Olkhon Island is not as famous as the lake itself, although it can rightfully be considered its heart. This island can also be considered its historical, geographical and cultural center. Its nature and fauna are interesting, but no less surprise and interest are the legends associated with this island, they give it an indescribable charm. It is with him that the legend about the origin of the Buryats is associated, thus, it is he who can be considered the place that is dear to every local resident. These legends are very beautiful and poetic - the Buryat peoples themselves believe that their ancestors were noble birds - swans and eagles.
That is why this island remains attractive to everyone who knows and appreciates legends. Everyone should know the name of the largest island of the great Lake Baikal. Although there is more than one island on this lake. In total, there are 22 islands and islets in the water area. The dimensions of Olkhon are really impressive - its length is 71 km, width is 12 km, it has an elongated shape, and its area is 730 square kilometers. This island is located near the western shore of the lake, from which it is separated by the Maloye More and the Olkhon Gate. It is also noteworthy that the name of this island is forever inscribed in history, as the first place on Lake Baikal, where the Russian traveler Kurbat Ivanov set foot with 75 Cossacks. These pioneers saw an island not far from the coast and immediately decided to cross to it.
How to buy an island is not a survey that interested travelers. It was important for them to know the history of the origin of the name. The origin of the name of the island is very simple, it is translated from the Buryat language as "dry", which is what Olkhon means. And this name suits the island as well as possible, since the amount of precipitation that falls here every year is negligible. And its slopes, on which there is no forest, are given over to the unpretentious vegetation of the steppe belt. And this is the only island that has been mastered by people since ancient times, therefore it has become the concentration of many historical and cultural monuments of the people. So tourists may be interested in the stone buildings of a thousand years ago, which are made of the stones of the lake.
There are no questions about the name of the island, but there are mysteries associated with the "Mongolian" buildings, stone walls, which have survived, for example, at Cape Shebetei. It is assumed that these walls served as a good defense against the Mongol nomads who sought to capture the island in the 6-11 centuries. Its location is really, very good. It is located almost in the center of Lake Baikal at its deepest mark of 1637 meters, and it is located almost in the middle of the lake, if you look along the axis from the server to the south. It is in it that almost all landscapes, which the Baikal shores are famous for, are concentrated. And even in its outlines the forms of the progenitor lake are guessed
In any case, every person needs to know the name of the islands, which are filled with such amazing landscapes and incredible history. And visiting Olkhon has recently become more and more popular with connoisseurs of history and those who want to take away pictures of incredible beauty from here. Nowhere else is there such a number of historical monuments as on this, the largest and famous island Baikal (in 1993 there were 143 archaeological sites). Among the most famous and interesting finds are the remains of masonry, ancient burial grounds and buildings with a long history. At the same time, the population of the island is only 1,500 people, most of whom chose the settlement of Khuzhir for life. Knowledge of interesting places in Russia allows you to visit unknown parts of the planet and get an unforgettable experience!
How many islands are there on Baikal! Even a cursory enumeration of the various opinions on this matter shows that the question is not as simple as it might seem at first glance.
The first figure - 27 islands - was named more than 100 years ago by Yan Chersky, decisively including only stony ones, refusing to consider islands of alluvial, accumulative origin. In the future, such an approach in accounting for islands has been supported in recent years, although, I think, no one succeeds in avoiding mixing of their species by origin.
“Among the vast water surface of the lake, there are up to 47 islands,” says SG Sargsyan in the book “Baikal” (Moscow, 1955). Irkutsk resident Ya. M. Grushko, who, unlike Sarkisyan, traveled around Baikal in 1956 in his book Traveling around Baikal for recreation and health promotion, says: "There are 19 islands on Baikal." He also counts stones among them: “In the Peschanaya Bay ... there is a small island formed by a huge boulder, the so-called Baklaniy stone, where gulls and cormorants gather.” O. K. Gusev in 1960, before bypassing the lake, supported Chersky : "27 islands hold the taiga sea-lake with its heroic embrace" (in the book "From the Barguzinsky Reserve to the Ushkany Islands") - 22 islands on Baikal, according to the photo album "Baikal" (Moscow: Mysl, 1971) and a textbook for students Geographical faculties "Physical geography of the USSR" G. K. Tushinsky and I. I. Davydova, 36 - the book of the Siberian geologist S. A. Gurulev "Secrets of the Baikal depths" (Ulan-Ude, 1975). "There are not 27 islands on Lake Baikal, as the explorer of Lake Baikal Chersky believed to be famous, and exactly 30, as we established during the Circum-Baikal trip, ”“ ... there are 30 rocky islands and 20 accumulative islands on Lake Baikal, ”O.K. 1978).
To establish the truth, one cannot do without defining the concept of "island". In the handbook we read that an island should be considered a land area surrounded on all sides by water (oceans, seas, lakes, rivers). For Baikal, with its variable retaining level, it is necessary to add the conditions for the constancy of the outlines (relative) and the presence of constant life in the form of at least shrubs, trees, bird colonies during the breeding season, etc. In this case, to some extent, it would be possible to simplify the task of determining the number of islands , excluding a significant number of island deltaic and near-deltaic (soric) formations in large estuarine parts of the Upper Angara, Selenga and some others, as well as countless kamks. (True, the hand does not rise to delete from the number of islands such an interesting one as the sandy-pebble Khynyk in the estuarine part of Sarma, on which in June almost every bush there is a nest of some waterfowl, the island of Yarki stretching for tens of kilometers, separating the northern part of the lake from the Angarsk Sor, a significant part of which is covered with woody vegetation in the form of dwarf cedar). From the mainland coast of the near-Alenga sors one can observe with amazement how herds of horses leave the "sea": the height of the alluvial islands is so small that even from a short distance they are not visible on the water surface.
However, there are also such islets on Lake Baikal. These are either individual large boulder stones or pebble clusters. First of all, this is a group of boulders (continuation of coastal ones) in the bay between Nemnyanda and Cherny capes in the Barguzinsky reserve, four gravel islands (one of them reaches a length of more than 300 m) in the Chersky Bereg Bay, south of Cape Valukan, also on the territory of the Barguzinsky nature reserve. Some of them have shrubby vegetation and nests of gulls with eggs. A significant number of very large boulders, extremely enlivening the landscape, are scattered in the Ostashin Bay between the Baklan and Ostrovki capes, in the bay north of the Turkinsky Cape. One of these stones closely resembles a turtle with its head stretched out towards the shore.
Pure "stones" are typical for Baikal, they characterize the tectonic nature of its origin, they are called by the people: Shaman stone at the source of the Angara, Baklaniy stone at Cape Baklaniy near Peschanaya Bay, Kameshkiy Bezymyanny and Kurbulikskiy in Chivyrkuisky Bay, Yelenka (Isohoy) on the maps Small Sea is called a rock. There is no doubt that some of the islands occurred as a result of separation from the continents as a result of tectonic movements of the earth's crust, and the erosional activity of water flows and the dynamic impact of lake waves. But, most likely, their origin is the result of the influence of many factors. For example, already today the tip of Cape Kobylya head is separated from the main massif by a channel several meters wide, you can often get to Cape Kurminsky only by boat, Shamanskie capes near Slyudyanka and Khuzhir are connected to the mainland by such narrow and low earthen bridges that the question their transformation into new islands is a matter of only a few decades. Most likely, this is how the Kharansa, Edor, Maly Belenky, Belenky, Bezymyanny, Listvenichny and Chaika, located near the Listvenichny cape on the eastern coast, lying near the coast of the Small Sea islands, happened. Cormorant stone. The same prospect is not excluded for the Svyatoy Nos Peninsula. But before summarizing, let's try to identify the main patterns in their distribution. The predominant part of them is concentrated on the cofferdam separating the northern part of the Baikal bowl from the central one and composed by the Olkhoy Island with the islands of the Small Sea, the underwater Akademichesky Ridge with its highest “peaks” in the form of an archipelago of four Ushkany Islands, the Svyatoy Nos Peninsula and the Chivyrkuy Islands. The rest of the islands are either “tied” to deltas, or are scattered in small numbers along the coast within the central part of the lake (with the exception of Boguchansky Island in the northern part).
Bearing in mind all of the above, let's add to the 15 rocky islands of the Small Sea (together with Olkhon) the island of Khynyk, four Ushkanikhs on a solid rocky platform with seven islands of the Chivyrkuisky Bay, two alluvial Angarsk sora (Yarki and Millionnaya Ton), the rocky Boguchansky, Baklaniy stone, Baklaniy (Stone), Listvenichny, Seagull (a small number of trees grow on it, including larch) and Chayachiy (in Bezymyannaya Bay - accumulative), we get 35 fairly stable islands as a result.
N, I. Litvinov said in his work “Fauna of the Baikal Islands” N, I. Litvinov very well what should be the attitude of a person to the Baikal islands today: “... yes, the Baikal islands are not inhabited by exotic or especially valuable animals, there are no and other gifts of nature that could bring "income". However, the Baikal islands are an integral part of the natural complex of the unique lake. Baikal is not only huge masses of the purest fresh water inhabited by endemic flora and fauna, not only picturesque, forest-rich shores. Baikal is also three dozen different in size and natural features, but equally beautiful islands. And if these islands are disfigured as a result of mismanagement, if their peculiar, but poor and fragile biocenoses are disturbed, Baikal will lose its natural appearance. And this will certainly affect the biogenic circulation of the lake.
On all islands, except Olkhon, any forms of economic activity should be excluded, since they are all too small to withstand any kind of regular human impact. "
Currently, most of the islands of Lake Baikal are either declared natural monuments or included in two national parks.
Island of the sun - Olkhon
Cannon, stifled thunder
An anvil is a stringy ringing:
This is the Baikal storm
Rushing to Olkhon Island.
Hordes of foamy manes
Soaring a steep surf.
Having given water to the stone.
They roar a battle pipe.
Anatoly Olkhoi
NATURE AND PEOPLE
“... And now let's move on to the romantic island of Olkhon, 70 miles long and 13 versts wide, located like a lovely idyll with its fishermen and shepherds in the middle of Baikal, remote from the world. His Buryat people, not yet affected by any enlightenment, should present a particularly interesting object of study for an ethnographer "- this is how V. A. Obruchev begins his letter to his mother about Olkhon, written on March 5, 1890. “Compared to the described hardships of the taiga (meaning the route along the Sarma valley. - VB), this part of my journey,” continues Obruchev, “was a pleasure trip, especially since it is difficult to imagine landscapes more magnificent than the , the dizzying steep coast of the island ... "
Thus, already a hundred years ago, Olkhon Island, the largest on the lake, due to the peculiarities of its relief and climate, one might say, exotic beauty and individuals of the role in the settlement of the Baikal region, was widely known not only to researchers.
One of its main attractions is a strong horizontal-vertical dissection of the relief, and therefore, coastline (especially the west coast). Its length reaches 74 km, width - 15.
