god the rain stopped by the time we made it to trail 6. It was a pretty steady downhill, but we had been warned by our park administrator friend that there was at least one kilometer of very difficult, very steep downhill that we'd have to face. She neglected to tell us that this was putting things far too mildly and that this downhill was in fact like loose gravel and dirt on a nearly vertical cliff face. We slid, slipped, grabbed at branches and trees and roots and anything we could to keep upright, but mostly found that sliding along almost on our butts was about the best approach to some parts.

Is Sam the only hiker to hike with an umbrella? Maybe, but it was a good idea considering Sunday's weather

Even though Sunday was a downhill day, we still had some slight uphills to work through

This picture doesn't do nearly a good enough job showing how steep this hill was. When we finished this steep part, we thought we had finished the "very difficult, very steep" descent, but the worst was still to come.

Right before posing for this shot, Sam told me that if any of us lost our balance and fell, we needed to maintain enough composure to remember to shout "As you wish!" while falling

We were rewarded for our work and the absurdity of it, though, by some gorgeous views (not on the steep slopes, though. There, we were only trying not to look around too much to avoid seeing just how far we could fall). The valley down below was filled with beautiful meadows and riverbanks and views of the cliffs we had just climbed down from. We finally reached the park exit and learned that we weren't too far off from an old church. Since the weather had fully cleared and we were feeling exhilirated by not falling and rolling down the side of the mountain, we decided to climb up and look at the church.

Almost to the end of our hiking trip, but the gorgeous views continued

We made it down, safe and sound and still smiling

We made it out! This is also an entrance to the park, but I wouldn't recommend taking trail 6 back up the mountain

If I had to name the thing Georgians know how to do best, I think I'd probably have to go with siting churches and monasteries. They always find the most beautiful, most difficult to reach, most incredibly awe-inspiring locales for their holy places. You'd probably have to be pretty motivated to go to church at some of these places (scaling a mountain every Sunday for service would get old quickly), but once you were there it would be hard not to be inspired.

Headed up to the church, we passed this tree. People tie pieces of cloth or plastic around tree branches for a prayer or wish when they visit


Our extra little hike up to the church had some uphills, too


Even leading up to the church, we knew it was worth it to hike up the extra hill

There were a bunch of goats near the church
The view from just outside the church was spectacular
We reached the church after scaling a not inconsiderable hill

The inside of the church, filled with icons
The main door of the church



Everyone was good and worn out after our 2-day adventure

Although we were all really tired after our 2-day, 28km hike, we were all a little sad to be parting ways. We all hope to do another hike together soon! (And if any of you readers are hikers, you should definitely think about a trip to Georgia sometime for possibly the best hiking and most beautiful nature scenes you can find.)

Almost back home, we were tired but happy with the weekend (doesn't Sam look happy?)