The lakes are marble, sky and turquoise. Marble Lake in Karelia. Description and history. Other marble lakes in Russia When will the marble lake be opened in

Let me start with the fact that even the trip itself in a comfortable bus did not become boring.

Beautiful landscapes floated by outside the window, but I must say that here in the Astrakhan region they are not monotonous. Here you will also see water meadows.

And the steppes

And forests along river beds

But the main beauty was revealed to us when we arrived at the place. And so - Lake Baskunchak. I’ll say right away that a photograph, no matter how well it is taken, will not convey what is revealed to the eye, so to speak, “live.”

The feeling that in the middle of our spring you suddenly found yourself in snowy lands was bright and distinct.

I won’t tell you everything and a lot. It’s better to see it once for yourself than to read someone’s story about it a hundred times. But I will ask questions. Do you know what kind of piles and pillars look out from the lake?

And where did Lake Baskunchak come from and what exactly is it?
Do you know why it is called the “All-Russian Salt Shaker”?

And what connects and makes Lake Baskunchak and Mount Bogdo related?
Well, let's leave these questions unanswered for now. In the meantime, admire a few more views of this huge “salt shaker”...

Let's leave Baskunchak for now and move to Mount Bogdo. Many legends surround it, but I will only say that this place could not do without mystery and fairy tales. Just take a look for yourself.

I want to ask again. Do you know who lives on top of Mount Bogdo?

And who chose the “singing rocks” as their home? And, by the way, why are they actually “singing”?

And further: why is Bogdo constantly growing? What are caster caves? How are Mount Bogdo, Lake Baskunchak and “Marble Lake” connected? How diverse is the living world of this nature reserve? If you are still interested in getting answers to these questions, as well as many others, then there is advice. Take advantage of the services of one of the best tour operators in the Astrakhan region. I'm talking about the Elite-Tour company. It's easy to find. Just go to the travel agency website http://elittur30.ru
or call 89033486224 or 622033and they will help you find a vacation destination. By the way, the agency office is located Astrakhan, Kirova str. 55-a, office 403. The travel agency "Elite-Tour" works with almost all popular destinations both within Russia and abroad. And of course, he organizes excellent excursions around our region. Special thanks to the guide Dmitry Profatilov.

In the morning we all wake up almost simultaneously, but we are in no hurry to get up. Finally, I leave the tent, and gradually everyone follows my example.

The girls go in search of a successful descent to the water to swim. In one of the places they have to escape from local guys, who apparently miss female attention, in another they are disturbed by cows. After a walk around the surrounding area, they return to the camp site.

Meanwhile, I had already prepared breakfast and started packing my things in the car. It was decided to have a hearty breakfast, so I cooked rice, ate the leftover chicken from yesterday, and also cut up a melon. Yulia turned out to be the hungriest and the only one to successfully finish the porridge.

At breakfast we discover Inna has a small cut, which it was decided to treat immediately. We discuss the benefits of iodine for several minutes, but in the end I find only brilliant green in the medicine cabinet.

Since the girls didn’t manage to swim, we decide to stop at the beach in Akhtubinsk, where I also refuel along the way. Finally, you can continue your sightseeing! We quickly reach Lake Baskunchak and before the village we turn towards Mount Bolshoye Bogdo.

We make a stop at Marble Lake - a huge artificial canyon with a small lake in the center opens up to our eyes.

Equipment is visible, and next to the canyon rises an equally massive mountain made of recycled material.

She is our next target. We drive past the entrance to the reserve. The road is blocked by a barrier, but in front of it there are several cars and people walking - apparently, they decided to walk to the fresh lake. Our path lies further - after a while we pass the entrance to the reserve and make our first stop at the “Singing Rocks”. We immediately climb them, but we don’t risk climbing to the very top.

I notice that a blanket is missing, which apparently flew off the roof rack. I decide to look for it carefully on the way back, but in the meantime we move along the road to the parking lot, where we will climb the highest point of Mount Big Bogdo.

Having started to climb the stairs, we discover that we forgot to take with us a supply of water, which would help make this ascent. The girls go upstairs, I return to the car, where I talk with one of the local residents who rents out rooms in the village, not far from Lake Baskunchak. I take the coordinates from him just in case and run upstairs.

I catch up with the girls in the middle of the path, and there we decide to take a short break, admire the red-burgundy slope of the mountain and take a few photos.

Then we overcome the last section of the climb and in a few minutes we are already proudly standing at the top. From here there is a wonderful view of both the salt lake Baskunchak itself and the vast expanses of steppe around.