By its shape and location, the island is a branch of the Primorsky ridge, separated from the mainland by the Small Sea and the Olkhonskiye Vorota strait. That is why it looks mountainous from all sides: “... Almost at our feet lay a crystal mirror of Lake Baikal. In the middle of it rose the blue mountains of the Olkhon Island .. "- writes V. D. Obruchev about his first impression; and then he exclaims: "... If at this moment the sun peeped through the clouds even for a second and illuminated the magnificent picture down there with purple-gold evening rays, I would probably exclaim:" See Baikal and die! "
Simplistically, we can assume that the main, ridge part of the ridge, as close as possible to the eastern coast, rises from south to north, reaching the maximum height on Mount Izhimei (Zhima) - 1276 m.From here, to the northern tip, Cape Khoboy, the ridge descends again. That is why the eastern part of the ridge has a fault, steep character almost along the entire length of the island, the eastern coast is a narrow strip of littoral, interrupted at times by impassable clamps and accumulations of blocky material with a general insignificant indentedness and almost complete absence of bays convenient for settling ships. In this regard, the western coast, to which the slopes gradually descend to the level of the lake, is strongly indented, abounding in numerous, sometimes deeply cut into the land, bays, with far protruding capes and an abundance of sandy, beach areas, presents a striking contrast with the opposite coast. This feature was noted by all the researchers of Lake Baikal: “... the northern coast greets a person more welcoming, It helpfully becomes flatter as it approaches the sea, forms bays and coves, hospitably takes under its reliable protection a sailor fleeing from the storm and the sea, provides the fisherman with such a convenient for fishing, there is a flat, sandy bottom, that the Buryats, who live mainly by fishing, prefer to build their uluses on this coast, ”writes V. A, Obruchev. However, it should be noted that the southern and northern extremities of the island are high and steep, which gives a unique colo-rig to the local capes and shores.
“As picturesque as the whole island is, it lacks one component of the landscape - the rivers. Only here and there is a babbling brook, through a narrow channel of which the traveler is carried in one courageous leap, - says V. d. Obruchev further. - The reason for this shortcoming is that there is not a single significant longitudinal valley on Olkhon where precipitation could collect mountain plateau. The drainage basins of the transverse valleys cannot feed the river, and even the pride of the island, two small lakes - Elgai and Zagli, - upon careful study, turn out to be only modest particles of bays fenced off by sandy spits. Buryats distant from the coast of uluses suffer greatly from the absence of a river or river; they dig their wells with difficulty and are at war with nature. " A hundred years later, while circling the island on the western coast, only two streams were encountered (one, a tiny one, in the Rybozavod settlement, north of Khuzhir, and the Kharantsy stream 0.4 m wide) and one on the eastern coast in the Tishigene pad (now the name Tyshkine, Tashkin), lost in the coastal pebbles. Of course, a longitudinal valley, directed across the prevailing wind direction, would allow collecting more precipitation, but it is now generally accepted that the main reason here, especially the climate, is its extraordinary aridity. “The climate is too harsh,” emphasizes Obruchev. “Already at the beginning of August, sensitive frosts begin, preventing even winter rye from ripening. The prevailing opinion on the mainland that Baikal has a softening effect on the climate of its surroundings, according to the reports of the islanders and according to my own observations, is very erroneous. " Precipitation falls unevenly throughout the year: from April to October there is 145-200 mm, from November to March - only 14-16 mm, hence the scant amount of snow that does not hide vegetation in the steppe part and does not exceed 100 - I5O mm in the forest ( the least amount of precipitation was noted at the Khuzhir meteorological station - 87.9 mm in 1971).
Slow, late onset spring, late cool summer (however with very hot days in July and August), relatively mild, but with early frosts, autumn (average date of the first frost on October 3), milder than in mainland regions, but long winter (the average date of the last frost is May 21), the limited duration of the growing season (137 days), strong, frequent and prolonged winds are the distinctive features of the Olkhon climate. Sometimes winds with a speed of more than 40 m / s blow for a day or more, and the average number of days with winds of more than 15 m / s is equal to 148, which significantly exceeds the indicators for other regions of Lake Baikal.
The peculiarities of the climate and, mainly, the drying effect of the prevailing north-western wind of Sarma, which in winter, blowing off the insignificant snow cover, dehydrates the soil, according to scientists, are the reason for the solid division of the island's territory into two parts according to the nature of the vegetation - forest and steppe. Most of the island is covered with pine and larch forest, mainly its higher, mountainous part. At the same time, in contrast to the western coast, on the eastern coast, forest vegetation descends to the very coast. For a long time it was believed that two species of coniferous trees are the only ones on the island, and Lamakin's publication about his discovery of a spruce forest, a relic of the Ice Age, on the northwestern slope of Mount Izhimei, became a real sensation. First, in 1956, Lamakin found several young spruce trees among larches on the coastal cliff in the Mangashi-Utug Bay, then in 1965 the geography teacher and famous local historian N.M. Revyakin with a group of schoolchildren discovers a trees of different ages and subsoil - at a depth of half a meter - with water. Apparently, this is not a complete list of places where spruce grows: according to I.A.Kopylov, about 10 spruce trees grow in the middle reaches of the Kharantsy stream, four kilometers from the coast, in a swampy area. Separate cedars were found along the eye ridge near the top of Izhimei. On a land deprived of riches, harsh and unkind, and such finds warm the heart!
Taking into account the special importance of the forest in the life of the island, it is assigned to the 1st category, the entire area occupied by it has been declared a state natural monument.
Steppe vegetation predominates in the southwestern part of the island, a small section of it from Kharantsy to Nyurgonskaya Bay is located in the middle part, treeless and northeastern extremity; it includes nine formations belonging to the true mountain and meadow steppes.
Olkhon is composed of ancient Archean complexes, represented by ordinary and graphite crystalline limestone, mica and hornblendes. Maikov granites and gneisses; quartzites, graphite gneisses and granites are less common. Neogene (Miocene) deposits are developed mainly along the western coast at a length of about 20 km between the village of Khuzhir and Peschanka and are formed on an exposed stratum of 100-150 m with weakly cemented sands alternating with clays, and in the upper part - mainly with clays. Bones of rhinos, deer, gazelles, rams, horses, turtles, etc. were found in these deposits, and spore-pollen analysis showed the presence of representatives of thermophilic deciduous forests: magnolia, myrtle, holly, etc.
The first researchers of the island's vegetation point to the similarity of the Olkhon steppes with the Mongolian ones; subsequent studies by geologists, paleogeographers and botanists have led to the conclusion that the steppes on Olkhon and the western shore of Lake Baikal are a relic of the Pliocene steppes, the isolation of which from the steppes of Transbaikalia and Mongolia occurred during the era of maximum glaciation. The number of Mongolian forms in the fauna of the island is relatively small, they include the Mongolian toad, the patterned snake, the bearded partridge, the bustard, the ogary, the rocky pigeon, the dancer wheather, the white-chinned horned lark, the light polecat, etc.
The forest fauna of Olkhon is a depleted fauna of the Baikal taiga, which is explained by the regularities in the formation of island faunas. The same is typical for the steppe zone. Depletion processes occur primarily due to the disappearance of certain species. Only in recent years the bustard, wolf, roe deer, red deer have been destroyed by humans, probably the marmot, sable and wolverine have been exterminated on the island.
According to Litvinov (1982), the island's fauna is represented by one species of amphibians, three species of reptiles, 146 species of birds and 20 species of mammals. Most of the animals are found in limited numbers at certain times of the year, such as migrating birds. Birds are found in more noticeable quantities - the Daurian jackdaw, apparently the most numerous species nesting on the island, widespread on the border of the forest and the steppe, wood grouse, lapwing, hoopoe, rocky pigeon on coastal rocks, black crow, house and field sparrows in villages , long-tailed ground squirrel, - one of the most numerous animals in the steppe part, white hare, common squirrel. According to the testimony of the local population, seals are still reaching the stones of the eastern coast in significant quantities.
But Baikal is not only an exceptional natural phenomenon. Baikal played a significant role in the historical past of the peoples of Asia. More than a thousand years ago, cattle breeders of the Iron Age lived here, "Kurumchin blacksmiths" - mysterious kurykans, from which stone fortress walls remained on the isthmuses of capes on Olkhon and in the Olkhon region, silent witnesses of wars and migration of peoples. Burials of kurykans on Olkhon in burial grounds made of stone slabs placed on the edge, various excavations of settlements still provide rich food for numerous scientific studies. Olkhon and Olkhon region have a key position in the development of contact between peoples inhabiting the basins of the Upper Angara, Barguzin, Selenga and Angara,
Traces of the activities of primitive hunters and fishermen of the Stone and Early Bronze Ages can be found in almost every convenient for life bay of the western coast in the form of patterned shards of ceramic vessels, various arrowheads made of flint, jasper and chalcedony, products and ornaments made of gems, jade and marble.
Cult objects, legends and ritual shamanic rites have survived to our time, in which the image of the owner of the island - the eagle - occupies the main place. Here is a version of the legend about the origin of the owner of Olkhon, the eagle, about the confrontation between the two main religions - shamanic and Buddhist. This legend was told by P.P.Batorov: “When the people of the black-headed tribe (fans of black, evil shamans. - VB) multiplied on the earth, they began to live hostilely among themselves, robbed and killed each other, so who was stronger, he was right because of his strength. Such a disorder on the earth became unacceptable, which is why the ottorgoi white Burkhans (heavenly deities - VB) ordered Hanhirama-tengeri (apparently a deity - VB) to sleep on the ground of his three sons in order to establish there law and order among the people, and in the future, all three heavenly sons, while on earth, constantly monitor the law established by them. Thus, the three brothers mentioned on earth are: the first of them is the guardian of the Buddhist religion - the Dalai Lama, the second became the head of the shamanic religion - his name is Khan-guta Babai, and the third brother became the king of darkness and the judge of the sinful souls of dead people.
Regarding the middle brother, Khan-guta Babaya, there is such a legend. Khan-guta Babai, having become the king of all shamans, chose the island of Oikhan (Olkhon) as a permanent residence and reigned over all people professing the shamanic religion.
One day he heard rumors that some preacher of a new faith had appeared in the far south and was persuading people to his faith. On hearing this news, Khan-guta Babai sent his son to the south to check his hearing on the spot. Since that southern country was very far away, then the envoy, the son of Khan-gut Babai, to accelerate his mission, turning into an eagle, flew there and made sure on the spot that indeed there shamanists are quickly, in hundreds and thousands, converting to the new Buddhist religion. He flew back home, got hungry on the road and, for sin, sees that the fat mare is dead and lies in the middle of the steppe. He, in order to satisfy his hunger, went down to carrion, ate his fill and, having flown to Olkhon, to his father, could not turn from a bird into a man again, for he was defiled, having eaten the meat of a missing mare, and so he remained forever an eagle bird. Subsequently, he produced his own kind, that is, eagles ... All these eagles live on the island of Olkhon, since their king, the eagle, is constantly there; he commands all the eagles and small groups, in pairs, distributes them to different distant places for nesting and withdrawing children outside Olkhon Island. "
Variants of the historical legend about Genghis Khan are romantic and stable, GF Miller says about them: “According to the stories of the Mongols, Genghis Khan had his main residence at the rivers Onon, which flows into the Shilka, and the Kurinlum, which flows into Lake Dalai” (Baikal - V. B.). He also says that Genghis Khan sometimes came with his nomad to Lake Baikal. The proof of this should be the tagan, which he put on the mountain of Olkhon Island, which is located on the above-mentioned lake, and on the tagan there is a large cauldron in which the horse's head lies. "Although I have not received confirmation of this from the Buryats living in the vicinity of Lake Baikal and on Olkhon Island, I still consider the above news about Genghis Khan's possessions very likely, since the first lands conquered by Genghis Khan, China and Tangut, lie nearby."
