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Capathian Mountain Trek
A week after I arrived in L’viv, six students from the Methodist student center and I boarded a train and headed to the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine for a hiking adventure.
A few days before we left, I saw the guys at the computer planning the trip. They were trying to decide which way to go on our hike. I naively suggested they call the Parks services to ask for their advice. They looked at one another and laughed. “This is Ukraine.” They said. “We don’t have trails, much less Park Rangers.”
I decided to trust my guides and shut my mouth from then on. I would soon learn a lot about Ukrainian hiking.
We took the train three hours away and began our hike up to a series of small hills. Before we got off the main road, we stopped for a lunch break. I pulled my sandwich out of my bag and was poised to take a bite when Halya offered me another sandwich from a bag she had brought. I was confused. Weren’t we each supposed to bring a sandwich? She had brought one for everyone.
I declined her offer and one of the boys noticed my confusion. “Let me tell you something about Ukrainians. They share everything!” I smiled sheepishly and took Halya’s sandwich. I had much to learn about this new culture.
We began hiking and the reality of no trails was truer than anything else that day. We cut our path for the better part of the day, through raspberry brambles, thick forest and blueberry bushes ripe with berries. We climbed and climbed and went through valleys. We sang sometimes and talked at others.
Finally at 4 o’clock, we crested a hill and saw another in the distance. We were trying stubbornly to reach the top of this certain ‘mountain’, but we realized that we were still on the hill next to it. The group decided to head down to a campsite and pitch our tents for the night.
That night, we sat around the campfire and ate and talked and, though much of the conversation was in Ukrainian, I felt as though I had found a family and been accepted into it. That sweet realization filled me with warmth as I pondered a God greater than the expanse of the sky and the stars over me.
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