Trip to the source of the Urals: we are lucky to live where we live

We are lucky to live where we live. And we can make small trips every weekend and sometimes on weekdays and enjoy beautiful views and communication with nature.

 

 

In mid-July we decided to reach the source of the Ural River. The beginning of the famous river, the third longest in Europe, is in the Ural Mountains. In the Uchalinsky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan, almost on the border with the Chelyabinsk region, a little to the west of a small mountain range with a beautiful name Alabia.

 

Those who want to visit the source of the river, begin to move from the village of Voznesenka or Absalamovo. They are located a little west of the Miass - Uchily highway, and the road to them is quite good. From there to the source about ten kilometers. But there are already roads according to descriptions poorly driven, broken by loggers.

 

Therefore, you need to be ready for a walk. And this walk will be exclusively in the corridor of the mixed forest with small rare clearings, so you should not hope to look at the beautiful views. However, the nearby forest is also beautiful. It should be understood that the source of any river mark is more psychological. Most often, from some swamp in the thickets of bushes follows a liquid stream, looking at which it is difficult to assume the future greatness.

 

So our route was different. On the first day, they planned to drive along the eastern slope of the Alabia ridge, cross it slightly north of the main peak, spend the night at the foot. And get to the source around lunch the next day. We have mapped out several peaks of Alabia as scenic sights along the route.

 

We left early as usual. Six o'clock in the morning. About thirty kilometers from Miass towards Uchalov, we turn west between the Kumach and Irendyk ridges, through Komsomolsk, Starobalbukovo we move towards the village of Sharipovo. The weather is in line with the forecast. The sky is cloudy, rain is drizzling. They promise to improve by lunch. We make a small stop to have breakfast and climb to the small top, which should be a good view. But everything is foggy. Strong wind and drizzling rain.

 

 

This weather will be almost all day long. And only by evening will the sky clear. The road along Alabia is just for our car. It's even better to walk. It might even be faster. All day long, we make our way through the woods. The rain is drizzling. It's raining like a bucket. The rain sometimes stops. Not for long. The promise for lunch never comes clear.

 

 

 

It was only in the evening that the rain stopped completely, the density of the clouds decreased markedly, and we even saw some sunset rays. That's a good thing. To camp and get an overnight stay in the rain did not want.

 

 

 

We stood up with the expectation to climb the Round Hill in the morning. This is the highest peak of the Alabia Ridge. Relatively low, only 1016 meters. But the view should be good. The ridge is not a very popular place among tourists. We haven’t met a single person in two days. This is a definite plus, because many unpleasant traces characteristic of popular routes, trampled parking lots, garbage, painted rocks are also not here. And the tops of the ridge, although not high, but very picturesque. It will be collected from a dozen rocky exits, from which magnificent views open.

 

 

 

 

We woke up early. Thirty minutes walk in the woods and we're on top. This is a small rock with a small platform, just to accommodate two people, a tripod with a camera and two dogs. The weather is great. Nothing from yesterday's clouds. Real July. The sun is already high and bright illuminating everything around. Along the horizon, almost all the main peaks of the Southern Urals are visible: Taganay, Urenga, Zyuratkul, Nurgush, Zigalga, Iremel. Closer to the forest are other rocks of the ridge. I don't feel like leaving. And we're taking our time.

 

 

 

Back to the car, we pack up, drink tea again or two and move further west. Three hours later we see an iron monument in the thickets. Even under Soviet rule, the Komsomol members equipped the place with memorial inscriptions and fenced the source of the river with an iron fence. A box is attached to the metal construction, it contains several notebooks and pencils. Anyone who visits this place can leave a record.

 

 

 

We even found people we knew. And a record of travelers from Alaska. These guys, as we later looked at the site they listed great travelers. They came here from the Arctic Ocean on skis, then rafted along the Urals to the Caspian Sea, and then on bicycles drove to Istanbul (followingtheline). Yeah, we're a long way from them.

 

There's a small canopy nearby. You can eat here. And on wooden bars, a printed banner is stretched, where you can read information about the river copied from Wikipedia. The structure was built recently, and obviously will not last as long as the monument of Komsomol members. Some words are highlighted in blue. Not immediately guess that these are hyperlinks that designers did not bother to remove from the source text. Another evidence that the source of the river, even occasionally, but visited, is a large iron box filled with a variety of debris to the very top. Unfortunately, not everyone understands that garbage should be taken away with you. And even picking up some strangers.

 

According to our plan, we had to drive further from the source of the river to Voznesenka, on the navigator it is less than ten kilometers by forest roads. We certainly didn’t want to go back the same way. But we tried for three hours, but we couldn't find the way to the village. Either the July thickets did not let you see, or the roads are so uncarried that only on foot, skiing and snowmobiles get here. Our plan had to change. And turn around.

 

 

 

 

The day in July is long. In the evening we went to the eastern slope of the ridge. At sunset, they climbed another slide - Nikolina Sopka. It is a little away from the main cliffs of Alabia, but it also offers excellent views.

 

 

The moon appeared early in the sky and was visible when it was quite bright. And when it got dark, we got out of the woods and went to the slide, where the morning before we tried to see something through the low clouds. Somewhere on the horizon there were a few clouds, but the rest of the sky was clear and full of bright stars. In the south, the moon was shining high above the horizon. We packed our things, drank tea and took some photos. They came home at dawn.

Text and photo: Maxim Baskov