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Kamchatka Expedition
Volcanoes and Bears of Kamchatka
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Day 1
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Arrive in Moscow, Transfer to the hotel, Short sightseeing tour
in Moscow.
Dinner at the restaurant. |
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Day 2
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Breakfast at the hotel.
Visit to the Red Square, the Kremlin and 2 museums
(self-paying). Lunch in the city.
Transfer to the Airport, departure to Kamchatka
Night in the plane (flight to Petropavlovsk takes 8.5 hrs) |
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Day 3
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Arrival in Kamchatka (Elizovo airport).
see photo
(Koryaksky Volcano. Near Airport)
Bus transfer near to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the capital of
Kamchatka (about 30 min.). Registration procedure at the hotel.
Lunch at the cafe. Short sightseeing tour of the city.
Dinner at the cafe.
Overnight at the hotel. |
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Day
4
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Breakfast at the hotel.
Jeep transfer to the caldera between the Mutnovsky and Gorely
volcanoes ( 4 hrs).
The road passes by the Vilyuchinsky volcano, a favourite place
for downhill skiing for Kamchatka dwellers (quite often snow
lies there even in July).
Lunch en route.
Dinner, overnight at the tented camp.
see photo
(Base camp place)
see photo
(Camp Place) |
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Day
5
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Breakfast.
Hike (without backpacks) to the Mutnovsky volcano.
Hike into the crater of the Mutnovsky active volcano (last
eruption in April 2000 after 40 years inactivity) through a
crack in the volcano's edge.
see photo
(Opansny (Dangerous) Waterfall at Mutnovsky Crater entrance)
see photo
(Grand Crater of Mutnovsky Volcano)
see photo
(Large fumarola (volcanic gas outlet) in Mutnovsky Volcano
Crater)
see photo
(Glacier in Crater of Mutnovsky Volcano)
The view is alarming and fantastic: eastward a glacier descends
the crater's wall to end in a bluff eaten by fumaroles; opposite
it rises a sheer rock, here and there columns of water vapor are
curling upward. The appearance of this crater is changeable. The
crater contains a lake of bitter whitish water and two groups of
powerful fumaroles. One of the fumaroles throw off small drops
of melted sulphur, the other - powerful jets of vapours, water
and sulfureous. Near the crater, there are vast mud pits.
Excursion into the crater takes about 4 hrs.
Inside crater there now can be found a huge emerald lake created
in May 2003, a fascinating insight into one of the worlds newest
volcanic creations.
Mutnovsky active volcano being a nest of merged craters, is
perhaps the most beautiful volcanic phenomenon of Kamchatka. The
view from its top is magnificent: steep walls surrounding the
vast and deep crater cavity, glittering of firm and sparkling
glaciers split by cracks, torches of fumaroles oscillating far
below and drawing a translucent view over the northern crater,
the southern crater under its armour of ice and above all this a
column of vapor rising from the Active Funnel crater, surrounded
by a ragged crest.
The total distance of hiking during this day is 18 km. Lunch
there.
Dinner, overnight in tents. |
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Day
6
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Breakfast.
Ascend and hiking excursion to the chain of craters of the
Gorely volcano.
see photo
(Lake in Grand Crater)
see photo
(Sulphuric acid lake)
Gorely volcano presents a unique collection of craters - a
chain, which lies across the top. The chain begins with the West
crater, no longer active and surrounded by rather low rocky
walls. The crater's bottom is occupied by a glacier. Next is the
chain composed by craters of different age. Most of volcano's
activity is concentrated in the Central crater. On its walls and
bottom, there are permanently active fumaroles; their deposits
color the crater's walls. The biggest and the most beautiful
crater is the Blue Lake. Its bottom is occupied by a lake of
tender-blue water where giant blocks of ice float. The last in
the chain of top craters is the Cup. This crater is on the top
of a rather low and perfectly regular cone. On its bottom a
shallow lake of violet water is situated. Gorely was last active
in 1981.
If the weather if favorable, all the craters can be visited in a
single day.
The hiking distance is 20 km.
Excursion will take about 8 hrs; according to the clients'
wishes it is possible to return to the base camp earlier.
Picnic lunch. Return back to the base camp. Overnight there.
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Day
7
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Reserve day for the case of bad weather. If the weather will be
good enough and we will make the local program during the
previous days, we will return to Petropavlovsk this day and add
an extra day to the Tolbachik portion of the tour.
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Day
8
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Breakfast.
Transfer by jeep to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky or nearby town
depending on conditions of road etc.
see photo
(Our Jeep)
see photo
Visit the fish market in Elizovo.
Dinner at the cafe.
Overnight stay in the hotel. |
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Day
9
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Breakfast at the cafe.
Bus transfer towards the village of Kozyrevsk (500 km, about 9
hrs).
Before Kozyrevsk, we will enjoy a panorama of fantastic
volcanoes of the Klyuchevskaya group (the most impressive
volcanoes in Kamchatka) and beautiful lakes at sunset. Our
campsite will be located near the banks of the Kamchatka river,
just before the ferry.
see photo
(Kamchatka River)
Dinner. |
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Day
10
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Breakfast. Transfer by all-terrain vehicle (UNIMOG) to the
bottom of the Plosky ("Flat") Tolbachik volcano (4 hrs).