On the site there is something like a flagpole with various ribbons tied on it. Upon detailed study, it was discovered that most likely they were tied by pilgrims from various places, because it is not for nothing that Mount Big Bogdo is considered sacred among the Kalmyks.

For the descent, I propose a more extreme route - along the mountainside along a barely traceable path. Already at the bottom you can take a breath and admire the red slope of the mountain up close. You can even take a small souvenir - a red stone as a keepsake.

We walk along the path to the parking lot. The journey stretches out a bit - the landscapes and surrounding area are so interesting. In one place the mountain resembles a sinking ship, although everyone has their own associations and interpretations.

Having reached the car, we leave these places. We slow down a little at the part of the mountain that looks like a face - an interesting and unusual sight.

And outside the reserve we make a short stop in the fishing line - we need to refresh ourselves a little. Initially, the idea was to eat watermelon, but having had enough of canned food, we left it for later.

We penetrate into it through a more studied entrance. To do this, you first have to descend about two meters vertically along the wall, and then slide down and go through the entrance. And here we are in the cave!

We begin to move deeper. We pay attention to the interesting inclusions in the walls - the material sparkles and reflects the light from the lanterns.

We reach a fork, the main cave goes straight ahead, the Skinner is visible on the right, leading to an underground lake.

We are here for a little while and are moving back – the girls have already had enough impressions.

It’s already 6 o’clock, and we have a long road ahead of us to Astrakhan. We drive back from the caves along a good dirt road, which leads us straight onto the asphalt. And kilometers of roads and flashing settlements stretched on.

Having traveled almost half the way, we stop on the bank of Akhtuba - it’s the watermelon’s turn. With the onset of darkness, the watermelon is finished, and we move on.

The further path ran smoothly and calmly - we made a stop at a gas station and at the pyramid. At the entrance to Astrakhan I am stopped again by a traffic police inspector, this time a different one. But he is also immaculately dressed, smells pleasant and is unusually polite in his interactions.

All good things must come to an end, so our trip ended, and it was time to say goodbye. There were no tears, of course, but I felt that such good company was rare and almost a necessary condition for a good trip.

The girls are picked up by a taxi, but I fold the car seats into the bed and fall asleep. And in the morning there will be a way home...

Text: Ilya Shuvalov, August 2009

We had this trip from August 26 to September 2—what the hell! Just now we got to the photos. A short trip from Krasnaya Polyana - we spent eight days because we were in no hurry and took days, but in principle, we can do it in five.

The result is such a ring of lakes - through the lakes of the Dzitaku Valley, Lake Marble, Lake Nebesnoe, lakes in the upper reaches of the Achipsta River and Turquoise Lakes - and through the Stroiteley Pass back to the cable car of the Gazprom ski complex.

Here is the map (click to open a larger one):

Of all the above, we had not seen Marmara Lake before and had long wanted to see it. In addition, once in 2010 we passed by the Turquoise Lakes, but because of the weather we did not turn around at them, but immediately went down to Chistyaya. Turquoise lakes are often visited from Krasnaya Polyana, but for some reason they seemed boring to me in absentia, but it turned out to be a very picturesque and cozy place! It was so cool there that we just decided to live there for an extra day.

At the border between August and September, we felt this subtle transition from stuffy summer to cool autumn, which before that I had spent all my time in the city. At first it was very hot and all distant views were covered in dense haze, but on the third day the temperature dropped sharply and the air became more transparent.

We arrived in Krasnaya Polyana the day before around midnight and stayed at the Aborigine House hotel, where, it seemed, there was no one else except us, there was a neat but cramped room, and most importantly, no one objected to the dog :)

In the morning we went to the Gazprom cable car, went up and after a few hours, without noise and dust, we were already setting up a tent on the Dzitaku lakes :)

The sunset was cloudy and foggy, which did not live up to expectations, but the water in the lakes was warm and it was possible to swim. It was generally a very hygienic hike due to the hot weather - I personally swam twice every day, in the morning and in the evening :)

Morning: a couple of views of Lake Dzitaku Bolshoye




and we turned up our camp and moved on. Our plan for today is to pass the Kholodny camp, climb the ridge to Mount Mramornaya and descend from it to Lake Mramornaya. I can’t even say whether this is an objectively extensive plan or not, but it was hard in such heat! Behind the Kholodny camp we turned right and went deeper into the forest. We were worried that we would have to make our way with difficulty, but the forest turned out to be without undergrowth, comfortable, and in some places there was a good path. At the top we stopped for a break and, exhausted by the heat, fell asleep! We probably slept for an hour. The further path up was tiring and rather tedious, distant views were obscured by haze. Therefore, there are only a few photos left: the Mramorny glacier

Priglacial Lake under the Mramorny glacier:

and such a multi-layered view of Chugush

At some point, we ran out of water and we saved ourselves with shiksha - it’s also crowberry, and it’s not for nothing that it has such a name, it really quenches thirst well.

