Waterfalls in the Carpathians
In the summer, when the weather is good outside, you don’t want to sit in a cramped apartment or walk on dusty streets for the weekend. Office sedentary work in a week is very annoying, and on weekends my friends and I prefer active rest in our native Carpathians. Guided by our iron rule “You don’t need a lot of money for a vacation - the main desire”, after looking for information on one-day routes, we decided to go look at the Guk waterfall, which is located at a distance of about 5 kilometers from the highway. The locals named the waterfall Guk because of the noise coming from it. Having loaded our backpacks with a minimum set of clothes, sandwiches and hot tea in thermoses, we took the morning train Lviv - Rakhiv to Mykulychyn. You can also get from Ivano-Frankivsk by bus or fixed-route taxi. The roadside cafe "Cafe" (on the left along the bus) can serve as a reference point. Almost opposite the cafe, across the road (to the right along the way) there is a large iron tripod of a high-voltage power line. About 80 meters from the cafe, the track makes a sharp turn to the left. Coming down at this turn, behind a thicket of small trees and bushes, we came to a suspension bridge. It is in good condition, the river under it is fast and powerful enough, so walking along such a bridge causes only pleasant sensations. Moreover, we needed to go to the other side. The Zhenetsky Huk waterfall was formed in the post-war years as a result of a flood. The length of the route is 4800 m. The route starts near the Zhenetsky forestry at an altitude of 800 m above sea level. Two tourist routes diverge at this point: "Zhenets - Khomyak" and "Zhenets - Yavornik". Nearby there are two springs with clean cold water and a gazebo with a panorama of the villages of Mykulychyn and Pidlysniv. At a distance of 200 m from the route on the left side there is a pond, and on the right side, behind the bridge, there is a recreation area "Zhenets". On the Zhenets River (we even saw fish in crystal clear water!!! ) there is a small waterfall 1.5 m high. Behind it, on the shore, there is a picturesque edge where you can relax (they call it the "Jewish Field"). The typical flora of mountain meadows reigns here. . Among the green carpet, Carpathian cornflower, mountain arnica, spotted orchis stand out as bright spots. On the way to the waterfall you can meet a fox, a Carpathian squirrel. Having sat down to have lunch, we were joined by a forest mistress - a vole mouse, which, having dragged a piece of hard cheese from the table, disappeared into the fallen leaves. Fresh mountain air relieved office stress, and we returned home satisfied and tired in the evening. One-day trips are good because you can see a lot in a day, and in the evening you fall asleep in your usual surroundings. Next weekend, if the weather is sunny, then we are going to the mountains again!