Accommodation can either be in a wooden hut with rustic
facilities or in tents. We arrive at about 4.00pm after lunch
and stops along the way.
*In the Soviet time, the testing of the lunar exploring vehicle
took place in this area. The altitude of this area is 1000 m
above the sea level.
Dinner. In the late afternoon, we hike to the dormant volcano
Krasnaya Sopka (Red Knoll) - 3 hrs, about 5 km. It is
quite possible to see hares, reindeer and bears there. Return to
the hut, dinner and overnight there.
see photo
(Krasnaya (Red) Sopka (sugar loaf mountain)) |
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Day
11
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Hiking
without backpacks to the area where the "Eruption of the
Century" (the Big Cleft Tolbachinskiy eruption) took place.
It is considered one of the largest basalt eruptions ever known
in the volcano belt of the Kuril Isles and Kamchatka. It lasted
for one and a half year (July, 1975 - December, 1976) and was
included in a list of six the most powerful cleft eruptions ever
happened on Earth.
The events were evolving in the mid of a wood 18 km to the south
from volcano Plosky Tolbachik. The eruption was accurately
forecasted and studied by the scientists of the Institute of
Volcanology (P.I.Tokarev). A flaming "candle" reached 2,5 km in
height, and the ash cloud was 12 km long. In sequence, new
clefts evolved one after another, and as a result four new cones
of Tolbachinski volcanoes were formed (from 100 to 330 m high).
Eruption turned an enormous territory around volcanoes into a
burnt desert, the forests captured by the ash fall dried off to
the root. Lakes evaporated and rivers disappeared. Those animals
that had survived left the area for the best.
see photo
(Small Cones)
see photo
(Small Cones)
Hiking excursion in the Peplovoe ("Ash") Plateau (8 hrs,
about 18 km). A view to this area is nice and unusual: a row
of flat volcanoes, numerous clefts, streams of hot gases coming
through them.
Ascend 3 small volcanoes. Visit the "Fairytale" forest
(ash-buried forest that dried standing during the eruption).
see photo
(Fairytale Forest)
Return back to the hut, overnight there. |
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Day
12
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Hike to the bottom of the Plosky Tolbachik and ascend this
volcano (the total hiking distance is 20 km; this route
will take us from 1000 m to 3000 m above the sea level). Ascend
to this volcano does not require special technical skills. The
whole route will take about 9 hrs. A view to the magnificent
volcanoes of the Klyuchevskaya group (laying to the opposite
side from the Tolbachik volcano) will open from the upper
plateau (if we hike across the plateau). There we can see an
interesting phenomenon characteristic only for this area:
horizontal icicles of snow about 20 cm in length. Lunch en
route. Return back to the wooden hut for dinner and overnight.
" Note: as the ascent to the volcano is one of the focal points
of this trip, if the weather during the first day will be
favorable, we will try to do it first, before the other
excursions.
" Bad weather may force us off the summit of the volcano in
which case another alternative is the Dead Forest, a startling
area of volcanic rock formations in a remote desert with
grotesque and surreal trees and rocks, a photographers delight.
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Day
13
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Transfer to Esso, the national village of the Koryak reindeer
herders (about 200 km).
Transport in jeep.
Overnight in traditional lodge. In the evening we can swim in
thermally heated spring for relaxation and walk around this
fascinating national village.
Esso settlement is Kamchatka Switzerland as local people call
it. The settlement is surrounded by exceptionally beautiful
mountains; there is a large open pool with natural warm water
that gives pleasure of bathing in any weather. |
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Day
14
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After
breakfast on Esso we can visit a local museum and library about
bears in the region, then onto the National Museum which depicts
the lives of the national people called Evyeney who resemble
Eskimos in many ways with their clothing and dancing.
After lunch we are treated to a spectacle of national folk
dancing and music which is truly wonderful and unique.
see photo
(National Folk Dancing)
see photo
(National Folk Dancing)
We might also get to visit another national village called
Anavgy where it might be possible to buy souvenirs.
Dinner in the grounds of our lodge and then a traditional banya
( sauna ). |
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Day
15
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Breakfast.
Bus transfer from Esso to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (9 hrs).
If there is time on the way, we will make a stop in the Malki
thermal springs (taking curative bath in the springs is
possible. There are 3 "baths" and a cold spring.). Lunch there.
On the further way, we will have an opportunity to watch just
from the bridges salmons migrating to their spawning grounds
Picnic lunch.
Arrive in Petropavlovsk, accommodation at a local hotel. Dinner
at the restaurant is a celebration dinner with all staff. |
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Day
16
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Breakfast at the cafe. It might be possible to visit the Museum
of the Institute for Vulcanology. Transfer to Elizovo airport.
Departure to Moscow.
Some clients leave to Sheremetevo airport for home.
Transfer to the Moscow hotel. Farewell
dinner at the restaurant.
see also Moscow Excursions
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Day
17
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Breakfast. Transfer to Sheremetevo airport for the flight home. |
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