Lena-Baikal party of the Geological Institute of the Academy of Sciences: the chief of the party – a graduate student GIN I.I. Katushenok, Foreperson – externship LSU M.P. Barkhatova.
Noise and traffic grew by the hour. People were busy, running, hurry …
On the wooden platform jetty, jutting far into the lake. Baikal, crowded a lot of people: Barguzin fishermen and Verkhneangarsky hunters Buryat herders and Tungus-herders, miners and tourists, farmers, workers, women, and children, and finally, we – a small group of employees of the Academy of Sciences, a guide for the conduct of geological research in the unexplored areas of the origins of Lena.
There were whistles past, and from the harbor to the open sea rolled quietly powerful passenger icebreaker “Angara”.
It is setting behind the mountains of the evening sun, and his golden rays farther and farther away from us a little, sheltered under a high rock station. Trans-Siberian Express “Baikal” with a loud roar went diving in the tunnels of the coastal cliffs, and disappeared around the bend away Baikal shore.
Drawn haze of mist and evening mist rose on the eastern beret Baikal high snowy peaks of Chamar-Daban. In the west, slowly went away wide “gate” of Baikal. Abounding beauty Angara, rolling through the legendary Szymanski stone carries through these gates crystal clear Baikal water.
It is easy and simple as it is a long journey, struck up a conversation. Passengers of the local people willing to share their knowledge of the conditions of travel and work in different places along the coast, carefully delved into the challenges and meaning of the work of the expedition and were particularly interested in its practical value for the region.
One of the passengers, ongurensky farmer – Buryats manghud so carried away by the upcoming work of the expedition, that he decided to join the second conductor.
After a 30-hour trip on the majestic and, fortunately, a rare calm Baikal we disembarked on the shore, close to a large Buryat village – ulus Onguren.
We faced a difficult operation: access to cargo and horses along the shore of Lake Baikal to the ulus Pokoiniki.
The local council and the farm ulussky greeted us warmly and offered assistance, but was assured that it was impossible to get a load to Pokoinikov in mind the steep rocky coast. We need to send a cargo boat, and horses carry the ridge on its western slope and then through the gorge “Somse” down to Lake Baikal near Pokoinikov.
The boat ride is very dangerous as the sea often “playing tricks”: if rising storm, not everywhere you can hit the beach, and people along with their cargo and boats can become a victim of the coastal cliffs.
However, it does not have to be delayed: it is necessary to leave 1bylo without hesitation. Having received from the collective farm a big boat, and on the farm ulus Kocherinovo conductor-pilot, we sent the workers to load by water. Themselves went with the horses through the ridge, thinking in passing at least briefly to survey the area.
The scheme of the work area of the Lena-Baikal expedition
The journey was not an easy one: passes through a narrow ridge, steep slope on its Dolinka were destroyed by flooding last year, not only on horseback, and on foot but the passage was extremely difficult. Huge barricades uprooted trees, mixed in a mass of boulders, boulders, sand and clay, sometimes completely blocked the road and forced to take every inch of attack.
In confined spaces, both sides of the valley were the steep rocky wall with a raging between them flow on which it was necessary to move against the tide; we overcame the difficulty only by the skill of the conductor manghud.
Passing the cozy ulus Crosspoint – Letnik Ongurenskogo collective farm, we went on a long journey, accompanied by the collective farmer kocherinovskogo Ulanova.
Sweating, seized midge, men and horses climbed the steep walls of a narrow gorge; even finding a small area for recreation, horses are not able to use it under the onslaught of annoying mosquitoes taiga.
Exhausted and eroded to the blood rushed back down the horse. Having ascended to the top of the ridge, they staged a “revolt”: fold and saddle packs, broke out of the reins and disappeared into the thick frequently. Only hunting vision Ulanova helped find horses by the end of the second day. To predict the outcome of the search, Ulanov night secretly went to the ridge in Ulus, lit a fire and “svorozhil on the shovel”. The flame was turned toward the shovel, and he calmed down: means the horse will be found.
After several nights under the rocky cliffs of the river valley. Bath and its tributaries we went into the last day of the 20 km on the widest possible trough the Lena River Valley from its origins to Soames gorge. As it was to go down to the lake. Baikal in Ulus Pokoiniki, where he was due to arrive at our cargo boat. The descent was extremely difficult.
Narrow steps over dizzying precipices, endless searches or less tolerable descent, constant cleaning of debris on more gentle slopes, rolling horse on its hind legs on an unstable rock streams, horses descend on occasion – all of this to the extreme hindered our progress.
The boat was supposed to arrive in Ulus Pokoiniki two days ahead of us. However, she barely got to the place at the same time with us – broken, soaked with the load. Part of the product was lost.
