In the ancient village of Verkhovyna a lot of impressions await any guest, inspired by the most different aspects of vacation in this amazing place. The unique Hutsul culture and the atmosphere of a real ancient village, lost somewhere deep in the mountains, will excite even the most unimpressed people. Another of the treasures of this region that make a strong impression on tourists is its nature, the very nature of the Carpathians, sung by many poets and writers, which is equal to nowhere else in the world. In turn, one of the pearls of the Carpathian nature are the lakes scattered on the slopes of the mountains — heavenly eyes, as they are called here. Lake Maricheika is considered to be one of the most beautiful among them.
This amazing lake is located in Carpathian National Park at an altitude of about 1.5 thousand meters above sea level. Its waters have found a cozy niche in the mountain amphitheater on the northeastern side of the Shurin Gropa peak, belonging to the famous Chernogorsky Ridge. The Ukrainian-Romanian border is not far from it, and also not far from the lake the Pogorelets River originates, the valley of which presents a beautiful, picturesque picture.
It takes about two hours to get from Verkhovyna to Maricheika — this path (a scientific and educational trail) is considered to be one of the most interesting in all of Karpy. It starts from the homestead of the High Mountain Forestry and runs along the elephants of the Chernogorsky Range from the southern side through an ecologically clean natural zone. Traveling to the lake along this trail, one can see incredibly beautiful landscapes of forest and subalpine belts. The plant world appears here in all its diversity — there are both interesting plants and very rare plants listed in the Red Book, as well as endemic ones such as alum, Linnaeus fern, blueberries, Geifel’s saffron, sorrel, St. John’s wort and other plant species. As for the local inhabitants, they are brown bear, spotted salamander, nutcracker (relict animal species), as well as endemic — snow mink, Carpathian newt, squirrel and grouse, white-backed woodpecker and more frequently occurring wolf, hare, wild boar, fox, roe deer, deer and other animals.
The scenic trail leads to Lake Maricheika through spruce, pine and alder forests, many of the trees in which remember the Middle Ages. Having made their way through the dark gloomy but romantic landscapes of the forest thicket, travelers come to the spacious shore of the lake and see a stunning picture — the mirror-like surface of the lake surrounded by ancient forests, spreading as far as the eye can see. This lake is one of the largest high mountain lakes of the Carpathians, the area of its water mirror is about 7 square kilometers. With its rather large area Maricheika is not deep at all — the depth here does not exceed 0.8 meters, and, unfortunately, today it is actively overgrown with sedge, despite the fact that it is fed by fresh water springs coming out at the foot of the south-eastern slope of the mountain. If you spend your vacation in Verkhovina, be sure to take a trip to this lake, while still Maricheika appears before us in all its glory. The mesmerizing atmosphere of this wonderful natural attraction of the Carpathians deserves to be seen with your own eyes.