One of the options is reported by P. Ye. Kulakov: “According to some Olkhon Buryats, the famous shaman rock and the cave in it (cave cape) served as the burial place of Genghis Khan. Doctor Kirillov tells the legend of the Barguzin Buryats, according to which Genghis Khan crossed to Olkhon along the isthmus, which at that time connected the island with Svyatoy Nos and dividing the Baikal valley into two parts.
It is possible that this legend about the existence of the isthmus has a real basis under it, because it is in the direction from the island to the Svyatoi Nos peninsula that an underwater ridge is located, of which two surface exits are actually part - at the beginning in the form of Olkhon and at the end in the form of the Ushkany Islands archipelago in the immediate vicinity of the peninsula. Perhaps someday such an isthmus may appear again, because Baikal with its indefatigable tectonic vigorous activity is much for big surprises. This is what the observations of V.V. Lamakin, who established that until relatively recently, the Ushkany Islands were the bottom of Lake Baikal, testify to this. As for Genghis Khan, the legends about his stay on Lake Baikal are not confirmed by scientific data.
Already at the beginning of our century, Olkhon almost became a huge prison. The Governor-General of Eastern Siberia A. Selivanov reported to Tsar Nicholas II: “Two islands on Lake Baikal could serve as a very suitable place for such placement of exiled supervised, namely: Olkhon Island for less important political ones and Ushkanyi Islands for the most important ones; here it is necessary to build barracks for them, prepare food warehouses, organize security ... With the settlement of criminal elements on the island, the indigenous population of Siberia would be protected from the harmful influence of the exiles and supervision over them would be greatly facilitated. The tsar's resolution was decisive: "Now to proceed with the necessary devices on Olkhon Island, completely freeing the rest of Siberia from the settlement of a criminal element." After the survey of the island, Selivanov envisages three sites for the construction of prisons: near the Hyp and Khada uluses; on the site of the uluses of Khuzhir and Syrgyt; in the valleys of the rivers Kharansa, Kharaldai and Nyurgun. The Olkhon penal servitude was presented to the organizers in the form of 40 villages with barracks, office buildings and 16 prisons for 8 thousand people. The construction costs were supposed to be 10 million rubles, the regime was military, while Selivanov especially noted; "The main point: women do not refer to Olkhon Island and are not allowed under any guise or for any reason."
Significant costs (if the average maintenance of one criminal in Russia at that time was up to 176 rubles per year, then for Olkhon the costs increased to 300 rubles), possible unfavorable political publicity did not allow the grandiose hard labor to take place.
IN modern life The Buryat population left a lot of the past, and strong ties with shamanism. To make vital decisions, they often turn to shamans, who still have great influence. And today it is impossible by any force to force the Buryat women to look towards the sacred mountain Izhimei, and the cult of shaman hitching posts - serge (wooden or stone pillars by the road, past which a cortege for the shaman's funeral followed) has become so common that even Russians "spray Burkhana" for good luck but a planned business. Serge, used simply as a tethering post, are widespread in the Olkhon region and, as a rule, stand by the road on the pass sections, where they stop to rest before going up. The custom of making a sacrifice in this case to the spirit, the "owner" of this place, in the form of small things, coins, pieces of cloth or scarves tied to serge, drinking alcohol with a spray to placate the Burkhan has become so common among the local population that such sacrificial places are easy to identify even in the absence of serge on piles of wine and vodka bottles. In recent years, they began to be smashed in order to deprive people of earnings who are not afraid of the wrath of the "deities".
TOURIST AND RECREATIONAL CONDITIONS OF OLKHON ISLAND. ROUTES
We can safely say that despite the fact that the “romantic island”, by virtue of its natural contrasts, interesting history and fish wealth, like a magnet, constantly attracts vacationers and tourists, the recreational capacity is still used to a limited extent, and one-sided, and if you do not count ice fishing in the Small Sea, for a short time. In the period from June to August, vacationers, mainly residents of the Irkutsk region, arrive here by their own cars. Each of them tries to settle down in the cozy bays of the western coast and so that there is a forest on the coast, that is, firewood. The desire to take as much as possible from nature, to live in a place not yet too touched by civilization, to get away from the eyes of control drives these consumers of nature to the north of the island, until the loose sands of the Peschanka tract stand in their way with an insurmountable obstacle. There are also few bivouacs on the eastern bank, travel to which is actually possible only in two places - to the Tashkine and Idibe falls (there are much more hiking trails to the eastern bank from the western bank). The systematic concentration of "savages" on the same parts of the lake coast has long become a disaster in the region, which is why Olkhon, as a part of the Baikal national park a well-thought-out and scientifically grounded system of recreational development and use is urgently needed.
Timidly uses its capabilities and planned tourism. The closest tourist base "Malomorskaya" (located on the opposite side of the Olkhonskiye Vorota strait in the village of Sakhyurte) has organized in recent years bicycle routes from the southern coast to the northern tip of the island, Cape Khoboy; it is planned to build a tourist shelter in the Peschanka area. Meanwhile, water tourism with the use of a rowing and sailing fleet, exciting cruises along picturesque coastal areas, bypassing the entire island and sailing along the Small Sea are the main directions of tourism development on the island. The following is a description of the ring walking route along the coast.
The journey around Olkhon Island can be completed in 49 hours of clean running, dividing the 168 km journey into eight conventional sections.
It is better to start a detour from the village of Khuzhir, the administrative and geographical center of the island, a fishing port, a center of transport communications (near, in the village of Kharantsy, there is a small unpaved airfield that accepts the smallest passenger aircraft). The settlement arose in 1939 and developed on the basis of a fish cannery organized here, its population is more than a thousand people and is engaged in fishing, fish processing at a fish cannery, sheep breeding (here the office of the Olkhonsky sheep farm), forestry (Olkhonskoe island forestry), hunting (ranger site), public service.
The true local history center of the village, its important attraction is the local history museum at the secondary school, with its richest collection, which has become a branch of the regional museum of local history. It bears the name of its founder and enthusiast school teacher Nikolai Mikhailovich Revyakin. He began to collect the first exhibits (including rare ones) in the post-war years, together with his students he traveled along and across the island, making up an archaeological, ethnographic and mineralogical collection. By strong ties of friendship, he was associated with the famous explorer of Siberia, Academician V.A.Obruchev. Revyakin was able to pass on a careful and attentive attitude to natural monuments and the history of his native land to his students, thanks to whose efforts the number of valuable finds increased to three thousand. Everything that the pupils managed to learn and hear was entered by them in neat handwriting in school notebooks. Here is one of them, made from the words of V. Ikhiritov by the headman of the school local history circle Rufa Zaksheeva:
“... In the 15th century there was no one on Olkhon, only in the 17th he came on foot from Kachug with his herds of Buryats. His name was Kharansa, he settled in a dugout on the shore of Lake Baikal. At that time there were a lot of fish on Lake Baikal, he began to prepare tools and cut fire from the stone. His son Ulan-Khushin eventually became a big, wealthy man, and when he lived in Bugey (a village that is now gone - VB), some strange people (Russians) began to drive past his house. These people were very experienced, knew the land, nature and climate well, knew what they were traveling for. They had maps, a compass and many other necessary things ... "
In the book of reviews, in which there are many entries of eminent guests, political and public figures, cosmonauts and writers, the most expressive assessment of the activities of the museum of the political observer Izvestia A. Bovin: , and by the talent and charm of the local history enthusiast N.M. Revyakin. And, perhaps, the most remarkable feature of the museum is that, being a scientific institution, it was created by the hands of the public, by the hands of children under the guidance of their truly people's teacher. Nikolai Mikhailovich did a great job. "
Not far from the village, one might say, almost on its northern outskirts, there is the famous Shamansky cape, crowned with a two-headed marble rock Burkhan with a through cave. It is a significant historical monument and natural monument, which some researchers of Baikal consider to be a kind of symbol, the key of Baikal. It is believed that the most colorful description of this natural object and sacred place of the Buryats was left by V.A.Obruchev:
“How much greater is the power of superstition than the power of faith, I learned when geological research led me to the part of the island where there is a“ sacred cave ”with the altar of Buddha. Those who come by boat to the Shamansky Cape, see in front of them a coastal rock resembling a precious temple made of crystalline limestone with sparkles of graphite, the water has carved a cave in the stone ... When winter comes and frost builds a reliable bridge on the lake, a lama comes from Transbaikalia to perform services at the holy place, and the cave is filled with devout Buryats. The entire population of the island, consisting of a thousand people, rushes here. "
We find an interesting detail in this description: “At ordinary times, the deities of the Shaman Cape lead a rather lonely, boring life. Foreign visitors, mostly Russian tourists, who, even here, in the Buddha's sanctuary, cannot give up their bad habit of perpetuating their name on the walls, can be counted on one hand. Buryat avoids this place with timid reverence ... "
It turns out that the history of the inscriptions that today dotted Burkhan "from head to toe" has a centuries-old barbarian tradition.
Burkhan is widely known for monuments of the Neolithic era, the excavations of which began on the isthmus of the cape since 1959. Here in 1975 worked the first in the history of archeology of Siberia, a joint expedition of Soviet and American archaeologists, a year earlier, conducted research on the Aleutian Islands. Based on the excavations of the unique necropolis of an ancient Siberian tribe, a hypothesis was put forward about the Asian origin of the indigenous population of North America.
Many archaeological discoveries have been made on the proposed route, only the most famous of them will be listed.
The section of the village of Khuzhir - Cape Budun (Ulan-Khushin ulus) is a relatively flat coast of the island with slightly protruding into the Small Sea, not steep capes with large sandy beaches between them (the shores of the Odonim and Kharansa bays), It is more interesting to move along the coastal edge, but it is also possible along the road passing here at some distance from the coast in a pine-larch forest. Along the edge of the coastal cliffs, attention is attracted by the growing & horizontal position of larch: apparently, it is in the place of the bend of the coast that the wind is especially strong, and the trees, gradually bending down, kneel, but do not give up. No one has investigated what feeds them - either the preserved roots, or these functions begin to be performed by the lower branches pressed into the soil, but it is clearly visible how one of the branches takes on the role of the top and tries to correct the situation, as it were. The struggle with the wind, and this is the struggle for life, is visible in the bottle-shaped forms of larch trees. As you know, on Lake Baikal, such larches were first described on the Ushkany Islands, but they also had to be met in the Irkut valley near the Munku-Sar-Duk ridge.
On the next after Burkhan Cape Kharans, the archaeological excavations are striking, located in a checkerboard pattern (in the future, a tree will be planted in each of them). It is here, as well as on the next cape, that N.M. Revyakin discovered the sites of an ancient man of the New Stone Age (the latter is called Boshkhog - Fox Cave). The Kharantsinsky burial ground, investigated since 1963 by the complex archaeological expedition of Irkutsk State University under the leadership of the candidate of historical sciences V.V. Svinin, hid the remains of the inhabitants of the island, fishing and hunting tools, dressed skins used as clothing, dog bones and seals. Then a person already used a dog in hunting for a seal: in winter, on the ice, she looked for the air of this beast. From the cape, the western coast of the island can be seen far away (in the Buryat language "haransa" -? Viewing), you can see how the height and steepness of the capes increases, how forest vegetation retreats to the ridge. From here, along the bay stretches a small village of the same name (a branch of a state farm with a machine yard and an airport), sunk up to its knees in the sand. Opposite the island of Edor, there is a pumping station on the shore: the Baikal water is supplied through pipes to the fields, on which the grass, excellent for haymaking, grows.
