Lazy Ass Svaneti Hiking: Mestia to Ushguli via Tsvirmi by cable car, and shortcut at Bogreshi
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 44.73 mi
- Elevation gain
- 11,404 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 9,091 ft
- Max elevation
- 8,997 ft
- TrailRank
-
45
4.3
- Min elevation
- 8,997 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Time
- 2 days
- Coordinates
- 12416
- Uploaded
- September 15, 2017
- Recorded
- August 2017
near Mest’ia, Samegrelo and Zemo Svaneti (Georgia)
Viewed 3182 times, downloaded 83 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
www.caucasus-trekking.com/ is the obvious heaven for information of Georgian trekking routes. I choose this one because;
- Relatively easy in terms of transportation
- Nice villages
- Food availability
The highly developed tourism infrastructure is a primary concern for the authenticity of the villages, tough apart from Ushguli, i didn't feel so. (read http://tomallen.info/mestia-to-ushguli-is-svaneti-in-danger-of-losing-its-mysticism/)
Mestia tourism info center has good maps (free). You can check if the cable car (5lari one way) is working or not.
Adishi river was very hard to pass by human foot at late August, time 1pm. I had to hire a horse (20Lari). The current was strong enough to be dangerous.
At the last section, Davberi forest route was very enjoyable; no waymarks, but the route is quite obvious.
A meal costs about 10-15Gel in villages, accomodation with 3 courses of food ~50Gel. 2lt water must be enugh for a day. No markets at villages, tough finding meals is very easy.
There is a terrible scam at ushguli: the minibus drivers riding back to Mestia don't allow passangers, and force you to take a 4x4. Be warned!!
The last mastruka from Mestia to Zugdidi is at 2pm. Then, there may or not be others, or you can find other people to share a private ride.
This track is normally about 69km; the detours and sightseeing made it look longer.
- Relatively easy in terms of transportation
- Nice villages
- Food availability
The highly developed tourism infrastructure is a primary concern for the authenticity of the villages, tough apart from Ushguli, i didn't feel so. (read http://tomallen.info/mestia-to-ushguli-is-svaneti-in-danger-of-losing-its-mysticism/)
Mestia tourism info center has good maps (free). You can check if the cable car (5lari one way) is working or not.
Adishi river was very hard to pass by human foot at late August, time 1pm. I had to hire a horse (20Lari). The current was strong enough to be dangerous.
At the last section, Davberi forest route was very enjoyable; no waymarks, but the route is quite obvious.
A meal costs about 10-15Gel in villages, accomodation with 3 courses of food ~50Gel. 2lt water must be enugh for a day. No markets at villages, tough finding meals is very easy.
There is a terrible scam at ushguli: the minibus drivers riding back to Mestia don't allow passangers, and force you to take a 4x4. Be warned!!
The last mastruka from Mestia to Zugdidi is at 2pm. Then, there may or not be others, or you can find other people to share a private ride.
This track is normally about 69km; the detours and sightseeing made it look longer.
Başlangıç zamanı: 08/27/2017 11:23
Varış zamanı: 08/29/2017 11:23
Mesafe: 72 km (48:00)
Hareket süresi: 40:40
Ortalama hız: 1,5 km/h
Ort. hareket hızı: 1,77 km/h
Maks. hız: 11,37km/h
Minimum rakım: 1400 m
Maksimum rakım: 2742 m
Yükselme hızı: 135,7 m/h
Alçalma hızı: -335,6 m/h
İrtifa kazancı: 3567 m
İrtifa kaybı: -2820 m
Yükselme süresi: 26:17
Alçalma süresi: 08:24
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Comments (2)
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I have followed this trail View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Moderate
I've done 80% of this trail (from Mestia to Lalkhori) with my 15yo son in August 2018.
For us it was very difficult to find road from village Tsvirmi to Bogreshi. I was expected to find something like cars' road, but is was narrow path between houses. Locals don;t understand us when I asked them for a road to Bogreshi, so we lost more than hour trying to escape Tsvirmi. Before Bogreshi there is big scree. It is clearly visible on google maps. You can easily cross it at the bottom , but we started near the top (as trail shows) and went down diagonally (it was very unpleasant, dusty and perhaps risky).
Crossing Adishi river was not VERY hard, but rather hard for us. Current strong and it is better cross with boots, but we cross with bare foots. I've done some test crossing without backpack to find safety route, and one time fall into the current. With backpack it would be dangerous. But crossing mountain river is good adrenaline adventure)
This is very cool and beautiful trail. With many people and cows on in)
Btw, i recommend made one day camping near the river cross and go to the Glacier. It is grand and magnificent natural phenomenon.
Thanks for the review!