Active Kamchatka

The hotel is located 35 kilometers from the airport of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. It is 30 minutes by car. In good weather, along the road you can see five volcanoes — Avachinsky, Arik, Aag, Koryaksky, Kozelsky. Because of the proximity to the city, the locals call them “home volcanoes”.

Two guest houses of the hotel are located on the shores of Lake Mikizha, surrounded by Kamchatka stone birches. Each house has four double rooms with separate toilet and shower. There is a common living room with a seating area and a kitchen with all the necessary equipment. On the terrace there is a swimming pool with thermal water. There is also a barbecue area and a pier on the lake.

It is Finval, it is Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky-54 — there are no and have never been such names on the map of Russia. From 1962 to 1996, the submarine base was located here. The city and the military garrison were classified.

Bechevinka is located 120 kilometers from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, you can get here only by helicopter or by water across the Pacific Ocean. More than 20 years have passed since its settlement, but in each apartment, there are wallpaper, pasted on newspapers, children's toys, books, furniture, and dishes in the old manner.

The city has bunkers hidden in the hill at the entrance to Bechevinka, several houses, headquarters, barracks, garage, boiler room, warehouses, diesel station, grocery store, school and club. After the base was disbanded, the military and submarines moved closer to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky — to the Zavoyko Base.

Bechevinka gained tourist popularity after a blog post by Artemy Lebedev in 2009. 

Karymsky is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Over the past hundred years, there have been twenty eruptions. Five kilometers from Karymsky there is another volcano — the Academii Nauk, in the caldera of which is Karymskoye Lake, an area of almost 10 km². In January 1996, there was a simultaneous eruption of two volcanoes.

The eruption began from the top of the crater of the Karymsky Volcano and under the water of the Karymsky Lake. Witnesses observed a continuous release of ash from a crater about a kilometer high. The slopes of the Karymsky Volcano were covered with a layer of ash. In some places ash avalanches reached five hundred meters in length. At the same time, an underwater eruption took place in the Karymsky Lake. The ice of the frozen lake instantly melted, and ten-meter waves appeared on the surface.

During the eruption, the water temperature in the lake rose to 25 °C. The chemical composition of the water changed. From the fresh water it has become slightly mineralized. At the northern shore a crater with a diameter of six hundred and a depth of sixty meters was formed. A few days later a new peninsula with an area of 700 m² was formed. All living in the lake died. Volcanic activity in this area continues to this day.

The Valley of Geysers is one of the most spectacular geyser fields in the world. If you didn't see the valley of geysers — you weren't in Kamchatka. It is located in the Kronotsky State Biosphere Reserve, 180 km from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. At an area of 6 km², about thirty geysers and a hundred hot springs are concentrated. More only in Yellowstone National Park. But unlike Yellowstone, Iceland and New Zealand, the Kamchatka valley is very compact.

The valley was discovered in 1941 by the geologist of the reserve Tatyana Ustinova and her guide Anisifor Krupenin.

After landing a staff member of the reserve will meet you. He'll give you all the instructions. From the helipad are laid wooden decks, which connect the observation platforms with views of the main attractions. For safety, you can only move around the valley through them. Some areas overgrown with bright green grass, there can be puddles with boiling water. Places where wormwood grows, on the contrary are safe — the plant takes root only on strong soil. You can go from the wooden path only with the permission of the guide.

Here you can see all the known forms of hydrothermal activity: geysers, thermal springs, mud lakes, boilers and volcanoes. Each geyser in the valley has its own pillar height and periodicity of functioning:

The Caldera of the Uzon Volcano is one of the largest in Kamchatka. The area is comparable with the area of Paris. Previously, there was a volcano, but after a powerful eruption, it collapsed, the earth sank under it and formed a caldera. The repeated eruption left a funnel with a diameter of one and a half kilometers. Now it is Dalnee Lake.

Caldera is located on the territory of the Kronotsky Reserve, 180 km from the capital of the peninsula. Since 1996 it has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. There are about a hundred hot springs and almost five hundred other hydrothermal manifestations: steam-gas jets, thermal lakes, acid rivers, mud boilers and volcanoes.