The seemingly deserted coast to Cape Buduy became the object of excursions of the 27th International Geological Congress in 1984: the bright red outcrops of the Kharantzin formation of aerial clays were studied here. The longitudinal (in relation to the coast) ruptures in the slopes, which, at first glance, are of a landslide type, significant in length, are explained by the presence of cryogenic (permafrost) structures in the roof of the formation. One of the deep erosional valleys at the beginning of Cape Budun with steep slopes turning into a gorge is characteristic: the scarlet color of the soil unexpectedly contrasts with the aquamarine distances of the Small Sea and the faded greenery of the adjacent steppe spaces. The cape rises above the water with high rock walls, it offers a magnificent view to the west, to the opposite shore of the Small Sea, to the east, to the powerful wooded slopes of the island ridge, noticeably gaining height to the top of Izhimeya. A small Buryat ulus Ulan-Khushin (Budun) is located on the border of the forest and the steppe. The main attraction of the village is the prayer house - datsan, located a few kilometers away in the forest. You can spend the night on a clean, dry and sandy lawn overgrown with mighty larch trees on the shores of the cozy Budunskaya bay, but it is better to walk about 4 km more to the town of Buruger on the shores of the Nyurgonskaya bay: from this village to several houses, in which not a single inhabitant is left, it is more convenient in total to storm the top of Mount Izhimei in a radial exit.
In the region of Budun, on its western slopes, the reision-search party of the Irkutskkvartszamotsvety trust in recent years has found manifestations of corundum (in the jewelry version, these are rubies).
Climbing Mount Izhimei takes one day. Opposite the last Buruger houses from the main road, there is a turn-off towards the east coast. A dirt road leads into the depths of the fort (according to local residents, the road in front of the ridge turns into a path that leads to the shore of Lake Baikal). Approximately an hour later from the road to the left, along a dry, shallow valley, goes in the desired direction, to the northeast, a packed, torn path. After one and a half to two hours, it is practically lost on a foothill terrace in a dense deciduous forest, and the most difficult thing in climbing is determining the right direction to the top in the absence of landmarks. Either a detailed map can help in this, or (until a marked path is made to the top) the method of attempts: you need to follow the compass to the east and after reaching the crest of the ridge, which is the only one in this place, in case of failure, intelligence. Both the ridge and the top are covered with dense pine forest, and this still complicates the search. From individual tall trees on the row of the ridge from the south, the path to the summit can be seen through individual bare areas with protruding rocks; directly in front of the summit, 1274 m above sea level, surveyors placed a metal triangulation sign (in 1980, it was found felled).
From the top, which is a small horizontal platform made of small blocks of stones, in good weather a wonderful view opens up to the steep eastern coast to the very Cape Wuhan. Towards Baikal, the mountain slopes break off with wall-like rocky cliffs overgrown with grassy vegetation. The northern part of the coast of the island is covered with trees and cannot be seen from the top.
Mount Izhimei is still considered one of the most revered places on the island - according to legend, it is the abode of spirits and deities. Usually the legends mention it inseparably with the Shaman Cape, it was impossible to pass by them at a certain time. GN Potanin, referring to Chersky, writes: “On the Olkhon Island the highest mountain is Izhimei. According to the legend of the Olkhon Buryats, there is an immortal bear in chains on it. The Buryats do not dare to go to this mountain ”. No wonder, because the bear was revered as a sacred animal. An oath made on the skin of a bear was considered unbreakable.
From the top you can see the Maloye More, Cape Budun, this circumstance allows you to orient yourself in order to choose directions for descent and return. You can leave a note on the tour (it was not there before our ascent in 1980), you should go first in the northwest direction. Here on the way stands the same relict spruce forest, a state natural monument, the paths around which the national park should organize, now the path goes through it. After the spruce forest, you should turn left, south-east. Only after reconnaissance is it possible to find again the path leading to a deep and long ravine, and then to the road.
In total, it is necessary to plan at least 10 hours of walking to climb from Buruger (climbing from Ulan-Khushin with access to the ridge crest and moving along it to the top of the mountain will require at least 12 hours due to the lack of trails). For all this time, you should stock up on water - not a drop of it was found on the route.
The section of Cape Budun - Uzur Bay is insignificant in length, but full of interesting objects, which will take a lot of time to see. For this reason, it is also recommended to set up a bivouac on the eastern coast, in one of the most picturesque places on the island, Uzur Bay. From here, the northern part can be bypassed lightly in a one-day "ring".
Behind Cape Nyurgon begins the Nyurgonskaya Bay, slightly protruding into the land and bounded from the north by Cape Ulan-Baysan. It is notable for one of the largest fine sandy beaches on Lake Baikal, which stretches for 7 them. Almost in the center of the bay the Peschanka tract adjoins it. There are always a lot of tourists and vacationers here, they are attracted by the picturesque dune relief on an area of \u200b\u200babout 3 square meters. km. The active work of the wind led to the formation of a kind of sandy dune area overgrown with forest. There are also many fresh dunes, which can be used to determine the time of the sands' approach to the forest (some pines are brought up to the top). In the 50s, a fish receiving station with a large ryazhenka pier (still preserved) and buildings, residential and industrial, was built in Peschanka. Ignorance and ignorance of local conditions caused most of the houses to be covered with sand dunes, and people were forced to leave Until recently, several houses were inhabited, fish were received and stored in one room (the so-called refrigerator) .Girdle by its natural merits is not only a wonderful and characteristic natural monument on Lake Baikal; it has every reason to become one of the centers of tourism development on the island ...
Vast steppes begin from Peschanka, practically they dominate north of the line of Cape Ulan-Baysan - Uzur. Opposite the cape, there was once a village of Sasa, now there are still two non-residential houses, which will eventually be transported to a larger residential village, and periodically used sheep shelters. This is one of the extinct villages of the island (according to the 1979 census, 13 people were still burned here). In the direct direction from Sasy, the closest to Mount Izhimei (about 7 km), its slope is clearly visible, and an ascent in azimuth is possible. The relief, as it moves to the north, decreases both on the east and on the west coast, and the width of the island also narrows, until in the town of Haga it turns into a through valley, ending in the east with a cozy and picturesque Uzur bay, bordered from the north and south by high rocky cliffs. In the southern part of the bay there is a traditional bivouac site.
Uzur is notable not only for the picturesque surroundings: in a small cave, archaeologists discovered traces of the life of ancient people, N.M. Revyakin at the Uzur camp on the surface of the soil and blowouts found tools of labor and everyday life, which are among the oldest on Olkhon. The water in the bay is very cold due to the great depths on the eastern side of the island. On a small lake occasionally appear rare large birds - black stork and cranes. Large flocks of Daurian jackdaws are common; the white-belt swift dwells in many on the rocks. Convenient transport center, Uzur also becomes a point of scientific research: the meteorological station and the scientific research station of Sibizmir "Irkutskaya" are located here. There is all the data to become him and one of the points of tourism development on the island.
Uzur - Cape Khoboy - Cape Saga H u sh u n - Uzur (circular bypass of the northern tip of the island).
Apart from Usuka, there are no settlements in the area. The hilly terrain with separate dominant heights in the form of flat-topped ridges is a steppe with separate groups and groves of larch trees; the eastern coast is weakly indented and steep as far as Khoboy itself and practically impassable along the coastal edge. The predominance of limestone rocks on both banks and the cover of multi-colored lichens developed on them is a colorful sight and an interesting subject for photography. The movement along the edge of the cliff of the eastern coast leads to Cape Khoboy, narrow and long, with steep slopes and sparse tree bristles, in cross-section it approaches a triangle, one angle directed upwards. Along the top, the ridge of this corner, a torny path runs to the northernmost point of the island, a rectangular cliff rising steeply above the water from the land side. For its formidable appearance, the cliff, which is a vertically directed slab of white rock, received its unusual name (in Buryat khoboy - fang). Both climbing to its top and descending to its base, to the water, is possible only with the use of rock climbing techniques and belaying. The edge of the slab, from a certain angle of view from the water, resembles the figure of a woman in profile, therefore the cliff is also called the "Rock of the Virgin". The cape is declared a state natural monument of the Irkutsk region and is subject to comprehensive protection.
From Cape Khoboy, the western coast is an alternation of cozy small bays deeply cut into the coast with steep shores and beautiful capes, of which the Cape Sagan-Khushun “made” of white crystalline limestone (in translation from Buryat - White Cape) is especially magnificent. The second name of the cape is also known - Three brothers, given to him, apparently, for three rock pylons protruding to the cape. A steep path leads to them, along which sheep walk to the coastal edge to drink. From the north, a narrow fjord-shaped Sagan-Khushun bay is cut into the cape, to which canyon-like amazing cozy paddles with individual trees descend. This place is especially colored by the multi-colored lichen crust, covering all stone surfaces, of which the red ones are especially photogenic. A magnificent sight is the cape and from the water - and here the vertical planes of the rocks are covered with spectacular colored lichens.
On the way to Uzuru, in the already well-known transverse valley, there is a small settlement of cattle breeders Usuk, in which several families live. Water is taken from artesian wells. From here to Uzura it remains 4 km along the road.
Uzur site - Khara-Khushun cape region On the eastern coast there are three places that are impossible to walk along the coast, two of them are associated with large detours. The most difficult and longest one begins at the end of Uzur. Bypassing the island, here we start moving along the eastern coast of the island to the south. The path is blocked by continuous faults, great depths, a detour is possible only along the ridge with an ascent to a great height (according to available sources, there is a path) and descent to the shore in front of Cape Izhimey in the Shuntui (Zeleny, Listvenichniy cape) or Shara-Tyshlyk falls. Less strenuous detours are also possible, with transverse paths from the western coast, but there is no reliable information about their presence in the area of \u200b\u200bCape Izhimei. It has been established that there are trails from Khuzhir to the Hatkha pad, but in this case it does not make much sense to go to Cape Izhimey and further to Cape Verde, since this path will then have to be repeated. The steep section of the coast in the Uzura area can be avoided with the help of the local population.
Almost from Cape Verde, low and wooded, with extensive grassy lawns, on which the inhabitants of Uzur mow hay, there begins a many kilometers in circumference, powerful and high, with numerous rocky buttresses, Cape Izhimei. Only in a few places, rocky walls of insignificant length are overcome by traverses, bypasses around the calibration or shallow fords, nevertheless, the path along this section is exhausting from the constant movement along large-block talus. Behind the Izhimi, the coast is often represented by high vertical cliffs interspersed with large boulders; lacustrine and other red-colored deposits are not rare on this side: once, on the border of the Middle and Late Pliocene, this part of Olkhon was raised above the lake water level. Further to Hatha, the path runs along a narrow strip of pebble beaches, only 5 km before it appears a path at an altitude of 30 m above the lake level, above the edge of a steep cliff.
In recent years, Hatkha is known for excavations of a multilayer site of an ancient man, finds of scrapers, ceramics, the oldest in the Baikal region, seal bones. From here to Khuzhir through the ridge it takes 5 hours to walk, there is a stream with clear water on the trail.
The Hatha - Idibe Pad 'section is perhaps more interesting than the others on the island: a pronounced vertical coast, its obvious fault character makes rocky areas, cliffs very picturesque, narrows to a minimum the coastal edge, which is paved with materials of physical destruction - blocks and slabs, many among them are multi-colored. Often the coast is strewn with logs from broken "cigars" tightly pressed against each other. From Uzur, steep slopes are covered with pine forest, descending to the very edge of the coast, individual trees grow in the surf zone.
