Ukraine > Zakarpattia Region > Molochnyi Kamin (Milk Stone) Cave in the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve
Molochnyi Kamin (Milk Stone) Cave in the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve
N 48°14.304', E 23°40.34'
2012-05-02
http://cbr.nature.org.ua/
Our rating: 7.40
Overall rating: - Rate this place - 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Eco trail to the Molochniy Kamin cave is located in the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve and starts from the Velyka Ugolka village. We walked along the trail with the group, but you can visit it on your own. There is a small entrance fee, buy tickets at the small house near the beginning of the route.
The route starts here. ©Yuriy Buriak
Original dog house ©Yuriy Buriak
The first 500-700 meters can be reached by car. But be very careful: the road can be wet even when the weather is dry. During our walk a young family tried to climb on the car and got stuck. Men from our group helped them, in other case they would have to go to the nearest village for a horse. The route is interesting for several reasons. First, it ends up with something, in this case the bridge. Secondly, the entire trail passes through a virgin beech forest, which is included in the UNESCO World Heritage. There are only 4 UNESCO objects in Ukraine.
©Yuriy Buriak
Virgin beech forest ©Yuriy Buriak
Virgin beech forest ©Yuriy Buriak
Woodpecker's training tree ©Yuriy Buriak
Virgin beech forest ©Yuriy Buriak
Virgin beech forest ©Yuriy Buriak
Virgin beech forest ©Yuriy Buriak
The trees lift large pieces of ground when falling. ©Yuriy Buriak
This is a really unique place. It's hard to get here, the road is terrible, and during a year the trail is visited only by several thousands of tourists. The vertical drop is 400 meters. Make sure you take a flashlight to inspect the cave; without it you won't be able to see the beautiful streams of limestone, which gave the cave its name. There is a secret passage in the cave that is not easy to find: it leads to the second floor and ends with another room, but we were not trying to get there. The total length of the cave is 92 meters.
You can make a beautiful highlighting using two flashes from different cameras. ©Yuriy Buriak
Molochnyi Kamin (Milk Stone) cave in the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve ©Yuriy Buriak
If you are a photographer, bring colored lights into the cave, you can get very nice pictures. The trail is marked by several indexes, so you won't get lost. Note that there is no tourist infrastructure on the trail. Full walk will take at least 4 hours, take water and sandwiches. Although you can collect water from the streams. Another important point - your mobile phone may not work.
©Yuriy Buriak
This route can be combined with the route to the karst bridge . Go up to the cave, then don't go down, go through the woods instead, then pass to the bridge and go down to the Mala Ugolka village. In this case the route will extend for the entire day. But don't go alone, you'll just get lost. Try to find a GPS track in the Internet. A detailed description of the route can be found on the reserve's website (Route #3). If it's still not translated, use the Ukrainian version and online translation tools. Getting there: Drive through the Velyka Ugolka village until the end of the road and the biosphere reserve building. Then continue on foot along the eco trail. The map shows the beginning of the trail.
Tags, Ukraine: cave , forest , mountains , stroll Tags, all countries: cave , forest , mountains , stroll
- Rate this place -
Location : ------------ 1 - Far beyond the settlements, you must spend minimum a day 2 - Near the small town, you need to walk long distance 3 - Can be reached only by car 4 - A small town with a poor public transport 5 - Outside the settlements, but with excellent transport links 6 - A small town with excellent transport links 7 - Medium-size city 8 - Suburb of the capital or major city, the ability to reach by public transport 9 - Big city 10 - Capital
Impressions : ------------ 1 - No point in visiting 2 - Boring, wasted time 3 - You can visit, if you have a lot of free time and nothing better to do 4 - A lot of things, but not so interesting 5 - It seems to be interesting, but hard way to spoil the impression 6 - There is something interesting, but the rest is not worth the attention 7 - Probably interesting, but for everybody 8 - Very cool, but difficult to see everything and long-distance trails 9 - Very cool, but there are similar facilities in other locations 10 - Very cool, this is not anywhere else
Number of tourists (weekend afternoon) : ------------ 1 - Crowds, impossible to see everything normally 2 - A lot of tourists, a long wait 3 - A lot of tourists, the organization is lame 4 - A lot of tourists, but good organization 5 - There are many tourists, but they are concentrated in one place and you can walk freely 6 - Many tourists everywhere, but the large space is compensated 7 - The average number of tourists. To photograph, you must wait 8 - Tourists are, but they do not interfere 9 - There are few tourists 10 - You are alone
State : ------------ 1 - Only title left 2 - Dull ruins 3 - On restoration 4 - The picturesque ruins 5 - Have not been restored, the state is poor 6 - Partially destroyed, but the rest of the normal state 7 - Have not been restored, good condition 8 - OK, but it is possible to make better 9 - Looks good from the outside, partial repair inside or without repair 10 - In excellent condition, well-groomed area
