The Tash-Dzhargan tract has been known to Crimean tourists for a long time. It has become a favorite place for active recreation for many generations due to the beautiful forest, convenient approaches and entrances from the highway and railway.
Shattered stone
The village Chistenkoe (not far from Simferopol) is considered the reference point for the gathering of groups. An asphalted Sovetskaya street leads from the road to the south-east. You will have to walk almost a kilometer along this street. Behind the village, you need to take a reference point to the buildings of a farm standing aside. But from its gate already begins a dirt road through the fields. In case of prolonged rain or melted snow, this road can become an insurmountable obstacle for city cars. A traveler on foot has a clear advantage over cars and can easily get to his destination in any muddy road. From the farm, a gentle rise begins, leading after a kilometer to the intersection of dirt roads in the upper reaches of the gully. Going down the beam, you can get to Partizanskoe, Konstantinovka and Topolnoe. We leave to the left and cross the upper reaches of the beam. This is the only place where puddles can be found on the road even in summer. We walk for almost a kilometer across the field with a climb. On the right hand, we leave a light pine forest. The road flattens and leads to the summit dome. The height above sea level is only 546 meters, but the views from the top are magnificent. You can admire the bustle in the valley, the movement of cars along the road, the smooth surface of the Partisan reservoir. The name Tash-Dzhargan in a very loose translation from the Turkic means a split stone. What kind of stone we are talking about is now not known for certain. The rocks in many places have chips and cracks of various widths. And the name is relatively new, the more ancient name has been lost in history and is inaccessible to us.but the views from the top are magnificent. You can admire the bustle in the valley, the movement of cars along the road, the smooth surface of the Partisan reservoir. The name Tash-Dzhargan in a very loose translation from the Turkic means a split stone. What kind of stone we are talking about is now not known for certain. The rocks in many places have chips and cracks of various widths. And the name is relatively new, the more ancient name has been lost in history and is inaccessible to us.but the views from the top are magnificent. You can admire the bustle in the valley, the movement of cars along the road, the smooth surface of the Partisan reservoir. The name Tash-Dzhargan in a very loose translation from the Turkic means a split stone. What kind of stone we are talking about is now not known for certain. The rocks in many places have chips and cracks of various widths. And the name is relatively new, the more ancient name has been lost in history and is inaccessible to us.the more ancient name is lost in history and is inaccessible to us.the more ancient name is lost in history and is inaccessible to us.
The summit itself is covered with rare bushes and freestanding trees, but it is very difficult to choose a point for a circular view. On the horizon, in good weather, the Chatyr-Dag tent (1527 meters above sea level) dominates. Until late spring, white tongues of snow are visible on its northern slopes. In a straight line to Chatyr-Dag, more than 20 km, along the trails - a day trip at a very good pace.
Leaky cave
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The massif of the Tash-Dzhargan summit has the shape of a cape about 70 meters wide with a southeastern exposure and rocky cliffs. The cliffs are not very high and in many places can be easily overcome without any sports equipment. But climbers, tourists, cavers, climbers have managed to find decent training grounds here too. Here children’s tourism sections practice basic skills of working with a rope, school teams prepare for rallies. The return to the sport of former athletes, now retired, has become commonplace. So, nearby, in the neighboring sections of the rock, you can meet both junior schoolchildren and grandmothers and grandfathers. And the students have chosen several meadows in the pine forest and set up a camp there for the whole weekend. There are enough safety hooks on the edge of the cliffs for hanging the ropes. So no one is cramped during training. Children get acquainted with special equipment for descending into caves, for climbing on ropes, practicing methods of belaying and self-belaying. For several years now, the Tash-Dzhargan tract has been mastered by sports orienteers. A wonderful map has been drawn, according to which competitions are held for athletes of various qualifications.
Open glades on the edge of the cliffs are an ideal place for training camps for future paragliders. Experienced instructors tell and show the techniques of controlling the soft wing, with poorly concealed delight they themselves catch the air currents and fly away to circle over the valley. Fields and meadows at the base of the cliffs are ideal for landing. Up to 7-8 domes of bright silk can be seen in the air at the same time.
The peace of the mountain peak is sometimes disturbed by the roar of motorcycles and ATVs. The tech sport is gaining popularity, and off-road car rentals are sprouting like mushrooms after rain.