There are very small bays formed by stone ramparts, which are willingly used by those traveling on motor boats; not much more and places convenient for setting up tents. It is much more difficult than before, due to the steepness of the slopes, to climb the ridge. On the site there are many snakes, in particular, aggressive moths, you can often find seals basking on the stones, a steppe species of edelweiss begins to appear in the paddy, its especially significant specimens are noted in the Tyshkine valley. Judging by the numerous smoking installations and dryers in the parking lot, fishing was quite successful here.
One of the most beautiful transverse valleys of the island, in which the Tyshkine stream flows, is located 7-9 kilometers before the destination. From Khuzhir, on its right slope, a dirt road is laid, which is mainly accessible for trucks of high cross-country ability. In the valley there is dense and varied woody and herbaceous vegetation; not far from Baikal, and the mouth of a lateral valley, a large Pole, uninhabited house. Once there was a small village here, a mill worked on the dam, bred livestock, hay was prepared in the district. Now the stream is barely discernible in the channel and is lost a few meters from the lake about the coastal pebbles. At the mouth of the Tyshkine there are always tents of campers, once there was a geological base here, today the valley is loudly known for archaeological splits of multi-layered settlements. Like many others on the island, they were discovered by I.M.Revyakin and differ in a wide range in time - from the Iron Age to the Early Neolithic. In addition, the alternation of layers makes it possible to establish specific processes, for example, the sequence of making tools and ceramics.
A continuous four-kilometer strip of pressures is almost halved by the third (counting from the north, the first is Uzur, the second is Tyshkine) by the deep, very green valley of Idibe. Along the valley, as in the two previous ones, a dirt road was laid, a turn from the main road leading from ferry crossing to Khuzhir. As in Tyshkine, a small stream is lost in the coastal pebbles, the mouth is convenient for camping, but, as in Uzura, beyond the mouth of the Idibe, to the south, the clamps cannot be overcome either by climbing or ford. Possible entry options are to cross the ridge and go to the road to the western coast, or to go around this section along the ridge in order to go down to the coast after a few kilometers; it is also possible to cross by boat, if you are lucky (there are no residents at the mouth, as in Tyshkine). There is another option - the traverse of the clamp along the ledge at a height of 40-60 m, then the descent with the use of ropes to the coastal edge. There is a known case of overcoming the clamp by a bunch of two people using hooks and ropes for belaying at a low height above the water (distance 150 m).
The section Idibe - Halzany Bay to some extent repeats the landscapes of the previous day. Due to the small concavity of the coast, the path is visible over a large extent, a gradual decrease in the height of the main ridge becomes visible, while its eastern slopes are still steeper, on which rocky side ridges, walls and clamps at the water's edge still stand out. A decrease in both woody and herbaceous vegetation and a change in its composition are noticeable. The coastal strip is still narrow and is composed primarily of coarse light pebbles, large-sized slabs, and then blocky material. It can only be overcome by climbing, which significantly reduces the speed of advance. The number of snakes is increasing, with a predominance of vipers and moths.
4 hours after Idibe, two clamps, located almost side by side, go around the top along the path at an altitude of about 30 m.Finally there is another high clamp, behind it another one can be seen: between them a small semicircular Halzany bay with steep gravelly slopes juts out into the land there is insignificant drought-resistant vegetation. Low-growing pines with a narrow ribbon follow the thalweg of the cleft between two ridged outcrops of rocks. The bay is bordered by a narrow and short strip of fine sandy beach, one of the few on this coast. The deserted and uncomfortable view of the bay is enlivened by the head of a smiling man with a long nose - a sculptural eccentricity of nature in the southern part of the bay, at the beginning of the next pressure. On the slopes, separate empty robinia squat begin to occur. Its distinctive feature, the golden bark, together with other oka plants, marks the beginning of the arid area. Now the steppe becomes our constant companion for the rest of the way, up to Khuzhmr.
The southern tip of the island (Khalzany section - Zagli bay, Tashkai village). The pressure at the exit from the bay is bypassed on top at an altitude of about 40 m (it is also possible to wade under it, but the bottom is covered with large boulders overgrown with algae, therefore a wading is undesirable due to significant fluctuations in depths). Further along the bank, two more insignificant pressures follow with breaks, which can be easily bypassed from above. Moving between them often has to climb large boulders. There are small sandy bays where it is impossible to find firewood - a characteristic sign of their popularity among vacationers. Ahead is shown the area of \u200b\u200bthe southernmost tip of the island - Cape Ushun, the coast to it is monotonous and inexpressive. Considering the fact that movement along the coastal edge is difficult due to the long, albeit low steep sections of the southern half of the Olkhon Gate, it makes sense to climb the plateau and desert part of the southern tip of the island and, adhering to the western direction, go to the steep edge of the Ulan- Hapsagai.
Unforgettable pictures of the surroundings, opening from this superb panoramic point. As if they had rushed to swim towards each other, the low and long treeless capes of the blue strait froze like strange reptiles on the move. It seems that the whole mainland of the Olkhon region, up to the distant peaks of the Primorsky ridge, is subject to the eye. The witnesses of the distant past - the signal towers of the kurykans - stood as photogenic guards at this height. In addition to them, the strait region has preserved traces of fortified settlements, fortress walls, fortified settlements (parking in Bazarnaya and Tashkent bays, burial grounds in Nurzkh). Two places should be noted here: Perevoznaya Bay with a berth for mooring a ferry serving the cargo-passenger ferry across the strait, and Zagli Bay, a feeding place for the famous migrant of Baikal - omul. In the depths of the bay there was once the village of Tashnay, which served the transshipment of goods from the mainland to the island and back. In 1980, the house of the lighthouse keeper remained here (the second, uninhabited house was occupied by scientific expeditions).
Zagli Bay - Khuzhir village. The remaining section, although tense in distance, is also the simplest in terms of relief. Its uniqueness, which consists primarily in the exceptional indented coastline, high steep promontories and deep bays with clean sandy beaches, has already been repeatedly mentioned. It remains to advise you to choose the main road for traffic, passing in the immediate vicinity of the coast, to find an opportunity to examine in more detail such interesting capes as the nature monument Cape Kobylya Golovaya.
There are several villages along the road, the very first of them after Tashkai is the farm of sheep breeders Nury (Nure). Next to it is the Zagli-Nur lake, which was once part of the Zagli bay, one of the few nesting places for waterfowl: ducks, scooters. Geese were noted among migrating birds. An hour and a half after Tashkai - a meeting on the pass with the first ob (the control place of the Buryats, dedicated to their ancestors, whose souls, according to their beliefs, move to the mountains. As a rule, such places are passes, here you need to appease the souls of the dead so that they through a difficult place - put a stone taken from below, a coin, pull the hair out of the beard, finally, sprinkle with vodka, that is, drink a bottle, not forgetting to sprinkle the holy place.Therefore, the usual sign of o on the island and in the Olkhon region is conical heaps of stones, grind coins , broken glass of bottles, etc. Until Khuzhir, o are encountered more than once.We can say that the main tourist attraction of this part is large and clean beaches in each bay (bay), especially the long ones in the bays of Khadai, Shibet, Semi-pine, Yelgai and merging into an endless ribbon at the approaches to Khuzhir in the bays of Sergit and Khuzhirtuyskaya.Unfortunately, they are surrounded by a dull semi-desert hilly landscape, only from Khadai on the horizon along the ridge in the north p begins the forest. There are rare semi-empty villages - branches of the state farm, where water is taken from wells. Near the village of Yalga there is a large lake Khonkhoy, once the former bay of Baikal; it connects with the Yalga Bay by a channel.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ON THE ISLAND. DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM
The prospects for the rational use of the natural resources of the island depend on how harmoniously and interconnected in the near future the main sectors of its economy will develop with a completely new tourism industry dictated by modern conditions. It should be admitted that today, not only by business executives and administrative authorities, but sometimes also by scientists, the need to develop tourism is interpreted as a kind of "scourge", an element, and tourism, like a stepson, is trying to decide its own fate.
The unprofitability of the main sectors of the economy - sheep breeding, planned without taking into account the natural thoughtfulness of hayfields and pastures, fish climbing, which has to be limited due to the low productivity of the omul herd - led to a significant decrease in the population of many villages (uluses), a significant part of them currently remain only on the maps or drags out a miserable existence, the concentration of the population is growing in the villages that provide it with employment (Khuzhir). In this regard, the need for livestock products increases, there is a need to create large flocks of sheep, which has led to the so-called "overgrazing" - the progressive impoverishment of the fertility of the Olkhon land, the development of its erosion, which is largely promoted natural features island territory: dry climate, frequent and strong winds throughout the year, bare and depleted soil organic matter. Even now, scientists declare that if the existing forms of management continue, then very soon negative changes in the vegetation cover of the Olkhon steppes will become irreversible.
And at the same time, surprising and encouraging results are being brought in Khuzhir by still timid attempts to develop a greenhouse economy: in the shortest possible time, until natural ripeness, tomatoes ripen, and cucumbers give significant yields. And this can be easily explained: on Olkhon, due to the high transparency of the air and the predominance of clear weather, the sunshine is the longest (over 2400 hours per year). Apparently, the traditional composition of the agricultural sectors on the island should be revised, using the power of the sun and the wind to advantage. The country has a positive experience of industrial-scale use of waste-free livestock solar complexes, which make it possible to develop the meat and dairy industry, to obtain fruits and vegetables in solar greenhouses. On the island, traditional, irrigation (irrigation) field cultivation brings good results, however, due to the significant energy and fuel consumption to ensure irrigation, the eye has limited capabilities, And at the same time, there has not been a single attempt to “harness” the wind, which blows on average for 143 days a year at a speed of over 15 meters! The use of wind power plants on a large scale, the industrial production of which is being established, the use of practically free electricity will allow (of course, in combination with grass sowing) to solve the problem of fodder, start breeding cattle, and provide employment for the population of small villages. This, in turn, will provide the farm with cheap organic fertilizers.
There is one more problem - preserving, at least in a modern form, the composition and areas of forest vegetation; cutting down firefighting areas, acceptable only for large territories and leading to soil erosion in a limited and vulnerable area, cutting trees for branch feed for livestock due to a lack of basic types of feed, poaching and hunting can lead to depletion of island biocenoses. That is why, by the decision of the Irkutsk Regional Executive Committee, in agreement with the General Plan of the RSFSR, the state republican zoological reserve Olkhonsky with an area of \u200b\u200bmore than 20 thousand hectares was organized on the island in order to protect the habitat of wild animals, rare and endangered plants, valuable objects and complexes of the diverse nature of the island. On the territory of the reserve, which practically includes the entire forest zone, all hunting, being with weapons and dogs, grazing livestock, felling trees and branches for personal needs, commercial gathering of wild berries and mushrooms, scaring and chasing wild animals, destroying anthills, finding transport without official need, as well as hiking trips along routes that have a distance of more than two kilometers into the interior of the reserve. The island is entirely included in the national park. An urgent task of the park is to control and regulate the use of the island for recreational purposes while preserving its natural complex, with the development of planned tourism, for which there are favorable conditions for most of the year: walking, water trips, horse and bicycle rides, supplemented by fishing. in summer and winter. At first, it is absolutely necessary to develop and map out several routes with the construction of shelters and seasonal branches of tourist centers, with their subsequent development into independent centers equipped with a pleasure and sailing fleet. The need for servicing tourists and excursionists will provide additional employment for the local population.