Finally, Marmara Lake!

The same thing the next morning. In general, we wandered quite a bit along its banks, Mitya walked around everything, and I took a swim, but the light was dull, so there weren’t many photos.






From here we climbed the Shirokiy pass and descended into the Chelipsi valley. It was also very hot and therefore very long, so let’s go straight down :) By this moment the sun had dropped so much that the river was in the shade and it was possible to rest in the relative coolness.

A familiar climb through the forest - in 2011 we went to our first tur and chamois survey and descended this way.

Ideally, we wanted to climb Lake Nebesnoye that day, but the transition tired us more than we expected. A little before reaching the lake there is one place, a clearing with crooked birch trees, which we noticed last time, and then we thought: “I wish we could spend the night here somehow,” and we also thought, “Probably, there are probably a lot of blueberries here at the end of summer "

In short, everything was heading towards stopping here. The place lived up to its expectations, but there were fewer blueberries than we would have liked! After dinner we saw competitors wandering around the parking lot eating blueberries. The wind was blowing from them towards us, so they did not notice us for a long time and did not run away, but went about their business. And we watched them and felt a rare moment of absolute harmony with the world. With a little imagination, one could imagine that the bears know about our presence, but we simply do not bother them, and they are not afraid of us...

This is the coziest parking lot the next morning:

I go and finish eating what the bears graciously left for us on the blueberry bushes :)

It took us a long time to get ready and leave here to finally go up to the lake. Because as soon as we collected all our stuff, except for the tent, it started to rain. We climbed inside and at first waited uncomfortably on the bare floor in our jackets, then we inflated the rugs again and unrolled our sleeping bags, took off our jackets and lay down to lie down. Then the rain stopped, and we put everything back together, and it started again :) At some point there was even hail, and at another moment Mitya crawled out of the tent and photographed this rainbow:

In general, we had already decided not to go anywhere further that day, but to spend the day on the lake, so we were in no hurry. Looking ahead, this was the only rain during the entire hike, and just after it it became cooler, and nature, along with the weather, obviously turned towards September.

Heavenly Lake.

By the end of summer it becomes quite shallow: the last time we were here in July, and all these stones were hidden under water.

On the shore, someone set up an incomprehensible installation with deer antlers. Worcester decided that this was a strategic site and he would guard it.

I went to pick blueberries, and Mitya and Worcester went for a walk along the Alous ridge and admired the clouds

Achipsta Valley

All flooded with clouds

A small reservoir on the eastern slope of the Alous ridge, located directly above Lake Achipsta. It looks like a little blue dot on the map, and I always wondered what was there.

Lake Nebesnoe and the valley of the Chelipsi River

While Mitya was away, I also spent productive time!

In the next morning. Today we need to climb the Grozovoy Pass, descend to the upper reaches of the Achipsta River and go through the Turquoise Lakes Pass to the Turquoise Lakes. Yesterday it got very cold, and in the morning, looking to the north-west, we clearly saw everything that the heat hid with a dense haze - Urushten, Aspidny, Dzhugu...

We rise above the lake to Grozovoy Pass. Chugush with a glacier looks out on the left of the frame.

Here he is closer

Achipsta Valley

We went down to the river.

And again we rise to its upper reaches

The upper reaches of Achipsta are famous for its three lakes of different colors. The largest S.E. Efremov named it Verkhnyaya Achipsta, and we named the other two for ourselves Azure and Blue. The Azure color was especially striking, this is what it looked like:

Here's how it turned out this year:

Upper Achipsta is just as muddy, with a clay suspension in the water.

And Lake Achipsta itself, visible in the distance and famous for its bright turquoise color, is the same milky whitish.

Apparently, somewhere in the upper reaches some rocks are sliding into the river and spoiling the view :) Probably, by next year the lakes will clear up and regain their usual color. And this is Blue Lake - it is located a little higher on the stream, the right tributary of the Achipsta - the water in it is the same as always.

We stopped on the shore of the lower lake. At night we forced ourselves to get out and shoot a couple of frames to justify carrying a tripod :)

The stars were visible and invisible! And airplanes too. Here, near Sochi, it seems as if planes are flying across the sky every minute.

