The word "polonyna" is of Slavic origin and means wide open space. Most of the modern polonynas in the Carpathians are man-made, since earlier the lowlands and slopes of the Carpathians were completely covered with forest, except for high alpine meadows. Such grassy areas were needed gutsuls (a local ethnic group) for grazing, which was the most important activity for survival and subsistence in the mountains. At first the cattle were grazed mainly on high natural mountain meadows. However, with increasing population, people were cutting down new and new areas of forest, turning them into polonynas. They were inherited from generation to generation and became something as an ancestral land. Each polonyna has its name, for example, as the Khomyak polonyna where we came, ascending through the mountain forest.
So, we made a short halt to rest and gain strength for further lifting. We had enough time to look around and admire the scenery. There was incredible beauty around us, and the vast expanses of the mountain plain gave us a sense of incredible freedom.
One of the factors in our overall good mood was good weather. In the polonyna, we no longer felt the heat that reigned below. There was a light breeze there, and the clouds that floated in the sky above us from time to time covered us from the blazing sun.
When we rested, we went further upwards, towards Synyak Mountain. We left behind a herd of cows gnawing on grass in the Carpathian meadows. It is worth noting that all the cows in the mountains around their necks have a large bell that rings loudly at every movement of the cow. This is to ensure that shepherds can easily find a cow by sound in the Carpathian woods if it is accidentally lost. This is a very useful use of the call, but at bottom, not in the mountains, I did not notice it.
Further up our road was as easy as our hike in general. As we reached the foot of Mount Siniak, we simplified our lives even more by leaving our backpacks on a forest clearing and climbing the mountain in a light order. But I'll talk about that later. Now I want to point out that during this halt, we decided to cook ourselves a lunch on the gas burner we had with us. To do this we had to go down a little down the other side of the mountain. The path we walked was surrounded by thick and tall ferns. Along the trail, fanciful tree branches grew, reminiscent of forest monsters. However, it did not scare us, we were able to raise water and cook ourselves lunch.
View this post on TravelFeed for the best experience.