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Among nearly three dozen other islands, Olkhon Lake has gained the greatest fame, and there are several reasons for this. Fanned by countless fairy-tale legends and mysterious myths, Olkhon is distinguished by the largest size, a huge variety of natural landscapes and picturesque landscapes, as well as a large number of majestic natural monuments. In addition, this is the only inhabited area of \u200b\u200ball the Baikal islands - about 1,700 people permanently live on Olkhon, mainly Russians and Buryats.
Origin of the name Olkhon
A lot of versions explaining the origin of the name of the island have accumulated over its centuries-old history. But the most widespread and often heard in all kinds of tourist guidebooks are two versions, according to one of which the name of the island is literally translated from Buryat as "wooded". Another interpretation of the name "Olkhon" implies the meaning of "dry". Researchers of the Baikal nature believe that both of these versions have a right to exist, since both of these epithets are perfect for the island.
Olkhon geography
This island, unsurpassed in its beauty, is located in the central part of Lake Baikal, a short distance from its western shore. The dimensions of the island are quite impressive - 73 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide, and the coastline of Olkhon stretches for as much as 210 kilometers. The area is 730 square kilometers.
There are no rivers on the territory of Olkhon, but small streams, springs and swamps, although few in number, are found, especially in forests. A notable geographical feature of the island is the presence of lakes on its land, the most famous and largest of which are Nurskoe, Khankhoi, Nuku-Nur and the salt lake Shara-Nur.
Olkhon climate
Being a "dry" island, Olkhon justifies its name with a very modest amount of annual precipitation - about 140-200 mm, which corresponds to the value typical for semi-deserts. On the other hand, there are more than 300 sunny days on the island every year, in connection with which the local people engaged in agriculture, to save their crops, now and then have to resort to artificial irrigation.
The temperature regime on Olkhon is quite moderate - summers are cool here, without intense heat, and winters are much milder than on the mainland. The warmest here is in July and August, when the average maximum air temperatures reach +22 degrees.
Winds on Olkhon are a very common phenomenon, they blow here for many days in a row. The north-westerly winds are especially frequent, sometimes developing into sarma - the most ferocious type of mountain winds.
Flora and fauna of Olkhon
Initially, the richest nature of Olkhon is largely exposed to anthropogenic impact, in connection with which its biodiversity is gradually decreasing. Human activities have contributed to the extinction of many species of animals that previously lived on the island: today on Olkhon it is no longer possible to meet the maral, wolf, roe deer, bustard, sun eagle, great cormorant, balaban falcon, sable. The seal, the most famous representative of the fauna of Lake Baikal, has also become a rarity.
Today Olkhon is inhabited by only 20 species of mammals. The fauna of the island is mainly represented by foxes, lynxes, weasels, ferrets, hares, squirrels and some other inhabitants. Among the birds, of which there are about 135 species on Olkhon, the most common are ducks, sandpipers, swifts, wagtails, black grouse, jackdaws, capercaillie, wheats, larks and others. Also on the island there are three species of reptiles and the only species of amphibians.
Attractions and interesting places on Olkhon island
In the administrative center of the island - the village of Khuzhir - there are such attractive objects for tourists as the Revyakin Museum of Local Lore, the local excursion and information center, souvenir shops and rental of ATVs, bicycles and various tourist equipment.
Shamanka Rock (or Cape Bukhan, or Shaman-rock) is another interesting sight of Olkhon, considered one of the most popular shrines in Asia and reputed to be the most recognizable image of Lake Baikal. Shamanka is a two-headed rock made of marble, limestone and graphite and in some places abundantly covered with red lichen. The height of the rock varies in different parts from 30 to 42 meters. In its coastal part, nature has worked hard and created a twisting 12-meter cave that penetrates the rock mass through and through, called the Shaman cave. The height of the cave in some places reaches 6.5 meters, and in some places does not exceed a meter.
Many interesting landscapes and natural monuments await travelers in the area of \u200b\u200bthe so-called Small Sea - a small strait that separates Olkhon from the mainland. Here are the ruins of an ancient protective wall made of large stone boulders not connected with each other by mortar - a building that scientists attribute to the Kurykan culture. In some places, the height of the wall reaches 2 meters, and in some places you can even see the remains of a ditch and the embankment that bordered it, as well as ancient altars for sacrifices.
Many tourist routes on Olkhon they run through the Peschanoe tract in the Nyurgan Bay Bay. Located 20 kilometers north of the village of Khuzhir, it attracts tourists with its majestic sand dunes spreading over an area of \u200b\u200b3 square kilometers. Here grows an endemic perennial plant - Astragalus Olkhon, belonging to the legume family. From a historical point of view, Peschanoe is famous for the fact that until the middle of the last century, one of the GULAG administrations was located on its territory, consisting of four barracks for prisoners who worked in the shop of the Khuzhirsky Malomorsky fish factory. Today, not far from this place, descendants have installed a worship cross, reminiscent of the martyrdom of the region.
Other famous sights of Olkhon are Zagli Bay - the sunniest place on the whole island, Cape Khoboy, Cape Kobylya Golova, Uzury village, from where an excellent panoramic view to Baikal, Cape Izhimei and Mount Zhima.
Tourism on Olkhon
The tourist season on the island is from late spring to September. At this time, travelers can enjoy the fresh air, warm transparent water of Lake Baikal, soft sandy beaches and wonderful rest in hotels, tourist centers and boarding houses of Olkhon. Luxurious deciduous forests, relict spruce forests, semi-desert and steppe landscapes, marble rocks and steep banks in combination with the air saturated with aromas of herbs create an extraordinary atmosphere that captivates from the first minutes.
Favorite entertainment of tourists on Olkhon is horseback riding and hiking, picking mushrooms, herbs and berries, fishing, trips to the most protected corners of the island, tasting national dishes of Buryat cuisine, as well as getting to know local rituals, dances, songs and legends that are so saturated with culture of the Buryat people.
Hello, friends! The sights of Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal impress not only beginners, but also experienced tourists. This year, my friends and I decided to repeat our trip around Olkhon on a motor boat, we wanted to see unique places and sights again. The trek around the island lasted three days. During this time, we saw much more than we planned. In this article I suggest you travel around Olkhon together with our team, you can watch a lot of videos and photos of Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal.
Around Olkhon by motor boat
Summer is the time for vacations. Despite our busy schedule and a large amount of work, we find time to relax and make our dreams come true. It happened this year as well. At first there was a short vacation, which, and then 5 days were allocated for organizing a hike around Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal.
This year marks 10 years since our trip around Lake Baikal on a motor boat. To get around Lake Baikal, we had to walk more than 2000 km on water and spend 21 calendar days on it. This year we couldn't spend 3 weeks hiking, it's a great luxury in terms of work.
Therefore, it was decided to see the sights of Olkhon Island, on Baikal, from the water. To do this, it was necessary to go around Olkhon by motor boat. Moreover, such a trip took only 3 days, plus two days for the road to Lake Baikal and back.
As you can see, there is not a single tree on the southern part of the island
I must say that there are a lot of attractions on the island. It will not be possible to list them in this article. There are natural attractions such as Shamanka Rock, Cape Khoboy, and there are 143 historical monuments and archaeological sites. Of course, visiting all the sites in one trip is simply unrealistic.
In the future I plan to write a book where I will talk about Olkhon Island in more detail, where it will be possible to describe the main sights and attach their photos.
So, let's talk about everything in order. For the organization of the trip, we decided on the participants. It so happened that only 50% of the previous team - Anatoly Korobkin, me and my son Vanya - managed to go on a hike. There were no difficulties with the organization. We wrote a list of necessary things and products, decided on the date of the trip, the route and more! The start of the campaign was scheduled for July 13. July is warm enough, and the risk of being caught in a big storm is minimal.
For those who are not in the know, let me remind you that a ferry goes to Olkhon Island from the village of Sakhyurta (popularly also called MRS). In this place, the distance from the mainland to the island is minimal and is only 3 kilometers. We don't need a ferry, but we need to get to Baikal, to the MRS. The distance from Sayansk to MRS is 550 km, so we left at dawn, and at three o'clock in the afternoon we were already in place, in the village of Sakhyurta. Taking into account the stops, this is a good result.
All the cargo was unloaded on the shore of Lake Baikal, and there was a lot of it. Judge for yourself - the boat is 114 kg, the outboard motor (forty strong Yamaha) is 80 kg. In addition, canisters, battery, spare propeller, oils, tents, sleeping bags, groceries and so on. While the guys were assembling the boat, I went to a local gas station and bought 100 liters of fuel, it should have been enough to complete the entire route. The car was left in the MRS with our old friend, whose name is Vasily. Thanks to him for the safety of the car!
Small Sea on the map of Baikal, Olkhon Island
Olkhon Island is the largest island on Lake Baikal, it is inhabited. There are 26 islands in Baikal in total. There are several villages on the island, the largest village on Olkhon is Khuzhir. The population of the island (excluding tourists) is over 1600 people.
Olkhon Island is located in the middle of Lake Baikal, closer to the western coast. The island is 73.5 km long and up to 15 km wide. Olkhon translated from the Buryat language (oh-khon) means "a little wooded". It is so - the southern and northern parts of the island are mountainous-steppe territory.
On the western side of the island is the so-called Small Sea. If you look at the Maloye More on the map of Lake Baikal, you can see the presence of deep bays and many protruding capes. The distance from Olkhon Island to the mainland ranges from 3 to 22 km. The Small Sea on Baikal is relatively shallow, its average depth is within 120 meters, but in the northern part, the depth increases to 210 meters.
The sunsets on Baikal are always fascinating
The distance from the eastern coast of Olkhon Island to the eastern coast of Lake Baikal is about 60 km. In the northern part of Olkhon Island, the width of Lake Baikal is 79.5 km. From the eastern part of Olkhon Island there is a maximum depth of Baikal - 1637 meters, this will be discussed below.
I will not talk about the climate of the island, I will only say that the number of sunny days on the island is greater than in Sochi. I often observed the situation when it rains on the mainland, and the sun shines on the island.
If you look at the Maloye More on the map of Lake Baikal, you can easily see that the length of the coastline is much greater than the length of Olkhon Island. In reality, our route around the island was more than 200 kilometers. After all, it is not interesting to follow the shortest path from cape to cape at a distance of 4-5 km from the coast, in this case it will be impossible to see the sights of Olkhon Island. Sometimes we passed from the coast only 20-30 meters.
Baikal MRS, Olkhon Gate, the beginning of our trek
At the very beginning of the hike, a route was determined, we decided to go along Olkhon along its western coast along the Small Sea from south to north. Then it was necessary to go around Cape Khoboy and turn south along the Big Sea and return to the starting point. The length of the route is just over 200 km. Theoretically, this route can be completed in one day, but this is subject to good weather and the absence of excitement of Lake Baikal.
We know from experience that Baikal is calm in the morning and in the evening, which means that it is quite possible to walk around the island in three days. On such a trip, you can afford to relax and admire the sights of Olkhon Island.
View of the Olkhon Gate, the narrowest point between MRS and Olkhon
As it was written above, the boat was assembled and loaded with things on Baikal in the MRS by 18 o'clock. It was a sin to sit on the shore. And so we moved away from the shore of Lake Baikal MRS, lowered the engine and went along the waves of the Olkhon Gate. Olkhon Gate is a strait that separates Olkhon Island and the mainland. By the way, in 2005 a high-voltage cable was laid along the bottom of the Olkhonskiye Vorota Strait and electricity was supplied to the island for the first time.