Scientists tend to get here because of the bright hydrothermal activity. The water sources contain not only rare minerals and chemical elements, but also bacteria that have adapted to life at a temperature of 98 °C.

Here, the output of the youngest oil on the planet is discovered and the mineral that nowhere else meets the Uzonite.

In the Uzon Caldera there is a lake with a double bottom — Bannoye. At a depth of 28 m there is a crust, breaking through which, scientists have discovered a tank of molten sulfur. The water temperature in the lake is 40 °C and you can swim there. Women note a beneficial effect on the skin, and men increase potency. Another attraction of the caldera is the mud pot Sculptor. Every four seconds it "sculpts" mud 3D-drawings in the form of roses. In 2008, a new geyser was formed in the caldera — Mutniy, with a water column of six meters high.

The nature of the caldera is aggressive: poisonous vapors, hot water everywhere, mud and bears. During the visit, the group will be accompanied by a reserve officer with a rifle. Just as in the Valley of Geysers, there are wooden decks.

Maliy Semyachik is a volcano in the list of natural monuments. In translation from the language of native inhabitants of Kamchatka — itelmen, “semyachik” is stone land. In the crater of volcano there is the Troickoe Lake — a pond of frosty sky color, it is one of the symbols of Kamchatka and the most photographed objects.

The diameter of the lake is six hundred meters, the depth is up to 140 meters, the temperature is 35 °C. The salt content is higher than in the sea. The water has a burning sour taste. The particles of sulfur dissolved in water makes such color of the lake. If you wish, you can go down to the lake but the effect of a luminous azure mirror disappears. It is better to look at it from the helicopter.

One day, volcanologists who examined the lake by a rubber boat, almost died. The acid corroded the aluminum blades of the oars.

The Base Tumrok is located 12 kilometers from the active volcano Kizimen. Only the wild nature is around it — the nearest village Lazo is a hundred kilometers away, and five hundred to Petropavlovsk. The features of the base are swimming pools with thermal water, privacy and surrounding landscapes. There are nine rooms in the cottage from Kamchatka larch. There are six standard, two suites and one family room. Maximum 27 people can be accommodated at the base.

From the additional infrastructure there is a canteen, five comfortable sources with thermal water and one with drinking water, a summer house, a banya, two helipads. There are wooden paths on the territory.

Kluchevskaya Sopka is the highest active volcano in Kamchatka — 4,850 meters above sea level. Eruptions occur every three to five years and last from several weeks to six months. It is located 360 kilometers from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Over the past 260 years, 55 eruptions have been recorded — the last on April 24, 2017. Due to the increased activity of the volcano, the first volcanological station in the USSR was launched at its foot in 1935. It still works. Workers investigate the products of the eruption, predict the activity of volcanoes, looking for ways to use the released energy and heat.

Now technologies allow conducting observations remotely. Volcano video filming and research information are transmitted to the Institute of Volcanology in digital form. Since 1977, Ekaterina Zhdanova, the daughter of Svetlana Alliluyeva, the granddaughter of Joseph Stalin, has been working at this station.

The volcano has ninety side craters, and in activity it is second after Karymsky, but it surpasses it in the power of eruptions. The natives of the peninsula say that in the history of the volcano there was a period of continuous eruption of flame for three years.

For the first time, the volcano was conquered in 1788 by a group of three people led by naval officer Daniel Gauss. The members of the expedition did not have climbing experience, they climbed without guides and special equipment. Klyuchevskaya Sopka is the most visited by tourists-climbers volcano. Here is the largest number of deaths, among other Kamchatka volcanoes, due to the complexity of the slope and non-compliance with safety measures by tourists.

The local legend about the volcano sounds like this: “When God created the world, the volcano was the point where he kept it. When he finished the creation, only this place was left unfinished, so it endlessly erupts."

An extinct volcano 350 kilometers from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. This is the second highest volcano in Kamchatka after Klyuchevskaya Sopka — the difference is only three hundred meters — 4,585 meters against 4,850.

