- Top 4 short eco-routes
- One-day route to the quarries
- Pilgrimage to the source in Talezh
- Abandoned temples and the mysterious Smerdyachye lake
- Multi-day hiking route to Trinity
- On a note
Increasingly, city dwellers choose not a beach holiday, but walking routes in the immediate vicinity. After all, the Moscow region presents great opportunities for any walks - you can get out for a few days with tents, sleeping bags and backpacks, you can go to the forests and fields for two or three days, or you can just walk to some nearby attraction. There are routes that will be of interest to children, and there are those that are specifically designed for schoolchildren.
Several well-thought-out multi-day and one-day tourist trails, with places for spending the night and rest, have been laid and marked in the Moscow region. There is not only ecological tourism. In the Moscow region there are many Orthodox shrines, a pilgrimage to which you can make a real pilgrimage, like a hundred years ago - on foot.
Top 4 short eco-routes
If you want to take a leisurely walk without backpacks and tents, with a camera, and you have a small child, there are several very interesting and short routes in the Moscow region:
- High-altitude trail "Through the foliage". In the south of the Moscow region there is the famous Prioksko-Terrasny reserve, in which several ecological paths have been laid. The most unusual and shortest of them is not on the ground, but at a height of 8 meters and is laid right along the branches of the trees - this is how you can observe the cloisters of the park without disturbing them. It is absolutely safe, and also interactive: for example, you can listen to the birds singing in the recording. The length of the route is 200 m.
- Eco-trail to the Pushchinsky waterfall. A small but very interesting trail: the road starts from the Church of the Archangel Michael in Pushchino, runs along the banks of the Oka River past karst limestone outcrops with springs and cliffs, past the abandoned Pushchino estate, and ends with a real small waterfall. The route runs along a wooden path, there is an observation deck and information posters. The length of the route is 4 km.
- "Russian Forest" - an ecological trail in the Serpukhov region. This is a special forestry educational trail for schoolchildren. At its stops there are educational posters, along the way, there are plants listed in the Red Book. The length of the route is 1, 4 km.
- White weasel trail is an ecological trail in the village of Peresvet, Sergiev Posad region. The river through which it leads is called Kunya, and relatives of martens live here - weasels and numerous squirrels. The trail has been improved, there are recreation areas and information posters. The length of the route is 3.3 km.
One-day route to the quarries
The hike to the Polushkinsky quarries is a popular and interesting route, in which it is quite possible to take a child with you, runs through the Ruzsky district. Starts from the sanatorium. Herzen, on the territory of which the remains of the old estate of the Shcherbatovs are located, and goes to the quarries in which limestone was mined.
Now these are several picturesque quarries and clearings, five of them are mastered by tourists and have their own names, and the rest are half-abandoned. In the vicinity there are tent camps, speleologists and climbers conduct trainings. But you can not climb the steepest slopes, but just walk along these quarries, exploring them - there are quite safe small caves, remnants of engineering structures, springs, waterfalls and just picturesque heaps of stones.
In the village of Vasilievskoye, not far from the quarries, the film "Squadron of flying hussars" was once filmed; now its attraction is the restored and functioning Church of the Resurrection of the Word of the early 18th century.
The length of the route is 7-12 km - you can return from the quarries back to the sanatorium, or you can call a taxi to the road near the quarries and leave to the Tuchkovo station.
Pilgrimage to the source in Talezh
In the village of Talezh is one of the most famous holy springs of the Moscow region - the source of St. David Serpukhovsky. Nearby is the Ascension Monastery; according to legend, the source appeared at the prayer of the founder of this monastery - St. David.
For a long time both the monastery and the source were abandoned, but now everything has been restored and put in order. A walking pilgrimage route has been laid and marked to the source, which starts from the Privalovo platform and ends in Talezh.
The pilgrimage should not end at the source, but go further into the village itself to the restored Church of the Nativity of the Virgin of the end of the 18th century. Almost the entire path is laid along a flat, clean path among the forests near Moscow or along the edge of summer cottages. The only difficult place is a rather long tunnel under the Don highway: it can be dry here, or there can be deep puddles or even a small stream.
Abandoned temples and the mysterious Smerdyachye lake
If you want to break away from everyday life and arrange a full-fledged long walk, then you can go under Shatura. A fairly popular and well-known tourist hiking route starts from the village of Severnaya Hryvna and ends in the village of Misheronsky, from which you can take a bus to Shatura.
A fully equipped and “homely” place for spending the night is located on a clearing on the bank of the Ivanovka river: the meadow is flat, the water in the river is clean, the campfire site is prepared, and it is right in the middle of the route.
Among the interesting objects that will be encountered on the way - the abandoned church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Kurilovo, the abandoned church of the Nativity of Christ in Igolkino, and finally the main attraction of the Shatura forests is the absolutely round Smerdyachye Lake. It is considered either a trace from a flying saucer, or a meteorite crater. Its depth reaches 35 meters, and the name arose because once it really smelled strongly of hydrogen sulfide, but over time the smell disappeared. The length of the route is 38 kilometers.
Multi-day hiking route to Trinity
Of course, you can take the train and get to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the main shrine near Moscow, in an hour and a half. But until now, many people want, as from ancient times, to walk this path with their own feet, as they did before the revolution. It can take many days: the road here is 120 kilometers long, and you can start it right from the Red Square.
The good news is that many people who work five days a week can also embark on this path, only to go through it not at once, but in parts, at a convenient pace. This road goes through the village of Taininskoye, the town of Pushkino, the villages of Sofrino and Khotkovo, and along the road there are natural attractions, churches, and monasteries, which are even older than the Trinity itself. For example, the Intercession Monastery in the village of Khotkovo - the parents of Sergius of Radonezh are buried here. The length of the route is 120 km.
On a note
The Moscow region is a huge territory, comparable to the whole country. When going on a hike, plan it, take care of maps and navigators. Despite the fact that it has the highest population density in the country, there are quite remote places where you can get lost.
- Hiking trails are usually marked, but the markings (especially near populated areas) can be damaged or destroyed.
- In the forests near Moscow, there are areas where the activity of ticks is very high, and practically all warm seasons, so you must definitely take funds from them with you, even if it is just a hike to the nearest mushroom place.
- Cellular communication near Moscow is almost everywhere, but with the Internet (and therefore with cashless payments in rural and suburban shops) there can be problems.