The Olkhon Gate Strait is the most dangerous place for navigation. The fact is that opposite the Olkhon Gate is the Sarma Gorge, from where a strong wind called Sarma suddenly breaks out, the wind speed can reach 40-60 meters per second, and the wind appears suddenly.
The Olkhon Gate connects the Small and Big Sea, there is always a wave here. In windy weather, the wave height can reach 5 meters. At the start of our trip, the wave was quite acceptable and allowed the boat to go at a decent speed. In 15 minutes we were already at Cape Kobylya's head. This cape is very interesting, historical and tragic events are associated with it, but I will tell about this in the pages of a future book.
At the helm, we will go out to the Small Sea and forward to Khuzhir
Cape Kobylya head close up
Cape Kobylya head, lighthouse
A beautiful view of the Olkhon Gate opens from Cape Kobylya Golovaya, in the video above you can see a ferry that transports cars to the island. We did such shots before from water and from ice, but they are always beautiful.
Having skirted Cape Kobylya's head, we went out into the vastness of the Small Sea. The excitement dropped sharply, and our boat cut small ripples in the water of Lake Baikal. We walked at a decent speed, admiring the beauty of the Olkhon banks. We were accompanied by various birds on Lake Baikal - gulls, cormorants, scoops and ducks, one might say, competed with them in speed.
Imperceptibly we approached the island of Ogoy, on which the Buddhist Stupa of Enlightenment is installed. The length of Ogoy Island is about 3 km, with a width of only 600 meters.
Ogoy Island, Buddhist Stupa of Enlightenment
Small sea rocks
Many tourists come to Ogoy Island - in summer by water, in winter by ice. And in front you can see a fairly large island Zamogoy. In a few minutes we drew level with the island of Zamoga, which remained on the left, and on the right, a wonderful view of the large Tagay Bay and Lake Khankhoy opens.
Such stones sometimes fall into the water
Tagay Bay is famous for its excellent fishing. In the old days, we repeatedly fished there, caught Baikal grayling and even omul. As for Lake Khankhoi, the people call it Ilga, apparently due to the fact that there is a village nearby called Yalga. Calling it a lake is also not entirely correct. The fact is that Khankhoi is separated by a wide sandy beach spit, but there is still a strait with Lake Baikal 6-8 meters wide. Through this strait, water exchanges in the lake and fish enter. There are always many vacationers on the lake, because the water in it warms up well, there are a lot of fish in the lake.
We successfully passed Cape Khungai and approached the Small Tagay Bay, the vastness of a rather large Khuzhir Bay opened before us. Despite the evening time, the wind intensified and Barguzin blew. The front of the wave became steep, the waves began to overwhelm the boat. Reducing the speed to 10 km per hour helped little. It was decided to stay for the night near the village of Malomorsk, which is 4 kilometers from the village of Khuzhir.
They promptly unloaded the boat and set up tents. Dinner was made hastily and we enjoyed the sound of the evening surf from the intensifying Barguzin. Be that as it may, we were able to walk more than 40 kilometers along the picturesque bays of the Small Sea.
Olkhon Khuzhir, Kharantsy
The next morning, Barguzin died down, there was no big wavebut it was inside the bay, off shore the wave was decent. Despite this, it was decided to go to the vastness of the Small Sea of \u200b\u200bBaikal. We quickly loaded the boat, pumped it up and set off. And here in the distance Olkhon, Khuzhir. The village of Khuzhir was clearly visible from the Khuzhir Bay. From a distance we recognized the buildings we were familiar with, because we had been to Khuzhir dozens of times.
We entered the waters of the Khuzhir Bay, ahead of Cape Burkhan (Shamanka)
This is the main village of the island, the village of Khuzhir. Wooded mountains are visible on the island, and behind them the Big Sea
Cape Burkhan (Shamanka) is a visiting card of Olkhon and Baikal, the picture is often shown on TV
Saraisky Bay begins behind Cape Burkhan
It was impossible to raise the boat speed above 15 km per hour. The wave was short with a steep front. When the bow of the boat hit it, water got into the boat, I had to go at engine speed slightly below average. Slowly we came to Cape Burkhan (Shamanka), rounded the cape. The places are very beautiful. The rocks look very different from the water than you look at them from the shore. We took photos and videos - impressive.
After Cape Burkhan begins Saraisky Bay with its many kilometers of sandy beach. Despite the early morning, the beach is already full of tourists and vacationers. The wave became smaller, which made it possible to increase the speed of the boat. Admiring the beauty of the coast, we imperceptibly approached the village of Kharantsy. It is a small village with a population of about 100 people.
There are several camp sites in Kharantsy. On the steep bank of the village we see a children's camping, and ahead of the course is the island of the same name with the village - the island of Kharantsy.
Kharantsy Island is connected to the coast by an underwater spit, which is intuitively easy to guess. Slow down just in case. So it is, the screw clings to the bottom, I had to go through this section by oars. And in 5 minutes our motor is already humming merrily over the Baikal surface and carries us to the Edor Island. We know for sure that there is a bird colony on the island.
Birds (cormorants) on Baikal. Bird market on the island of Edor
Approaching the island of Edor (popularly called Belenky), they turned off the engine. There was a desire to listen to the birds that live there. Birds live on Baikal everywhere, but they still prefer secluded places away from humans. Now cormorants on Lake Baikal are the predominant species, and five or seven years ago there was no cormorant. At that time, the seagull was the main bird on Lake Baikal.
We rowed to the island. The birds were indignant with a loud cry, but did not fly away, which allowed us to make good shots. After the end of the photo session, we started the engine and went on towards Peschanka. The Olkhon coast in this place is steppe - not a single tree, but in the middle of the island you can see a dense forest of larch and pine.
The village of Ulan-Khushin (Khalgai) with a population of 46 people remained on the right, and a wonderful view of Cape Budun opens ahead along the course. By the way, the name of the village, translated from Buryat, means Red Cape, which justifies the view of the coast.
Cape Budun rises 100 meters above the mirror of Lake Baikal, from here a magnificent panoramic point opens up to the Small Sea (previously checked from land). When approaching closer to the coast, numerous caves and grottoes are visible, which the Baikal water has made in the stone for thousands of years.
After passing the Ulan-Khushinsky Bay, the majestic Nyurgansky Cape opens in front of us. We walked close to the coast and at the bottom were visible huge boulders. Some of the stones reached the size of a three-room apartment - impressive, a must see. Having rounded the cape, we found ourselves in the waters of the Nyurgan Bay (bay). There are always a lot of tourists here. Still would! The bay is relatively shallow, the water warms up well, there is an excellent sandy beach, and the forest comes right up to the water.
Cobblestones the size of a three-room apartment lie at the bottom of the cape
Tourists feel very comfortable here. In the shade of the forest, you can put a car and a tent, here you can swim and fish, and the view of the Small Sea is simply mesmerizing. We ourselves often come here to rest as families.
Small sea bays on Baikal, Darlatin Bay
Despite such beauty, we move on. Barguzin began to intensify, the wave became larger, we had to come closer to the shore, it was a little quieter there. The ancient Peschanka appeared ahead. It's hard to believe, but at the end of the 30s, a correctional colony was organized here, which was part of the GULAG system.
Ahead we saw a destroyed pier (only pillars remained), because here they used to overload fish. Go ahead. Ahead opens up a view of Cape Sasa, and the wind increases and makes our movement almost impossible. I had to dock on one of the beaches near Cape Sasa. Surprisingly, there were holidaymakers here, despite the terrible roads in the area.
While the sea was stormy, I had to take up the preparation of dinner and rest. By 16-00 the wind had subsided a little, and we decided to move on, but after walking only 5 kilometers, we had to look for shelter in the bays again. By that time, we entered the waters of the Darlatin Gulf.
It was risky to go further, after 8 kilometers the Small Sea ended, and the waves of the Big Sea were many times larger, in addition, it was more difficult to find a place for a safe stay there. So it was decided to moor and spend the night on the shores of the Darlatin Gulf.
I already wrote that the bays of the Small Sea are very beautiful, each bay is beautiful in its own way. And the Darlatin Gulf looks very beautiful. The bay was filmed and photographed, you yourself can appreciate its beauty. Beautiful rocks, forest, the energy of this place is simply off scale. I really liked it here.
One of the most beautiful bays of the Maloye More
Despite the remoteness, the place is equipped for recreation. There is a table, a stove, a sauna and just a platform for setting up a tent
Small pebbles in the waters of the bay
Workers in the wild on Olkhon
We quickly unloaded the boat, organized drying of clothes (after all, we got wet with waves). As it turned out, the bay was chosen by local fishermen. There was a table with benches, a bathhouse was built, there was a winter quarters in the forest. After setting up the tents, we decided to go fishing a little, because the places here are haryuz. Not far from the coast, a seal periodically emerged, which means there is fish here.
It was getting dark, we were here completely alone, when suddenly a motor boat began to approach the shore. It turned out that this place was chosen by a tourist from Italy named Fabrizio. He rented a boat in Khuzhir and agreed to rent a winter house. In the evening we sat together and talked in English over a bottle of good wine.
In the morning we got up early, Baikal was like a big mirror, not a single wave, it's a sin not to walk on such a surface. We packed our things quickly, loaded the boat. And here Fabrizio came to see us off. He arrived in the Darlatin Gulf for about 5 days. Only 8 kilometers remained to the northern tip of Olkhon Island, or maybe less. The speed of the boat is 30 kilometers per hour and after 15 minutes we are already rounding Cape Sagan-Khushur. Ahead is visible the spire of Cape Khoboy, at full steam, cutting the Baikal surface, we rush to it.
Northern part of the island, cliffs Three brothers
Olkhon, Cape Khoboy, Uzury pad
Cape Khoboy Olkhon is the border of the Small and Big seas of Lake Baikal. Here shallow depths end, here calmness and smooth water ends. There is always a wave on the Big Sea. I must say that the wave is gentle, which does not interfere with the boat's going at a decent speed, such a wave does not overwhelm the boat.
A fang is visible in the distance, this is Cape Khoboy, the northernmost point of the island
If you watched the video and photos, then you noticed a natural spire at Cape Khoboy. For this reason, Khoboy, translated from Buryat, means fang. This cape is the northern tip of Olkhon Island. From the water, one of the rocks resembles the face and bust of a woman - this is the Virgo rock.
Deva rock at Cape Khoboy
If you paid attention, the rocks in front of Cape Khoboy are orange in color, this is not the color of the stone, this is the color of the lichen that covers the rocks. Of course, you can talk a lot about Khoboy. Plants of the pre-glacial period are present on Khoboi, there is a kind of magnetic field, a powerful outflow of astral energy is noted on the cape. It is not in vain that shamans gather at Khoboi. It is noted that mirages and flying saucers often appear on Khoboi. In general, this amazing place and it's impossible to tell everything about him in this article.
So, the boat carries us along the eastern coast of Olkhon Island. You can feel the energy of something big, the water is dark blue. This indicates a great depth in these places.
We are walking a hundred meters from the shore. We are accompanied by steep and high cliffs, if there is a storm, then there is nowhere to stick. And here on the horizon is Cape Left Shunte. This is an interesting cape together with the Rock of Love, but I will not talk about it now, this is a separate story. Grayling splashes on the water surface, but there is no time to fish, you need to go forward.