During the last eruptions, its eastern slope burst. The explosions were so powerful, that they scattered blocks of 5–10 meters in diameter. Ten kilometers from the volcano, geologists discovered a piece of rock torn from a volcano, the size of a five-story building with sixty apartments. Its weight can be compared with the "Shark" — the largest submarine in the world weighing 48,000 tons. This rock is called Ambon Stone and in 1983 it was recognized as a natural monument.

Tolbachik is an array of two volcanoes — Ostry Tolbachik and Plosky Tolbachik. The first is extinct, the second is active. The distance from the volcanoes to the capital of the peninsula is 350 kilometers. You can get there by car or helicopter. The features of this place are frozen lava rivers. In 2012, it was possible to see the movement of viscous hot lava and small eruptions from a distance of 10–20 meters. Due to the fact that it was relatively safe, the locals called them "tourist eruptions".

From the top of Plosky Tolbachik there is a panorama of the Dolina Velikanov — the volcanoes Ostry Tolbachik, Ushkovsky, Krestovsky, Kamen, Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Bezymyanny, Ostraya and Ovalnaya Zimina, Malaya and Bolshaya Udina, Shish and Gorniy Zub.

Fifty new minerals were discovered on Tolbachik. After the 2012 eruption, geologists found diamonds of unknown origin in a frozen lava. There is a theory that they were formed under the influence of electrical discharges, high pressure and temperatures. They were identified as the new Tolbachinsky type of diamonds.

At the foot of the volcano there is a Base Lunokhodchikov, it is Leningradskaya. Here there were tests of the world's first Lunar Rover Lunokhod-1 and Marsokhod-1 — the surface and landscapes are similar. Today, at this place, tourists make camps before climbing to Tolbachik.

The Village Esso is the capital of the indigenous peoples of Kamchatka. Unlike other Kamchatka villages — this one is ideal. Locals are used to work with tourists, so they try to maintain cleanliness and ennoble their life. The features of the place are the reindeer herders' camps, the ethnographic museum and the thermal springs. Thanks to the hot springs, Esso is heated just like the villages of Iceland — the thermal water is simply pumped into the heating system.

The village is located in the caldera of an extinct volcano 520 kilometers from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. It is ten hours by car, two hours by helicopter. About two thousand people live here. From infrastructure, there are school, post office, bank, hotels, kindergarten, sports complex, airfield, bus station, waste recycling plant.

Every year in March, the international sled dog race Beringia starts from Esso. In 1992, the race hit the Guinness Book of Records for the length of the route — 2,044 kilometers. Now, its participants cover 1,100 kilometers in three weeks, which makes it the longest in Eurasia.

Tourists come to Esso for one or two days to get acquainted with the life of the Evens and Koryaks, look at the deer and swim in the pool with thermal water. If you have more time, you can go fishing, climb the observation platform, attend a master class in folk crafts, go hiking to the mountain lake Galyamiki or climb the Olengende Volcano.

Hotel Paramushir Tour is the best accommodation option in the Village of Esso, but not the best in principle. We spend the night here because there is nothing more comfortable within a radius of 500 kilometers. In the closed territory of the hotel there are 32 rooms — in the main building 27, another 5 are detached houses. By equipping all rooms are the same, the difference is only in the size and number of beds.

There is also parking, a sports ground, an outdoor pool with thermal water, a restaurant with fifty seats, a sauna, a barbecue area, a conference room. In winter, there is a skating rink, ski and skate rental is available. Breakfast is included in the price.

Mutnovsky is the most accessible, and from this the most popular volcano in the south of Kamchatka. It is located a hundred kilometers from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. If in this adventure it was not possible to fly by helicopter, we would go here by an SUV. On the way to Mutnovsky, you can see the Vilyuchinsky Volcano, the Vilyuchinsky Waterfall, the active Gorely Volcano.

The features of the volcano are sulfur fields, soaring fumaroles, mud pots, ice caves and Opasny Waterfall. Around the volcano everything boils, smokes — this is one of the largest geothermal fields in the world. If you are lucky, not far from the crater you can meet and feed with cookies tarbagans — black-capped marmots. They are the same locals as the bears.