Picturesque (for the photographer) : ------------ 1 - - 2 - - 3 - Horrible background, normal pictures only from the top 4 - wires and cars do not allow make normal photo 5 - Interfere with foreign objects 6 - In the city, but more or less normal photo can be made 7 - Beautiful, but you can take pictures with just one point 8 - Very nice, but you can only shoot at a certain time 9 - Very nice, but hard to get to the good weather or permanently interfere with tourists 10 - Very nice, but occasionally interferes with the weather or tourists
* - Note: Description of the evaluation is not always appropriate for a particular object, it's just a little help
Our rating - 7.40
Location : ------------ 1 - Far beyond the settlements, you must spend minimum a day 2 - Near the small town, you need to walk long distance 3 - Can be reached only by car 4 - A small town with a poor public transport 5 - Outside the settlements, but with excellent transport links 6 - A small town with excellent transport links 7 - Medium-size city 8 - Suburb of the capital or major city, the ability to reach by public transport 9 - Big city 10 - Capital
Impressions : ------------ 1 - No point in visiting 2 - Boring, wasted time 3 - You can visit, if you have a lot of free time and nothing better to do 4 - A lot of things, but not so interesting 5 - It seems to be interesting, but hard way to spoil the impression 6 - There is something interesting, but the rest is not worth the attention 7 - Probably interesting, but for everybody 8 - Very cool, but difficult to see everything and long-distance trails 9 - Very cool, but there are similar facilities in other locations 10 - Very cool, this is not anywhere else
Number of tourists (weekend afternoon) : ------------ 1 - Crowds, impossible to see everything normally 2 - A lot of tourists, a long wait 3 - A lot of tourists, the organization is lame 4 - A lot of tourists, but good organization 5 - There are many tourists, but they are concentrated in one place and you can walk freely 6 - Many tourists everywhere, but the large space is compensated 7 - The average number of tourists. To photograph, you must wait 8 - Tourists are, but they do not interfere 9 - There are few tourists 10 - You are alone
State : ------------ 1 - Only title left 2 - Dull ruins 3 - On restoration 4 - The picturesque ruins 5 - Have not been restored, the state is poor 6 - Partially destroyed, but the rest of the normal state 7 - Have not been restored, good condition 8 - OK, but it is possible to make better 9 - Looks good from the outside, partial repair inside or without repair 10 - In excellent condition, well-groomed area
Picturesque (for the photographer) : ------------ 1 - - 2 - - 3 - Horrible background, normal pictures only from the top 4 - wires and cars do not allow make normal photo 5 - Interfere with foreign objects 6 - In the city, but more or less normal photo can be made 7 - Beautiful, but you can take pictures with just one point 8 - Very nice, but you can only shoot at a certain time 9 - Very nice, but hard to get to the good weather or permanently interfere with tourists 10 - Very nice, but occasionally interferes with the weather or tourists
* - Note: Description of the evaluation is not always appropriate for a particular object, it's just a little help
Visitor's rating - 0.00
Location : ------------ 1 - Far beyond the settlements, you must spend minimum a day 2 - Near the small town, you need to walk long distance 3 - Can be reached only by car 4 - A small town with a poor public transport 5 - Outside the settlements, but with excellent transport links 6 - A small town with excellent transport links 7 - Medium-size city 8 - Suburb of the capital or major city, the ability to reach by public transport 9 - Big city 10 - Capital
Impressions : ------------ 1 - No point in visiting 2 - Boring, wasted time 3 - You can visit, if you have a lot of free time and nothing better to do 4 - A lot of things, but not so interesting 5 - It seems to be interesting, but hard way to spoil the impression 6 - There is something interesting, but the rest is not worth the attention 7 - Probably interesting, but for everybody 8 - Very cool, but difficult to see everything and long-distance trails 9 - Very cool, but there are similar facilities in other locations 10 - Very cool, this is not anywhere else
Number of tourists (weekend afternoon) : ------------ 1 - Crowds, impossible to see everything normally 2 - A lot of tourists, a long wait 3 - A lot of tourists, the organization is lame 4 - A lot of tourists, but good organization 5 - There are many tourists, but they are concentrated in one place and you can walk freely 6 - Many tourists everywhere, but the large space is compensated 7 - The average number of tourists. To photograph, you must wait 8 - Tourists are, but they do not interfere 9 - There are few tourists 10 - You are alone
State : ------------ 1 - Only title left 2 - Dull ruins 3 - On restoration 4 - The picturesque ruins 5 - Have not been restored, the state is poor 6 - Partially destroyed, but the rest of the normal state 7 - Have not been restored, good condition 8 - OK, but it is possible to make better 9 - Looks good from the outside, partial repair inside or without repair 10 - In excellent condition, well-groomed area
Picturesque (for the photographer) : ------------ 1 - - 2 - - 3 - Horrible background, normal pictures only from the top 4 - wires and cars do not allow make normal photo 5 - Interfere with foreign objects 6 - In the city, but more or less normal photo can be made 7 - Beautiful, but you can take pictures with just one point 8 - Very nice, but you can only shoot at a certain time 9 - Very nice, but hard to get to the good weather or permanently interfere with tourists 10 - Very nice, but occasionally interferes with the weather or tourists
* - Note: Description of the evaluation is not always appropriate for a particular object, it's just a little help