These are such bizarre rocks, you can see how the magma solidified
Quickly enough we reached the Haga-Yaman bay, from where a beautiful view of the Uzury pad opens. This is the only place on the eastern coast of Olkhon Island where people live. Several families live here. In Uzury there is an operating meteorological station and laboratory from the Siberian Institute of the Earth's Crust. In Uzury, in the summer, there are always vacationers. Bathing water is very cold, but it pays off with a beautiful view of Lake Baikal, the surrounding mountains and good fishing.
View of Uzury from the Haga-Yaman Bay, in the distance you can see a windmill and a solar battery
Anatoly prepares lunch and tea on a gas stove
View of Uzury, from the side of the site for vacationers
We went ahead, and the Uzurs stayed behind the cape
Uzury is a very ancient settlement. Archaeological finds say that people lived here as early as 4-2 millennia BC. By the way, there are also anomalies with energy in Uzury. It is not for nothing that even on the maps, UFOs often visit the waters of the Haga-Yaman Bay. My close friends saw a saucer flying out of the waters of the bay with their own eyes three years ago.
So, back to our hike. Since in the morning we were in a hurry to pass the maximum on smooth water, we did not even have time to drink tea. For this reason, we decided to go to Uzury, make breakfast and hot tea, which was done. And after an hour and a half we are back on the water. Under the even hum of the engine, the boat carried us to Cape Shunte-Pravy and Cape Izhimei.
Each part of the coast was beautiful in its own way. There were rocks, where the geological past was reflected - you could see how the magma solidified in layers, you could see the caves that washed out the Baikal storms. There were sheer cliffs that steeply went into the depths of the lake. In one place there was a balcony - a part of the rock fell into Lake Baikal, and from above there was a floor as flat as a table. It's a pity the photo of this balcony did not work!
Mount Zhima and Cape Izhimey
Observing the beauty of the eastern part of the island, quickly enough, we come to Cape Izhimei. Mount Zhima is visible, this is the highest point of Olkhon Island, its height is 1274 meters above sea level. The weather began to deteriorate, the wave intensified. I had to slow down the boat a little. In a few minutes we are already at Cape Izhemey. Opposite us, five kilometers from the coast, the maximum depth of Lake Baikal is 1637 meters.
On the way to Cape Izhimei. We see high mountains.
It's amazing how this lonely tree grows in such a place
We wanted to record the interview from the point where the maximum depth is, but after moving a little more than a kilometer from the coast, we realized that this was not so easy to do. There was a big wave, the boat was flooded with water. We recorded an interview when the depth of a kilometer and a tail was under the boat, which is also impressive.
Much has been written and told about Mount Zhima. This place is considered sacred, shamans visit it. They write that in the Izhimei area there is an increased radioactive background, obviously, there are deposits of uranium ore. Many different legends are associated with Cape Izhimei. By the way, the energy in the area of \u200b\u200bCape Izhimei is amazing and you can feel it.
There would have been more time, it would have been possible to stop at Cape Izhimei, but we had to go further.
Baikal seal, video and photo
In the area of \u200b\u200bCape Izhimei, we again came closer to the coast, there was acceptable sea waves and went further towards Cape Wuhan. We were surprised by the huge number of seals that rested and basked on the stones. At each rookery there were tens and hundreds of them, and the rookery stretched for kilometers.
When approaching the rookery, the seal immediately dived into the water, it was impossible to shoot a normal video and take a photo of good quality. Even if we were rowing, the seal would not let the seal get close, it has good eyesight and good hearing. I had to shoot with magnification, and this led to the fact that the camera jerked. In addition, the wave rocked the boat, and it was unrealistic to catch the seal in focus in the zoom mode. But filmed as filmed, something can be seen.
I have been to Lake Baikal many times, I have been to various regions of Lake Baikal, but this is the first time I have seen such a number of seals. It takes tons of fish to feed thousands of seals. This means that there are a lot of fish on the Big Sea. On the way we meet birds of Baikal - gulls, scooters with a brood of young goslings and cormorants.
We see dozens of seals that fled into the water, but some remained lying on the stones, they are not shy
Cape Wuhan, Tashkinaya pad and end of the hike
The third day of the hike turned out to be productive, we covered more than 80 km of the way, despite the serious excitement in the area of \u200b\u200bCape Izhimei. There are literally 2-3 kilometers left to Cape Wuhan, we saw a good place and decided to make a stop. Only 35-40 kilometers remained to the final destination, but there was no point in storming this distance, because we still had a whole day in reserve. We could walk it on flat water in one and a half, two hours.
Having chosen a good place, we moored. We unloaded the boat, set up tents, rested and went fishing. It's nice to sit a meter away from the water in the evening and listen to the sound of the surf. Everything was fine, but in the morning there was a strong wind. Far from the coast, the wave was strong, with white lambs. Nevertheless, it was decided to go to Baikal, because today we have to cover the remaining distance.
Cape Wuhan, Baikal storms
Our hopes were not justified, the speed was reduced to 5 km per hour, the boat was flooded with splashes, we had to look out for the bay and wait out the bad weather. The day was hot but windy. Taking this opportunity, Anatoly and I went to the local lighthouse on an excursion, took photos and videos, noted the beauty of Lake Baikal and the coast. There was no fishing, the grayling simply did not see our flies on the waves.
The storm subsided only closer to 19-00. It was impossible to hesitate, loaded quickly and off you go! And two hours later we were already at the target - on the mainland of Lake Baikal in the MRS area. On the way, we passed the Tashkinaya pad, where there were already people, we passed a fishing winter hut. In this part of the island, there were already roads to the Big Sea.
A couple of kilometers from the Tashkinei valley there is a winter quarters for local fishermen
This is how the cliffs of the southern part of the island look like - no grass, no trees
Here it is the finish line, a couple of kilometers left to the coast. View of the Olkhon Gate from the Big Sea
I will not describe the beauty of mountains, creeks and bays, this is all shown in the video presented. But it can be seen that the landscape of the island has changed dramatically - the trees have disappeared, the mountains have become bald. There was practically no place for a berth, the rocks immediately went into the depths of Lake Baikal. These places are not well suited for tourism and recreation, but they are beautiful in their own way.
Conclusion
Friends, this article is quite long. I think you made this journey with us, saw the beauty of Baikal, its mountains and bays. Even in a large article, it is impossible to show all the sights of Olkhon Island, only what we saw from the water is shown here. Olkhon is just a small part of the whole Baikal. Baikal is huge, its coastline is thousands of kilometers long and they are all different.
My blog has already published a report on the trip around the Olkhon Island, these were my first articles. If you wish, you can see them - and. The articles also contain a map of Olkhon Island.
Later I plan to write a book about Olkhon Island and tell about it many times more than can be done in an article. Despite the fact that this is not my topic, I like to share with readers my impressions and experiences while traveling. And the topic of my blog, the topic of Infobusiness, the topic of making money through the Internet just helps me to realize my dreams. Thank you friends for your patience, thank you for having the strength to read this article to the end. Good luck to you!
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1642 meters - maximum depth of the lake Baikal... Located off the east coast olkhon islands. 1432 meters - the maximum depth of the southern basin of the lake. It is located between the Peremnaya and Mishikha rivers. 903 meters - the maximum depth of the northern basin. Located between Capes Elokhin and Pokoiniki. 31722 sq / km. is the area of \u200b\u200bthe water surface. 23615.4 cubic meters / km. - water volume. 2100 km. - the length of the lake shoreline. 636 km. - the length of the lake. 79.5 km. - the width of the lake. 570,000 sq / km. - drainage basin area. 455 meters away - the height of the lake surface above the world ocean level. -1187 meters - the difference between the bottom of the lake and the sea level. + 4 ° C - water temperature in the deep layers of the lake. +8 ... + 9 ° C - water temperature of surface layers in an open lake. +15 ... + 23 ° C - water temperature in the bays. 96.7 mg / l. - mineralization of water. 27 - number of islands per Baikal (about. Olkhon, Ushkany Islands, about. Bright, oh. Khanyk, etc.)
Islands and peninsulas of Baikal
The richest islands are in the middle Baikal... In the middle of the lake is an archipelago of four Ushkany Islands, the largest island in the lake - Olkhon, the islands of the Chivyrkuisky Bay - Shaggy, Goliy, White Stone, Baklaniy and Kovryazhka and islands Small Sea - Izhilkhey, Edor, Modoto, Kharantsy, Roll up, Ogoy, Borakchin, Khubyn, Khunuk, Bolshoi and Maly Toinaki. On the northern part of the lake are the islands of Yarki and Millionniy. These islands separate the Angarskiy Sor bay from the lake water area. In the southern part Baikal there are only alluvial islands near the delta Selenga - these are two islands Karga-Babya and about. Chayachiy. All along the coastline of the lake there are many peninsulas and capes. The largest of them, the Svyatoi Nos Peninsula, can be especially distinguished. The peninsula separates the Chivyrkuisky and Barguzinsky bays. The area of \u200b\u200bthe peninsula is 596 sq. Km. The most beautiful natural monument is the Cape - Shamanka Rock. The cape is located in the middle of the western coast of the island. Olkhon.
Rivers and streams
According to I.D. Chersky, 336 rivers and streams flow into the lake. In 1964, counting rivers Baikal according to topographic maps were carried out by V.M. Boyarkin. According to him in Baikal 544 temporary and permanent streams flow into the lake, 324 - flow into the lake from the east bank, 220 - from the west. The largest rivers flowing into the lake Baikal - Selenga, Upper Angara, Barguzin... From the slopes Hamar-Dabana, Barguzinsky and Primorsky ridges, many small rivers and streams flow into the lake - Snezhnaya, Utulik, Langutai, Selenginka, Sarma, Khara-Murin, Peremnaya, Goloustnaya, Tompuda, Kabanya, etc. All rivers annually bring to Baikal 60 cc km of water. Only one river flows out of the lake - Angara.
In addition to omulai, two species of golomyanka, 49 species of fish are bred in Baikal, 27 species are endemic. The sturgeon family is represented by one species - the Baikal sturgeon. The Salmon family, besides the moulus, is represented by four more species - davatchan, taimen, whitefish, and lenok. The family Grayling is represented by one species - Siberian grayling. There are two varieties of it in Baikal - black grayling, which lives mainly in the southern and northern parts of the lake, and white grayling, which lives off the eastern coast. The Shchukovy family is represented by one species - common pike (pictured). The pike is found in the bays of the lake and rivers flowing into Baikal. Especially large specimens of this fish are found in the Chivyrkuisky Bay. There are nine carp species - roach, Siberian dace, ide, 3 species of minnows, tench, gudgeon, silver carp. The Vyunovye family is of two species - Siberian char and Siberian spined loach. The Cod family is one species - burbot. It is the most prolific fish of the lake, a female burbot weighing 4 kg. lays up to 2.3 million eggs. The Perch family is represented by one species - perch. Podkamenniks (pictured) living cart. Baikal is divided into three families, 11 genera and 29 species. 22 species of sculpin are found only in the lake. The smallest fish of Lake Baikal, the Gurvich broadhead, which belongs to the sculpin, weighs 2-3 grams. In addition to the above-mentioned fish, the Amur carp, eastern bream, Amur catfish, Ladoga ripus and baunt vendace are relocated to Baikal, as well as the peled and the firebrand peled that have accidentally come in. Peled, possibly, got into the lake after the floods of 1971-1973 from Lake Shchuchye, where the arotaniz of Lake Gusinoe was brought, where it also came by accident, during the acclimatization of the Amur carp.
