VOROKHTA, Ukraine – Emotion overpowered Ruslana Wrzesnewskyj as she approached this picturesque Carpathian Mountain town in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast situated 2,788 feet above sea level. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks that her black-rimmed sunglasses partially concealed just steps away from the Hutsul settlement situated along the Prut River flowing southward.

“We finally did it, we did it,” she said as tears kept dribbling while hugging the nine walkers with whom she entered the town, including Ukrainian-Swiss friend Patricia Shmorhun who “gave me courage to continue.”