Lagem Pass: best views, super hard hike

Before we arrived in the Svaneti region, other Georgian hikers warned us that the hiking in Svaneti is difficult because the "scale" makes everything look much closer. For my last hike in Georgia, we decided to hike to the Lagem pass (from Ushguli towards Khalde) which helped us understand the "scale" concept better. The info that we had about the hike was that it wasn't much of a trail and none of the locals we talked with in Ushguli had done it - some red flags should have gone off in our heads, but they didn't. 🚩

The morning started off in a routine way at this point in the trip. We had a breakfast of eggs, bread, and jam and hit the trail just before 8am (which is pretty much before anyone else is awake) except for people doing farm chores.

In the beginning, the trail headed up the valley looking at Mt Shkhara (the tallest mountain in Georgia). Then we headed to the left and started our ascent, following a GPS track rather than a trail. For much of the hike, it was a bushwhack and we could not see where we were putting our feet. Some sections had us going through plants that had grown above our heads. It wouldn't have been too terrible if there weren't pricker bushes, stinging flies (similar to horse and deer flies), and soggy ground. This, added to the heat, elevation gain, losing the GPS track sometimes, and altitude made for some type 2 fun.

So we were itchy, ouchie, hot, tired, and had wet feet. But, we were still making progress up to the pass. It didn't look very far away, but felt like it would take forever to get there (that scale thing). Then, we had to traverse a really steep slope in order to reach the easiest part of the pass - so that was painful on our bodies too. Then, all of a sudden it felt like we would make it. Cresting the pass was absolutely incredible! The views on the other side of the pass combined with all of the other surrounding views of the Caucus Mountains were unparalleled - so many glaciers. These were the best views of the entire Georgia trip. So worth it! So, once again, we took a bunch of pictures and gobbled down some lunch (leftover lobiani from last night's dinner). It was difficult to figure out which view was the best - every direction was breath taking. 

We also picked up 2 cute trail dogs who hiked up from Khalde with some other hikers we saw making their way up a ridge from the other side of the pass. They stayed with us all the way from Ushguli. The trail dogs here can really hike and seem to revel in getting their wiggles out in the mountains. 

At the end of the hike, we bought lemonade and ice cream at a cafe in Ushguli. Then, we wrapped up the evening with us bumping into the Germans again at a different cafe. So, we had dinner with them and made plans to catch a taxi together back to Mestia in the morning.

Now that the hike is over, I can say that I am glad I did it, but during the hike I was not so sure. Harry Chapin would not have been impressed because I don't think I embraced the "it's got to be the going, not the getting there, that's good" concept very well. Looking back on it though, it's the good stuff that is burned into my brain and the hard part has already faded - that is the magic of the brain and type 2 fun.