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UPCOMING ADVENTURES:
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKIY the capital of the pinensula
In the summer of 1648 seven Cossack boats sailed along the coast of Eastern Siberia where they were separated by a fierce storm. Two vessels were carried to the coast of an unchartered land, which was eventually brought into the Russian empire in 1697 and named Kamchatka. In 1740 the famous navigator Vitus Bering founded the town of Petropavlovsk naming it after his two ships St.Peter and St.paul and used the port as a base from which to sail forth on his two voyages of discovery. After establishing the existence of the channel between Asia and America (The Bering Strait) and landing, albeit briefly, on the Alaskan island of Kayak, he and most of his men became ill with scurvy and the Danish captain died on what is now known as the Bering Island to the east of Kamchatka. Last century, the arduous overland journey from Moscow to Petropavlovsk lasted three years (now it is a 9 hour non-stop flight from the Russian capital). This remoteness accounts for the frontier spirit of the people here - a mix of people from all over Russia - fishermen and sailors, teachers, doctors and scientists, artists and musicians, adaptable, independant and welcoming. The outdoor life is everything in Kamchatka walking and climbing, skiing and sailing. Just outside the city, townsfolks go berry and mashroom picking, and bears wander nearby.
PARATUNKA
Along the Paratunka valley are medicinal hot springs where one can bathe and relax in comfort. Accommodation is available and those bases are served by bus from Petropavlovsk. Most of the facilities in the valley such as cosy lodges at natural hot pools and private small hotels were the properties of the Communist top bosses from Moscow, and were famous as the «places-not-for-common-use».
MILKOVO and ESSO
A centre for the surrounding area, Milkovo has an interesting museum, a log building in the shape of a Cossack church. There is good fishing near the town and visitors can meet the local Kamchadal people, and enjoy walks in the birch and larch forests. Esso is the centre of the Bystrinskiy district, populated in the main by the Even people. A good climate, thermal springs, forests of larch («esso» is the Even word for larch), and reindeer herds are its main attractions. The local houses are heated by the thermal waters of the area. Within reach of these two centres is Kamchatka's highest and most active volcanoe - Klyuchevskaya (4750 m) as well as the amazing dead forest and black volcanic deserts around Tolbachik, a result of the enormous eruptions of 1975/76.
KAMCHATKA'S VOLCANOES
Walk up through canyons of eroded lava layers and across glaciers beneath which subterranean rumblings can be heard; discover a strange world of geysers and boiling mud pools that hiss and gurgle, of fumeroles that noisily send columns of steam shooting into the air from sulphur encrusted spouts. The volcanoes Avacha (2738 m), Vilyuchinsky (2180 m) and Koryak (3456 m) are close neighbours of Petropavlovsk, an essential part of its landscape. The clouds of steam above Avacha are witness to the «unceasing work in the boiler-room of the planet». To the north, beyond the watershed of the Kamchatka and Avacha rivers, lie the great volcanoes of Karym and Maly Semyachik and further still, the awesome Klyuchevskaya group. Young and volatile (only 7000 years old), Klyuchevskaya (4750 m) frequently shows its vigour with vivid eruptions, as if trying to revitalise its extinct neibour Kamen (4617 m) with a flamboyant courtship display. The most massive of recent eruptions, however, was that of Tolbachik which in 1975 showed how volcanoes evolve - during one and a half years of intense activity, it constructed four new volcanic cones. South of Petropavlovsk and with relatively easy access, are Mutnovsky and Gorely. Both are periodically very active and can be visited safely with guides. The northern face of Mutnovsky is split by a geological fault giving rise to a spectacular waterfall where the river Mutnaya hurtles over a cliff and into the gorge below.
KAMCHATKA'S RIVERS
Karl von Ditmar, one of Kamchatka's early explorers wrote in the 1850's: «animal life at the mouth of Kamchatka's rivers is enormously rich - the main reason for this variety being the increadible number of salmon, annually entering the rivers from the sea and proceeding to the most distant creeks, often located in the high mountains where the fish amass along the banks. With the coming of the fish this land renews: seals enter the rivers and lakes, and bears, wolves, sled-dogs and foxes constantly stay near the streams. A multitude of geese, ducks and swans fill the air and the surface of the waters.» Here in a land of rivers, waterfalls and lakes is one of the greatest stores of pure water in the world. Salmon, a species sensitive to pollution, thrive and proliferate in this perfect environment. Next are the mineral waters, used for bathing as well as for «medicinal cures». The pearl of the pinensula is the Valley of Geysers discovered in 1941. Dozens of geysers and reinbows glitter as 275 litres of water holding 75,000 kilokalories of heat are sent spiralling into the air every second. See the picture of the valley Visitors should also try to see Kurilskoye Lake and its neighbouring geysers in the south of the country. The River Ozernaya flows out of the lake which is prodigious breeding ground for red salmon.