Once upon a time there was a mountain in this place. Now there is still clean air, blue sky during the day, scatterings of stars overhead at night, and under this splendor is a canyon, the result of human intervention. We are talking about Marmara Lake in Karelia. Although this is not the only body of water in Russia with this name.

general description

The landscape of these places is pleasing to the eye. The mind forgets all worries and strives to study every feature of the landscape. The canyon rises approximately 20 meters above the surface of clear water of amazing emerald color. The white walls of the canyon are riddled with cracks and are constantly changing because there is high tectonic activity in this place. The rocks are overgrown with trees, everything around breathes natural wild beauty. It is incredible that man had a hand in creating this landmark.

This wonderful lake is located near the border with Finland in Karelia, twenty kilometers from the village of Ruskeala, in the Sortavala region. It is about 300 km from St. Petersburg along the A-130 highway; the journey by car can be covered in 4-5 hours. The last section is winding and goes through the forest. Overcoming this last distance is also an adventure, if you believe the reviews of tourists who have been there. But they don't regret it at all.

History of the canyon

As already mentioned, Marble Lake in Karelia appeared in a place called Belaya because of its shining white marble cap, similar to a snow cap. And the first data about a small settlement that appeared here date back to 1500. At that time, these places still belonged to the Swedes, who began to mine marble. By 1632 the village had grown so large that a church was built.

After imprisonment, the area began to be populated by Russians. Development all this time was not very active. Marble was then mined for laying foundations and burning building lime.

A breakthrough in mining occurred after Catherine II came to power. Village pastor Samuil Alopeus invited specialists from the Academy of Arts to study samples of marble mined on the Ruskolka River. Marble aroused admiration, and was needed in large quantities for the implementation of royal projects. Therefore, since 1768, the quarry expanded, and mining began at an accelerated pace. Builders and architects came here, and the village flourished. In the same year, construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral began. The famous person personally came to Ruskeala to select marble for cladding the floor and walls of the church.

Karelian marble

It is known that Karelian marble was used in the Kazan Cathedral for laying floors. And also for cladding the windows of the Kazan Cathedral and the Marble Palace, cladding the facade. Marble was used for the construction of the obelisk to the victories of Rumyantsev and the pedestal of the monument to Peter I, the Oryol Gate, and the pedestal of the Chesme obelisk, for the columns of the Gatchina Palace, the window sills of the Hermitage were also made of it. The latest projects in which Ruskeala raw materials were used were the building of the Savings Bank in Helsinki and in St. Petersburg during the Soviet era, the Primorskaya and Ladozhskaya metro stations.

These are the fruits of the amazing union of human labor and nature. We have many cultural monuments and a wonderful place on earth. But until now it has not been said how the quarry turned into Marble Lake. There are two versions. One by one, the Finns, leaving here, flooded the mines that served as their refuge during the war. According to another version, groundwater was released during development, and the elements did their job.

Entertainment on Marmara Lake

Now here is the “Ruskeala Mountain Park”, perfectly equipped for receiving guests. And Marmara Lake is part of it. Here you can take a romantic walk along the shore or go to explore the grottoes on the water surface by boat.

Or, loudly reporting your impressions, jump from a bungee, or try to cross from shore to shore using the “Indian bridge”. Of course, the flooded adits are of interest to divers, who are frequent guests here. And in winter, special entertainment is offered - a skating rink in a cave, illuminated by multi-colored lamps.

Marble lakes of Russia

Marble Lake in Karelia is not the only body of water in Russia with this name. In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in Ergaki, not far from the waterfall of the same name, there is a second such lake. The Third Marble Lake can only be seen once a year, because development is still underway there. This one time falls on an open day.

It is located in the Astrakhan region, close to Lake Baskunchak. The fourth is located in Crimea, a few kilometers from Simferopol. The fifth Marble Lake is located in Western Siberia. Novosibirsk is located next to it. The last two will be discussed in more detail below.

Marble Lake in Novosibirsk

In the Ordynsky district there is the village of Nizhnekamenka, next to it a reservoir was also created by human hands. Officially it is called Abrashinsky Lake. This Marble Lake is twelve meters deep. Novosibirsk has some metro stations that are paved with marble from this quarry.

There is a successful combination of fresh air, Karakan pine forest and water suitable for swimming. By the way, the lake is rich in roach, perch, trout, and ide, which attracts fishermen here. On the shore you can rent a house or a room at a tourist center at affordable prices, so you can relax here with the whole family.

Marble Lake in Crimea

It was awarded another name - Martian. The reason for this was obvious traces of human activity, rare poplars on the whitish, lime-soaked banks bordering the azure water.

Vacationers come to swim and admire the fantastic view that Marmara Lake has. The photo of this object, although of unnatural origin, is fascinating.

Its official name is Alminsky quarry. This Marble Lake is located near the village of Skalistoye near Simferopol. Crimea is a peninsula with many attractions.

