Kukul from Zavoiela

An ascent of Kukul (1539 m), a summit north of the Chornohora massif, from Zavoiela, a hamlet of Vorokhta on the road to Zaroslyak. The start is by a Carpathian National Nature Park checkpoint. The blue trail leads 0.8 km along the road, then right across a stream, through the forest up to the Zakukul meadow, and over the meadow and through forest to the top. Back the same way. Beyond the summit the blue leads on to Vorokhta.

OpenStreetMap, Wikipedia (pl), karpaty.rocks and Marian Slabinoha give the blue waymarks. In 2021 the route was clear, with no fallen trees. The turn off the road is easy to miss: karpaty.rocks advises checking it against a map, and in the forest the path becomes clear.

Right after the stream comes 2 km of steep climbing on an old road through the forest — ~440 m of climbing on the track. Then the path eases and comes out on the Zakukul meadow at its lower end. 500 m on, in the middle of the meadow, stands a cross, which looks out on Svydovets, Petros, Hoverla and the Chornohora ridge as far as Pip Ivan. Here the park's eco-trail «Урочище Завоєла – полонина Закукул» ends; it follows the same line. In spring Heuffel's crocus, a Red Book species, blooms on the meadow.

From the cross ~0.6 km remains to the summit, up the meadow and through forest; Slabinoha puts it at 15–⁠25 minutes. The top of Kukul is wooded, with a triangulation post, and beside the summit is a cemetery of German soldiers of the First World War. Trenches from that war run along the whole ridge. karpaty.rocks warns against lighting fires by them: old shells have exploded from campfires.

There is no water on the climb. According to OpenStreetMap, the nearest springs are ~250 m off the trail by the Zakukul meadow, so bring water with you.

Out and back is 9.5 km. The site shows an estimate for this track; karpaty.rocks puts the climb at ~2.5 hours of walking without stops. Slabinoha writes that the crowds here are dozens of times smaller than on the neighbouring Hoverla route. Mountain weather changes fast, so carry a rain jacket and a warm layer, and turn back in a thunderstorm or fog.