Gomi Mountain
The poetic introduction
Adventure can’t be planned. I mean yes It can be, but it’s not as bitter-sweet as the spontaneous one.
I have two personalities the goody goody one, who plans everything ahead but there’s this real Capricorn Sally who craves for the situations that will cause her problems or adventures or just some moments to talk about in the future.
So why such a dramatic introduction? I have no idea I am just a traveler who hitchhikes time to time and camps time to time.
But now I wanna talk about how I hitchhiked from Tbilisi to Gomi Mountain all the way up, with my bestie Hellen or Elene, what ever sounds easier for you.
After quarantine the whole civilization was depressed. Well, I can’t speak of the whole civilization, but I know I was. So, what’s the best remedy? Travel! And Georgia is a great country to hitchhike and camp around.
What is Gomi mountain you may ask? Well, I can answer that question. First, I would like to tell you that this tiny country consists of lots of regions and Gomi mountain is situated in one of those, Guria. So why is this geographical fact important? While hitchhiking you go through several regions and people in all of them are different with diverse sense of humor, but remember this, while hitchhiking, every joke is funny!!! So just laugh your way up to the mountain or to the sea, but in this case, to the mountain.
So, if you are hitchhiking from Tbilisi, the starting point is Tbilisi Mall. Stand there and wave your thumb. I would like to make a small notice here, that hitchhiking in Georgia in 99% Is safe. I sometimes hitchhike alone so as you see, still alive. Usually it doesn’t take much time, my record is 10 mins or maybe less.
Along this trip me and Helen changed 6 cars. Tbilisi-Kutaisi; Kutaisi-Lanchkhuti; Lanchkhuti-Lesa; Lesa-Ozurgeti; Ozurgeti-The starting point to Gomi Mountain and Finally the last car to the Mountain. Tip for the drivers, do not go to the Gomi Mountain with Prius for god’s sake.
Gomi Mountain is situated in Guria, 2100–2755 meters from the sea level. Winters here are very strict and summers quite chilly. Take the warm coat with you, especially if you are planning to camp. You can rent cabin houses, but in most of them there’s no an electricity or gas so it will be still very cold.
Our story, interesting stuff
First, I would like to say that whenever I go for hiking or to the trip, I always get up too early because I never pack night before, I just do not get it. You pack and then, in the morning you must find the room for toothbrush and vanity kit and flip flops, and it gets messy again and you must pack again and then you remember that accidentally you packed your only deodorant and now you must dig into the bag, and you know, no matter how hard you try backpacks get messy anyways. So why waste extra energy, just pack in the morning.
So long story short, I woke up, packed my staff, met Hellen and we headed to the Tbilisi Mall. First, we went to the Carrefour bought some food and then rushed to the “hitchhiking spot”, I call it that way, everybody hitchhikes from there.
Another tip: DO NOT BUY KHACHAPURI IT WILL GET MESSY!!!
First Car
Two guys, apparently bikers, well as they told us. Promised us to teach how to ride a bike and read some lectures that in this country no one knows how to, except them. (YEAH RIGHT)
Drop Off: The entrance of Kutaisi
If this is your first time, small tip from me, never hitchhike in the cities, always stand at the entrance or an exit of the cities.
Second Car
This one was a “gangster” type, well maybe in his past days but now his was a just a guy, driving 90’s BMW with flip flops on him. When I saw him, I jumped in the back seat and closed my eyes, pretending I was asleep, so Hellen had to talk to him, but she likes talking anyways. (HEHE)
Drop Off: Lanchkhuti
In case to get to the Gomi Mountain you must get to Ozurgeti, and it is a bit tricky to get there, because most of the cars go to Adjara or Kutaisi. From Lanchkhuti we hitchhiked to the village Lesa and it took us about an hour to get to Ozurgeti. Locals drove us there.
I have forgotten to mention that I brought my ukulele with me and every driver was asking us to play and sing. It was a torture for me because I am an introvert. (Anxiety Alert)
The road to Gomi Mountain starts from the village Shemokmedi. Be prepared sometimes it might be tricky to hitchhike from here, because not many cars go on this road, at least with two empty seats. That’s why we had to squeeze in the Prius with three adults and two kids. It was a nightmare. Car has been overheating and restarting every 15–20 minutes. It took us double time to get to the mountain.
The Fire
Keep in mind that there are no trees on Gomi mountain so you either must bring some wood with you or find people with fire and start the camp there. This is what we did. Gain without the pain.
So, as soon as we arrived and started putting up the tent, two guys leaned out of their tent and offered us help. We know how to do it, but they did most of the work so why not accept the help?
That night the weather was perfect. The sky was full of starts. We could see the city lights and the moonlight reflect from the sea. Nah I’m kidding about the reflection, but I did see the coast in the morning.
The Morning
Ahh… the horrible cold. It was so cold that I will skip this whole morning part.
We packed and headed down to Ozurgeti. We started walking and walking and walking and no car showed up, I mean they did show up but none of them had free places.
We covered almost the 3rd of the pass and that is about 10 km. We walked through the fog, the mud… we were so tired that we slowly started to hate each other. But the views from the road are magnificent.
Soon the car showed up with two empty seats. I have never been so happy. They dropped us off at the exit of Ozurgeti and we hitchhiked to our next destination Tsikhisdziri, Adjara.
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P.s some of the photos are shot on film.
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