All Marmara lakes are beautiful in their own way. But not everyone’s name is associated with marble mining.

At this place we were given a paper about the rules of water rescue.

Here, admire it.

The fact is that here is the so-called. Marble Lake. The gypsum lying here is very colorful, with veins and looks like real marble. The lake appeared during the process of stone mining, and gained popularity in Akhtubinsk, Volgograd and in general among tourists coming to Bogdo.

Unfortunately, the lake is open only once a year, on Builder's Day. And the nearest water, not counting wells, is half a hundred kilometers away. Therefore, hundreds of people walked to the lake.

Although the depth here is up to five meters, it is absolutely impossible to drown: the water is so salty that it keeps you afloat. We also refreshed ourselves and moved on.

The only decent building in the village, not counting the office, is the Palace of Culture built during the Union. Gypsum development is carried out by the Austrian company KNAUF, which does not take much into account with the local residents.

But the locals gave the Austrians a hard time about 60 years ago. In 2008, KNAUF tried to start developing gypsum right in the reserve, where the only limestone caves in the Astrakhan region are located. The regional government, headed by Markelov, managed to sign a decree that industrial quarries can be opened in the reserve. The public protest campaign organized by us forced the authorities to cancel this monstrous anti-Astrakhan document. And then, during the negotiations, in my hearts I remembered the Austrians in 1942 and neighboring Stalingrad. Wow? - they were offended!)))

Amazing monument to Lenin. This is the first time I've seen something like this. Most likely, it was created in the 20s - it is very human and differs from later fundamentalism.

Even further into the desert - and after 30 km an oasis opens up. This is the Green Garden with its artificial plantings. It was founded in 1924. Area - 2000 hectares! Sorghum, corn, grapes, potatoes, cotton were grown here, and the trees were oaks, loch (dates), elms, cherries and apricots.

Pine grove right in the middle of the sands. Can you imagine?

Today only one person lives here, and the plantings are virtually abandoned, but the human spirit has shown that the desert can be made into a completely flourishing place.

The well is about five meters deep, and the water is quite fresh.

We simply didn’t have time to climb Mount Bogdo, which is nearby, but we got out to the Singing Rocks.

They are named so for a reason. Wind erosion has created bizarre grooves on the slopes of Bogdo, and with a weak wind, sounds similar to human speech can be heard from here. This is not a legend - the gamekeeper of the reserve who kept us company, a young guy, spoke about this quite phlegmatically. At night, he tries not to come out here - in addition to the mountain speaking humanly, a wolf howl can be heard. It is completely natural, of living origin.

10 thousand years ago it was a lonely island in the middle of a huge sea that stretched to modern Cheboksary. Last time I picked up a fossilized mussel on the slope.

The review is very good.

And this is a salt mining enterprise. Four years ago it was called Bassol OJSC, the workers and office workers had a controlling stake, the salary reached 25 thousand rubles (for the cleaning lady - seven or eight), people were paid dividends, and they even built houses using the profits. 30% of the shares belonged to two entrepreneurs from Armenia, who once tried to take over the company, but did not succeed. Others have succeeded. A group from Orenburg, with the support of local authorities and prostituting “journalists,” launched a massive attack to fool people and buy up shares. Part of the team gave in, then the Armenians wavered. In general, now staff reductions, reset social services and social pessimism.
At the first opportunity we will create a real strong labor union here.

Next to the plant is an ancient Muslim cemetery.

Such graves are scattered only far from the Poima - the stone was obviously taken from Bogdo and the neighboring mountains - Chapchachi, Azgir...

And these are captured Germans. Many of them died here after Stalingrad.

We are going to the salt lake Baskunchak, to the beach!

Old "Urals" have been converted into motorcycle taxis. Very inventive.

On the left is NaCl, on the right is the same, but in dissolved form. The concentration of salt is such that it settles in a white layer on the skin or any object dipped into the brine.

About four years ago it was deeper. The lake has clearly become smaller. This is caused by global warming: the salty streams that feed Baskunchak are drying up. However, I don’t see any tragedy in global warming - nature opens up other possibilities. Global glaciation would be much worse.

The guys working in transportation found out and we had a thorough conversation with them on the topic of housing and communal services. A local private company set the water fee at 50 rubles. per cubic meter, and, in addition, demands that meters be installed directly on the street in many houses at once, in order to cover the debts of defaulters at the expense of conscientious people. Today I already talked to the Tariff Service. We will try to help, but a lot depends on the people themselves and their readiness to take active action. Not necessarily for rallies - here we just need purely legal things, we help, but we can’t do it without the actions of the people themselves.