At the foot of the ridge, a small hollow sloping site on the shore of Lake Baikal Buryat ulus sheltered little Pokoiniki. A few of its inhabitants – farmers, ranchers and fishermen.
To the south-west of Pokoiniki were deep ravine, surrounded on the sides of numerous large circuses, penetrates the ridge in the longitudinal direction.
We offered to come with us old-timers this gorge as a conductor, but got a flat refusal: none of them wanted to go unarmed, fear of bears, which fill all of the gorge.
I had to go alone. Until late in the evening we went up the sharp, rocky ridge along the ridge. To the right of us, to a greater depth it took a long picturesque gorge with vertical walls and majestic towers of pink porphyry, dark gray diabase, diorite, fractured movements of the crust of granite and shale sedimentary rocks, such ongurenskim.
Night came. On a small step under a rock where they could fit a few people, we built a hut out of cedar and strengthened its large boulders against strong gusts of wind of Baikal. Dinner consisted of a warmed-up canned goods and strictly limited by the norms of tea: in our disposal there was only one flask of water.
In the morning, we continued to crawl along the crest of the gorge. In the evening be sure not to end up crawling for four days. We decided to go down deep into the gorge.
Here we had a case of the old-timers to verify the stories about the bear kingdom in the valley. We admired enough to travel on the slopes of the gorge king taiga. Taken at night, we were forced to spend the night in his still warm lair. One of your workers had to flee when meeting with bears.
In this gorge, called us later “bear honeydew”, had to be protected from the night wandering around bears flaming fires and frequent shots of versatile rifle on the three the trunk.
Recent strength we strained when climbing the next day on the almost vertical walls of the opposite side of the gorge. But all the difficulties of the way were acquitted geological observations. Before we deployed the picture of the geological past; Circle towering rocky ledges, composed of powerful coarse conglomerates; sometimes in green schistose rocks are interspersed with well-rounded water large, sometimes over two meters in diameter, boulders completely different species, most of quartzite.
Immediately located high walls porphyry reveal a picture of the earth changes, when it formed dense conglomerates exposed fractures and shifting, and poured through cracks and froze purple …
The third night overtook us on the way, when we got to the next ridge, highly adorned on the origins of Lena.
Gray clouds crept over the tops and enveloped us, blew cold, north wind, saw thick snow turned into a blizzard piercing (28 August).
Lack of food was done abundance of pine nuts, blueberries and cranberries.
Late at night we found a camp.
Long, narrow, rocky crevice. It – Lena gate, where she broke once under the influence of the advancing ridge. 30 km – a real gorge. No pass, no pass – not on horseback or on a boat. But the area – a tasty morsel for the geologist.
Movement along the Lena difficult: horse with a load should have been doing rounds far circuitous route to several tens of kilometers, and members of the walking route sometimes long remained without food, tents and bedding. Sleep among the three fires in the red-hot ash pit from fourth fire helped to overcome the harsh cold mountain nights. Warming during the descent from the ridge was replaced by the September the come colds.
It was necessary to speed up the movement in order to avoid the winter in the taiga.
Trying to go on primitive rafts was initially unsuccessful, since obstruction of the river. But this type of transport was only possible here, and after 20 km we will try again. We built a raft of small logs. Three sail on it from the river Yuhty 2nd with a part of our cargo. After 200 meters the path already raft stood upright under the driftwood, and the passengers on the waist-deep water to catch food and bedding.
The hard work from dawn to dusk it possible to overcome all the many obstacles, debris, driftwood, rapids, pass through the most dangerous places for over 150 km. Two weeks later, we got in town – the village Changer.
Again, difficult to move the plot gave a rich material for the study of theology areas; in spite of the danger, it was one of the most fascinating travel to interesting river, which at this point is still rarely seen a man. Only the venerable herd of elk emerges sometimes in the coastal meadow and with a dull roar go drunk on the edge, so frightened of light steam-speed wapiti flashes before his eyes.
Abundant production and Lena waits a fisherman in the quiet pristine plёsah river filled with the best varieties of fish.
Changerskie dudovskie farmers engaged in hunting and fishing, but in the upper reaches of the Lena can not see them. It’s time to think about the use of this beautiful and abundant corner. Excellent sites for villages, grasslands and arable land are empty. The proximity of the lake and the shipping Lena creates all conditions for their settlement.
After a short route in the upper reaches of the river. Changera we continued our journey on the boat, it is easy to slip through the turbulent flows.
October 12 we made our way through the slush to the shore near the village of Kachuga, accumulated a wealth of material on the geology of one of the most interesting sections of the Baikal region for the first time passed the upper part of the Lena the valley.
Faced with the task of the expedition was carried out.
Material found and prepared for publication by Grigory Luchansky
Source: GEOLOGICAL ITINERARY – FORWARDING ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE
Translation: Google
