To Karelia by car

In mid-July, my friends invited me to accompany them on a trip to Karelia by car. The offer was very tempting and I could disagree. We planned to get acquainted with southern Karelia first along the western coast of Lake Ladoga, and then along its northern part and further to Lake Onega, as well as along its western shore.

The start of our journey was
scheduled for August 9.
On the first day, I had to pass.

to St. Petersburg, and then to the first parking lot on Lake Kavgolovskoye (also Leningrad region) a little more than 600 km. After a good night (in the tent), the next morning we moved to Karelia. Moving north, the road has changed a lot: ascents and descents, steep unpredictable turns, granite blocks flash on the sidelines. Along the way, we stopped to see places that seemed especially picturesque, such as Lake Vuoksa with a small simple threshold under the bridge for rafting tourists and Lake Youth with stony shores, already very reminiscent of Karelian landscapes.

Finally, having driven exactly 777 km from the starting point, we entered the Republic of Karelia, which was notified by the sign. Not far from this place there is a threshold on the river Asilanjoki. This was the first scheduled inspection site. The threshold is not big, but there is something special about it, very attractive. Near the threshold are the ruins of the old HPP. A few meters downstream, the river crosses the bridge, from which the threshold appears in all its glory. On the way back (to the highway), we decided to climb on the rock standing next to the road. A panorama of the village opens from above, and in the distance you can see the waters of the bay.




Next, we wanted to see the Hiutol Rocks. These are sheer rocks, about 20 meters high. However, getting to them was not easy. First, some time after entering Karelia, a grader began instead of asphalt, which greatly complicated and slowed down the speed of movement. The cars were like bugs crawling along the road. It was a lot of fun, especially overtaking. Secondly, when looking for rocks, we got a little lost. In the end, getting to the right place, none of us expected that right next to the road up will grow a 20-meter steep wall with climbers climbing it. Having tried his hand at climbing, our transport continued on its way.

Moving further north, on the way we liked another rock, though not steep, but still quite high. Getting on it was not difficult. On the way to the top was eaten a decent part of strawberries and raspberries growing on the slopes. After enjoying a panoramic view of the surrounding area, we went to Lahdenpohue. After this town, we were going to find a parking place again and spend the night. But instead of continuing on the A129 highway, it was decided to drive along the nearby road through the village of Lumivaara, in the vicinity of which there is an abandoned church. In simple terms, it is a church. There are many similarities in Karelia. It was this church that caught our attention for the simple reason that it was located almost along the way and, most importantly, you can climb the bell tower (there is still a bell hanging there), which we did not fail to do.

The place where the church is located is very picturesque in itself. Pine forest on a small hill mixed with a small number of birches, and around not a single soul. Well, for the first day in Karelia, there were plenty of impressions and it was close to the evening, so it was necessary to find a place to sleep. I really wanted to stay on the shore of the lake, but on this night, as well as on the previous one, it was not possible to settle down on the shore itself. But today we stood on a hill of decent height, overgrown with forest. If you approach the edge, you could enjoy the view of Lake Ahvenjärvi and the field leading to it, recently trimmed by harvesters and casting gold in the rays of the setting sun. The place of the night was chosen specifically closer to the city of Sortavala, because from there go boats "Meteor" to the island of Valaam. Of course, having visited Karelia, it is impossible not to visit such a place.

So, having arrived at the river station early enough, we were disappointed: due to the “non-flying” weather (there was a very strong fog) and the small number of tourists, all flights except one were canceled. And that single flight was all booked for some group of tourists and the probability of availability seemed very small. But luckily, there was a privateer who decided to take us to Valaam for 50 rubles more than the official fee. It didn't take long to think. And here we are on an island. Having wandered a little and looked at the most “cream” (a skit on the island, it seems Nikolsky and the monastery), we decided to buy souvenirs. I was a bit disappointed because I expected more. Perhaps the impression was spoiled by the occasional rain. Of course, nature is charming.


Back in Sortavala, we decided that the trip back and forth on a private boat (our lake taxi) along the waves of Ladoga and the sensations gained from it were worth the money we spent. After spending two and a half hours on Valaam and two and a half hours on the road back and forth, it was time to move on. Driving up the map (again to the north), on the way to the marble canyons of Ruskeala, we stopped to look at the waterfalls from K/f "And the dawns are quiet here." The weather remained gloomy, but this fact only added to the flavor of this place. And again, a slight disappointment – such a beautiful place has been turned into a tourist inspection point with all the consequences: stalls, tents, beer, hamburgers, etc. In my opinion, when a person wants to see nature, all domestication loses its meaning. It turns out that you came to the zoo to look at the slaughtered and tortured animals, only instead of them there were waterfalls, which are much more interesting to see in the wild without human intervention. But anyway, we were planning another stop for the night. Due to the fact that a lot of time was spent on Valaam, we had to change plans and urgently look for a place to spend the night, which we did. As a result, we drove almost to Lake Janisjärvi. But it turned out that there begins the border zone, where without a special paper uncle border guards are not allowed. When the parking place was found, it rained and had to urgently climb into the tent and drink tea there, after which everyone fell asleep.