Climbing Mutnovsky does not require special physical training and equipment. There will be enough tracksuit, comfortable shoes and trekking poles. The hike takes six hours — this is with a picnic and halts. Climbing without a guide is not safe — there are fumarole fields with boiling water around, and no one has canceled bears. You don’t need to worry about it, you can see all the sights from a helicopter.

At the foot of the volcano there is a geothermal power station. Through the wells, the station receives heat, which is converted into 62 MW of electricity. It covers 20% of the needs of the peninsula.

Gorely Volcano is one of the thirty existing giants in Kamchatka. It is located in the south of the peninsula, 70 kilometers from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. It consists of eleven craters, which stretch for three kilometers in a chain and form a ridge. It's best to look at the volcano from the air — In the craters there are lakes that look especially picturesque from a helicopter.

In the crater of Blue Lake there is a lake with blue water, in the crater Activny there is an acid lake with an orange tint, and at the bottom of the crater there is a purple one. The lakes act as indicators of volcano activity. They change color, dry out and change shape depending on Gorely's “state of health”.

On the volcano, 14 lava caves were discovered, ranging in length from 15 to 150 meters. Only 6 are available to visit.

The sailing-motor catamaran KOSATKA is the best option for the cruise that we found in Kamchatka. The vessel is fifteen meters long, eight meters wide, suitable for walks around Avachinskay Bay and for access to the ocean. On the catamaran there are five cabins, three — double, two — triple. Maximum of twelve passengers can be accommodated on board.

All cabins have two latrines with toilets, showers and sinks. Unlike yacht latrines, here they are larger — the size of the catamaran allow.

On Kosatka there is a wide deck, where you can comfortably change your clothes to divers, for fishermen to put the gear or just drink coffee with the whole a team. Also, on the deck there is a hot shower and equipment for filling oxygen tanks is available. For catering on the catamaran, there is a spacious dining room and a galley equipped with dishes.

The draft of the catamaran is 140 centimeters — it is a little, it is possible to approach rocks or to stop in the bays inaccessible to other vessels. The maximum speed of movement is 16 km/h, which, with sufficiently big size and design features of the catamaran, makes pitching minimal. Those who have seasickness will suffer less or will not feel discomfort at all.

During the cruises, a team of three people works on board — a captain, a mechanic and a cook. Sometimes, if space permits, we send another administrator. The navigation period is from mid-April to mid-October.

The business card of Kamchatka, the same as Avachinskaya Sopka and the Valley of Geysers. It is located 70 kilometers from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the entrance to the bay from the Pacific Ocean. Russkaya is the fiord, jutting into the shore for eight kilometers. The average depth of 26 meters allows and small yachts, and cruise ships to go there.

Until the 1930s, Russkaya was the place of stop for ships during storms, and during World War Two, cargo ships were formed here going to Vladivostok from Canada and the USA. After the war, fishermen used the bay — in this place, they changed the crews and replenished fresh water. For filling water from a six-meter height, pipelines are laid to the shore. Due to the high silver content, the local water kept its taste and freshness for a long time, being in ship tanks.

On the steep cliffs surrounding the Bay, cormorants, gulls and puffins nest and at the exit from the bay, at Cape Kekurny, you can take selfies with a hundred sea lions. Also, bears and whales live here. In Russkaya there is good fishing for flounder, halibut, perch, cod and navaga. Sea urchins and crabs are caught from the bottom.

Avachinskaya Bay is the largest bay in the world. Teachers of geography in the Kamchatka schools tell that in its water area the whole fleet of the planet can hide or the French city of Marseilles can be located. Its area is 215 km2, and it can accept even a passenger liner Queen Mary 2.

On the shore of the bay there are two cities — Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Vilyuchinsk. The first is the capital of the peninsula, the second is a closed city where the nuclear submarine base is located. The entrance to the bay is between two capes, its width is only three kilometers. A small distance of the gate protects cities and ships from storms in the Pacific Ocean.

A boat trip along the Avachinskaya Bay is interesting for four reasons: