A hike on top of a ridge in Stepantsminda/Kazbegi
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 5.87 mi
- Elevation gain
- 2,405 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 2,503 ft
- Max elevation
- 8,219 ft
- TrailRank
- 42
- Min elevation
- 8,219 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Time
- 4 hours 20 minutes
- Coordinates
- 586
- Uploaded
- October 22, 2021
- Recorded
- October 2021
near St’epants’minda, Mtskheta-Mtianeti (Georgia)
Viewed 567 times, downloaded 10 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
As the title says, I have climbed up the ridge in the north side of Stepantsminda, you can see it if you look towards Russia while staying in the center of the town. I have started in it's final part, where the ridge subsides towards the river Terek and ended on a mountain top, in front of Kazbegi sort of. The hike is rather moderate, anybody in right shape can do it, the only difficult part is in the beginning as you need to climb a rock, though it's not difficult, just go slowly and make sure you have a good basis under your feet and something to hold on to. It's not more difficult than climbing a tree. If you are not up to hiking, please check the step 7 first.
1)To get there, go to the bridge located here and cross it: 42.666842, 44.636992
2) Go uphill to the big rock, there would be a "garden" of stones on the edge of the hill, feel free to hang out there a bit, you can see Dariali gorge from there.
3) Go to the rock wall that is the beginning of the whole ridge till you stay in front of it, 42.6687289N, 44.6374364E;
4) Then you need to walk to the left side of it. The area there is rugged so pay attention to where you step.
5) Walk beside the hill a few meters till the wall changes to a more relieve part with plants, there you need to climb. As I mentioned, climbing there is not difficult, just go slowly and make sure you have a good basis under your feet and something to hold on to. It's not more difficult than climbing a tree. The location of place to climb is here: 42.6686783N, 44.6368614E, I also highlited it on one of pictures.
6) Once you on top you will see lots of stone walls and a few foundations of some old huts. From there your path will be relatively easy, just keep on the top of the ridge, enjoy the views!
7) Somewhere in the middle of your path you will see a rocky path going down, this is the path you will use to come back to the town, it's here: 42.6732550N, 44.6298619E. You can start the whole hike from here but this way you won't see the stone walls and structures mentioned in the beginning. The path ends next to a huge rock and some small farm here: 42.6722572N, 44.6222550E.
8) Once you've marked the aforementioned path in your maps app, keep going forward on top of the ridge till you get here 42.6799517N, 44.6033186E, this is the furthest I've got on that hike and the spot offers a great view on Kazbegi.
It took me about 4 hours to complete the whole thing. I had to come back as It already got dark but since the path is pretty straight it was not a problem to come back just using a flashlight of my phone.
I went there twice so the pictures I've uploaded have different weather, the first time it was foggy, and the second sunny
1)To get there, go to the bridge located here and cross it: 42.666842, 44.636992
2) Go uphill to the big rock, there would be a "garden" of stones on the edge of the hill, feel free to hang out there a bit, you can see Dariali gorge from there.
3) Go to the rock wall that is the beginning of the whole ridge till you stay in front of it, 42.6687289N, 44.6374364E;
4) Then you need to walk to the left side of it. The area there is rugged so pay attention to where you step.
5) Walk beside the hill a few meters till the wall changes to a more relieve part with plants, there you need to climb. As I mentioned, climbing there is not difficult, just go slowly and make sure you have a good basis under your feet and something to hold on to. It's not more difficult than climbing a tree. The location of place to climb is here: 42.6686783N, 44.6368614E, I also highlited it on one of pictures.
6) Once you on top you will see lots of stone walls and a few foundations of some old huts. From there your path will be relatively easy, just keep on the top of the ridge, enjoy the views!
7) Somewhere in the middle of your path you will see a rocky path going down, this is the path you will use to come back to the town, it's here: 42.6732550N, 44.6298619E. You can start the whole hike from here but this way you won't see the stone walls and structures mentioned in the beginning. The path ends next to a huge rock and some small farm here: 42.6722572N, 44.6222550E.
8) Once you've marked the aforementioned path in your maps app, keep going forward on top of the ridge till you get here 42.6799517N, 44.6033186E, this is the furthest I've got on that hike and the spot offers a great view on Kazbegi.
It took me about 4 hours to complete the whole thing. I had to come back as It already got dark but since the path is pretty straight it was not a problem to come back just using a flashlight of my phone.
I went there twice so the pictures I've uploaded have different weather, the first time it was foggy, and the second sunny
Comments (1)
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The route was not much traveled. In a few places you couldn't see the path, so you had to guess where to go. In one place it was very steep and dangerous, so because of this one steep place I would describe the whole route as quite advanced. My rating was 4.5/5.0- my wife's rating was 2.0/5.0 (but only because there was a short dangerous spur and my wife was scared).