Among the sights of the Tash-Dzhargan peak, it is necessary to note the Leaky cave, or Teshkli-Koba. The 12-meter depth of this bizarre structure has given rise to many myths and legends, which the guides with great enthusiasm put into the ears of tourists. But I don't really want to believe in the purpose of this cave as an altar. A thousand years before our era, people lived here. The Taurus lasted here for about 5 centuries. Then they were replaced by the Scythians who settled in the area right up to the 1st century BC. Their customs and customs will forever remain a mystery to us. Archaeologists have found several burials here, which the local residents of the surrounding villages did not manage to take away for the construction of their houses and outbuildings. Dolmen stone slabs have been widely used for a wide variety of needs. Archaeologists also know the traces of a dozen cromlechs,original ritual places of power and worship.
Snake cave mystery
After inspecting the upper edge of Teshkli-Koba, we pass to the northeast and go down the stone stairs to the base of the rock, return to the west to the cave. Traces of manual processing of the vault of the cave and its walls are clearly visible from below. Some fragments of bryozoan limestone still fall off the vault today. But this does not prevent tourists from having a feast on the rubble right under the "window to the sky". Everyone himself can fantasize his scenario of events that took place here 2-3 thousand years ago. From the refectory in the cave, it is worth taking a walk to the west under the rocks. A gentle path leads again to the top of the mountain. The triangulation mark on the mountain has not survived, someone handed it over for scrap. But in its place there is a noticeable pile of limestone blocks and reinforced concrete foundations. It is not excludedthat in the last century there were military facilities or corresponding structures were built here.
Flocks and herds of cyclists move relatively silently along the top of the mountain. They travel in pairs and alone, wander in groups of 10-20 people. Children, their parents, and gray-haired grandparents twist the pedals. Everyone is very friendly and smiling, despite the perspiration on their foreheads. They have different routes and goals, and sometimes they go towards each other. They take everything with them. Including drinking water, which is not available on Tash-Jargan now. The spring in the upper reaches of the gully between Tash-Dzhargan and Cape Batareiny is an exception.
Glades on the northern slope of Tash-Jargan from spring to late autumn become a place of pilgrimage for lovers of medicinal herbs. Violent flowering begins in April and ends only in November. But primroses can also be found in February, along with swollen dogwood buds.
We return in our footsteps to the crossroads in the upper reaches of the gully. Now we take a little further south and after 100 meters we run into a sign telling about the Snake Cave. Today it is a specially protected natural area, a natural monument of regional significance, managed by the State Autonomous Institution of the Republic of Crimea "Simferopol Forestry Hunting Economy". The area of the monument is not large - 1 hectare. But the Serpentine Cave itself turned out to be a record holder for the Inner ridge of the Crimean Mountains. Its length exceeds 340 meters, its area is just over 400 meters with a cavity volume of about 1300 cubic meters. The gigantic size of this cavity does not allow it to be called a grotto. This is a real "full-fledged" cave. From the edge of the forest, where the information board is installed, you need to walk about 800 meters to the cave. At the very edge of the cape called "Battery",there is a viewing platform and a circle for turning cars. From the viewing platform, you need to return 60 meters to the north and go down the steep path to the base of the rocky promontory. The entrance to the cave is marked with a bright inscription on the rock and it is impossible to slip past. But getting into the cave in icy or rainy weather is difficult - you need to climb to it on a rock. Snakes have not lived here for a long time, and no one knows whether they once lived. You can find horseshoe bats in the cave. They do not pose a danger to humans, they feed on insects. Of the three tiers of the cave, connected by vertical wells, one collapsed. Two tiers are available for inspection. You need flashlights and strong hands. And the best way is to go to the cave with an experienced speleologist. The entrance to the cave is marked with a bright inscription on the rock and it is impossible to slip past. But getting into the cave in icy or rainy weather is difficult - you need to climb to it on a rock. Snakes have not lived here for a long time, and no one knows whether they once lived. You can find horseshoe bats in the cave. They do not pose a danger to humans, they feed on insects. Of the three tiers of the cave, connected by vertical wells, one collapsed. Two tiers are available for inspection. You need flashlights and strong hands. And the best way is to go to the cave with an experienced speleologist. The entrance to the cave is marked with a bright inscription on the rock and it is impossible to slip past. But getting into the cave in icy or rainy weather is difficult - you need to climb to it on a rock. Snakes have not lived here for a long time, and no one knows whether they once lived. You can find horseshoe bats in the cave. They do not pose a danger to humans, they feed on insects. Of the three tiers of the cave, connected by vertical wells, one collapsed. Two tiers are available for inspection. You need flashlights and strong hands. And the best way is to go to the cave with an experienced speleologist.feed on insects. Of the three tiers of the cave, connected by vertical wells, one collapsed. Two tiers are available for inspection. You need flashlights and strong hands. And the best way is to go to the cave with an experienced speleologist.feed on insects. Of the three tiers of the cave, connected by vertical wells, one collapsed. Two tiers are available for inspection. You need flashlights and strong hands. And the best way is to go to the cave with an experienced speleologist.