When we woke up, we rushed headlong into Ruskeala Marble Canyon. Usually there are huge groups of tourists, and I wanted to see everything without them. Arriving at the place and not finding who can give money for the entrance, we decided to go see everything, and at the exit to pay. They did. The canyon is very impressive. Roughly speaking, it is a huge pit with marble walls, half flooded with transparent water of turquoise color. At the water level there are several caves - former galleries. The view is just dizzying and it seems that this is the work of Mother Nature herself. There is another small marble quarry nearby, but it is not as impressive as the larger one. On the way out, I decided to finally ride through the waters of the quarry on a rowboat, which is rented here. But getting closer, I realized that nothing will work: it turned out that the film crew arrived and in the near future there will be shooting. I had to leave.

Now we had to visit.
one of the most difficult
the most interesting places

Our journey (the road is very confusing) - waterfalls "White Pillars". They are also known as White Bridges or simply Yukankoski. To do this, we returned to Ladoga, along which lay our further route. Then we moved east. Near the town of Impilahti there are two lakes. One of them is called Ruokojärvi, next to it flows the Kulismajoki River, on which the White Pillars are located. Unfortunately, not everything is indicated on the road maps of that area, in connection with which it is not difficult to go along the wrong one. Which we did. After winding an extra 18 km through some logging, we still found the right road and, leaving the car, went on foot. On the way there was a small waterfall, but we decided to go further, as we read earlier that Yukankoski is quite high (about 17 meters) and has a powerful stream. Indeed, after a few hundred meters, the hum of falling water was clearly heard. The waterfall did not disappoint our expectations: a huge amount of water in a powerful wide stream fell down, creating a cloud of water spray and shaking the air with such a strong sound that it was almost impossible to communicate near the waterfall. Yukankoski is surrounded by high rocks, the slopes of which are overgrown with spruces and birches. It's very picturesque. After enjoying the views, we began to climb to the place where the water boils down from the rock. Upstream of the river was a small wooden bridge. Why don't you see where the path leads on the other side? We crossed the river over the bridge and began to move along the forest path deep into the forest. And what was our delight and surprise, when after a couple of tens of meters our eyes opened a view of another waterfall, in height, and power not inferior to what we just saw. There was no limit to joy. Moreover, there was no mention of this second waterfall in the books or on the Internet. Going down to the bottom of the waterfall was no longer easy. The difficulty was that the slopes of the rock were almost vertical, besides wet from splashes and overgrown moss. But clinging like ropes to the sticking roots of trees, we went down to see this giant in all its glory. It's amazing. Well, now that we got a lot more than we wanted, we had to get back to the car and continue our journey. The White Pillars or White Bridges became the jewel of the trip.

Finally, so to speak, for dessert, the rapids on the Koyrinoya River remained according to the plan. When we reached the place, we looked at only one threshold – the upper one, because it was two steps from the road. There was no longer any strength to go to the lower threshold, so the car with three passengers on board rushed to the Onega Lake in Kondopoga to the Kivach hotel.

In the morning, as planned, we went to the reserve “Kivach”. When we arrived, it was raining. The view of the waterfall Kivach from this became only more colorful. Powerful seething streams of water rolled down through several rapids. On the left is another stream, smaller. Except he doesn't have thresholds. After admiring the waterfall, jumping on the rocky wet coast from one cobblestone to another, we returned to the car to go towards the canyon near the village of Girvas. At the time, I thought it was a waterfall, not a canyon. But when we arrived, everything became clear. The canyon is not very deep and is the riverbed at the time the dam opens. In other cases, it is a rocky depression of decent width, along the edges of which massive stone blocks hang. Due to the fact that it was raining and the dam was slightly open, the water in the canyon still flowed. Given the weather conditions, the view seemed very gloomy and sullen. But despite that, we really liked it here.

We climbed a little along the canyon and its banks and headed to Petrozavodsk, where we expected to visit the Kizhi reserve. But there we were disappointed: by the time we arrived at the river station, there were no more flights to Kizhi. The rain didn’t stop and we decided it was best to come back the next day. Since it was not possible to search for a parking place, we took a little walk along the embankment and returned to the already familiar Kivach hotel, in order to return tomorrow and visit Kizhi. Of course, in the morning we again arrived in Petrozavodsk and took tickets for the first flight (one of the two). With the weather, too, the sun shone in the sky. Meteor-9 reached the island in an hour. I did not want to cross with tourist groups at all, so it was decided to start the inspection from the far cape of the island. It was very interesting to look at the monuments of wooden architecture – a small “poor man’s house”, a huge “peasant’s house”, a mill and a church with many domes, built in its time without a single nail, utensils, which were used by peasants and blacksmiths every day. It is a pity, but time was catastrophically short, so we managed to see only the main part of the reserve, and then urgently return to the Meteor-9, which returned us back to Petrozavodsk exactly on schedule.
Now you can go back home...