The first archaeological studies of the cave date back to 1924, when Bronze Age material was discovered. In the second half of the last century, bones of a person and domestic animals were found in the cave, and clay utensils were probably from the 6th century BC. The topographic survey of the karst cavity was carried out by a group of schoolchildren led by OI Dombrovsky. Archaeologists and speleologists do not lose hope for new discoveries in this cave, but they have not shown much activity yet. There are no stalactites, stalagmites and other drip formations, for which other Crimean caves are famous, in the Serpentine. But the calcite film has an unusual brown hue and sparkles in the rays of the lantern. In the Middle Ages, a pagan temple was located here. In those days, the cave could well have been a source of water. Now this source has dried up.
Battery Cape
At the Battery Cape, you can take an almost panoramic picture of the surrounding mountains and valleys. By the way, the name of the cape is a remake of the end of the last century, an invention of amateur topographers from tourism. There were no artillery batteries. And numerous vertical cuts and gullies in the rock from top to bottom can bring back memories of cast-iron radiators in the apartments and houses of townspeople. Nobody knows the old name of the cape, so it remains now Battery. Looking from the cape to the south, the attention is drawn to the Partizanskoe reservoir, one of the largest in the Crimea. It was built in 1966 on the Alma River to supply water to Simferopol. The reservoir holds almost 35 million cubic meters of water and gives the city up to 80 thousand cubic meters of life-giving moisture every day. The reservoir is over 4 kilometers long, with a maximum depth of almost 40 meters. In terms of volume, it is slightly inferior to the Simferopol reservoir and almost 2 times less than the Chernorechensky reservoir. The banks are overgrown with deciduous and coniferous trees and are ideal for relaxing on a hot summer afternoon. But fishing lovers can be found throughout the year.
Tash-Dzhargan in the era of Soviet planned tourism did not become a focal point of mass routes. But for an individual approach in choosing trails for a weekend hike, this tract is quite suitable as a starting point. The most popular directions are to the Martian Pond in the limestone quarry of the Alminsky Building Materials Plant near the village of Skalisty. You can walk to the cave city of Buckla, visit its underground structures, the ruins of above-ground buildings and inspect the numerous grain pits. There is an interesting route to Kholodnaya Balka with steep cliffs, ponds and glades.
Let's return to the Leaky Cave at the top of Tash-Dzhargan. The version of its artificial origin is interesting, but not the only one. Why would people cut down such a giant jug or pithos - it is not clear. Naturally, such a cavity in the shape of a body of revolution could be formed by moving water and stones in a stream (scientifically, the phenomenon is called evorzia). Their rotation and chopped the pliable limestone. But that was before the Great Flood. Then the mountain was tilted in the opposite direction. The water flowed from the side of present-day Simferopol from north to south and cut the rocks. Much later, the earth's crust changed its inclination, and the water left here forever. Today, such baths and jugs continue to cut much more modest rivers in the Uzundzhi canyon on the border of the Baydar Valley and on the Arpat waterfalls near Zelenogorye. Traces of a prehistoric underground river on the walls of the Chatyr-Dag caves speak eloquently about the change in the slope of the surface of the Crimean Mountains. The modern stream flows in the opposite direction.
And a few words about nummulite limestones, of which the upper layer of the Tash-Dzhargan mountain is composed. These are remnants of shells of oceanic deposits located on an earlier and stronger layer of bryozoan limestone. If desired, at the top of the mountain and at its foot, you can find fragments of stones with traces of shells twisted into a spiral, resembling coins. It was from this similarity that their name came from. The Tash-Dzhargan tract is open to the public all year round. Good luck on the trail and good mood.
Vladimir Illarionov, photo by the author
