Russian version can be found by the link + Videos of the hiking
Abvgat
I like to watch YouTube videos about hiking in the mountains or wild places, it helps to relax. In 2022, one cool hiker began to lead groups along unique routes where a person's foot steps less often than a bear's paw. I couldn’t imagine myself on the other side of the screen, and I didn’t think I would dare to join. But it was worth making an advance payment, and then everything went by itself. Two months of training, equipment revision and a taxi to the airport...
A week before the trip
The journey began from the city Abakan. For me, who lives in Voronezh and did poorly at school, it always seemed that behind the Ural Mountains there were only forests and somewhere very far away stood lonely Vladivostok. Even the flight to Siberia is impressive, I looked down and thought that soon I will be chasing bears somewhere there.
As it turned out, the small town of Abakan is very pleasant to live in. For such a small settlement there are many decent cafes, beautiful residential complexes are being built near the center, which one can only dream of in the European part of Russia.
The hike was planned for 14 days, so I flew to Abakan on the weekend a week before the departure in order to complete all work tasks.
The apartment had a contrast of modern technology and camping equipment.
And again I’m writing about work, let’s move on...
Day 0: Departure
On Saturday, July 1, 2023, Andrey (Abvgat) was supposed to arrive in Abakan by 4 p.m. I checked out of my room at 10 and Anton and I went shopping to buy everything we needed for the hike, or rather, everything that we ended up putting out of our backpack later.
I walked all the day with the backpack, at that time a 15-kilogram one, in the hope that this will give me a little additional preparation for the hike. We bought flashlights, orthopedic insoles, glasses, something else, but most importantly, a huge amount of pyrotechnics. Everything was taken from Anton when he was boarding the plane. I didn’t plan to buy anything until... The day before departure, Abvgat wrote us that on our way there is a carcass of a deer guarded by a bear. By 4 pm, with a 17-kilogram backpack, I was walking to the meeting point. Before leaving, all that remains is to buy perishable food, satisfy the Abvgat subscribers who rushed to take photos, eat hamburger, get into the car and buckle up.
It was dark when we reached the Snow Leopard camp - the last place to spend the night, where we could come to our senses and easily return home. But the guys and girls gathered bravely. Andrey gave us gifts, fed us in the dining room and put us to bed.
Day 1. Walk
We woke up early in the morning, quickly had breakfast, immediately went through our backpacks again, pressed the gas pedal to the floor and arrived to the start at... in general, at about 13 'am' we were already at the starting point. Fortunately, Abvgat made a delivery of rafting equipment and our backpacks were relatively light - 24-28 kg.
Andrey and Yura went to park the cars, and the five of us set off. If Abvgat says: “It’s better to wear wellingtons right away,” then this means that you need to go in wellingtons. After 300 meters I fell into a swamp and even got some mud inside my wellingtons. We walked through the first ford, changed into boots/sneakers and had a photo shoot while waiting for Andrey and Yura.
Then there was an hour of climbing to the pass. I still had a reserve of energy, which I had been collecting for years, and I ran ahead to rest longer at the pass. The first day was fabulous for me: I was full of energy, I could easily speed up, I didn’t want to eat, and even the heavy backpack didn’t pull me back.
On the approach to the pass, the path was blocked by a small snow patch.
At the pass we were met by park rangers on horseback. Thanks to their frequent movements through this territory, in the first two days we were able to follow an excellent path, not suspecting what a dwarf birch tree and a windfall were.
We quickly ran down from the pass and sat down to have a rest by the stream. The condition at that time was excellent, as if I had gone for a walk in a park. I wanted to run further without stopping. In the evening, a beam was waiting for us - a small building with a stove in which we could spend the night, but there were still 17 kilometers left to go. A couple of hours after the descent, we stopped for a snack, lit a fire, drank tea with lard and moved on. After lunch, fatigue began to set in, I wanted to sleep, and I no longer had the desire to run. The group began to stretch out a lot, Anton found it difficult to keep up the pace, we took a few kilograms from his backpack, after which the pace evened out and we set off again.
Andrey and part of the group ran ahead to light the stove, while Vova, Anton and I walked behind. It was dark, it was dripping a little and sometimes it wasn't obvious where to go, but we all made it to the beam successfully.
The guys lit the stove, and I immediately went to make a fire, I love this job. We ate and all of us lay down on the 4-bed bunks. It was cramped, but after a hard day it was a luxury apartment.
Day 2. The scariest day of my life
Back in Abakan, Andrey said that it had rained a lot, and he was worried that the water at the fords could be high. The horsemen at the 100-th pass also scared us, as the horses were flooded up to the bags that were hanging on them (that’s about up to my neck). We quickly lit a fire, ate, immediately sorted through our backpacks, washed the dishes, found walking sticks, and left at about 11 or 12 .
After half a kilometer, a raging mountain river awaited us, through which we had to cross. Andrey went first, determining the optimal transition trajectory. Yura and Alena followed him. Then I went, fell at the very beginning, dropped the stick, and came back for a new stick. Then Vova crossed over. And in the end, Anton and I moved under the supervision of Andrey. When I speak at conferences in front of a large audience, my mouth becomes dry, but I have never had this happen from fear for my life. During the transition, Andrey told me something about which stones to step on and which ones not to, but I could not answer anything, my mouth was simply dry and numb. As a result, we crossed three such fords and spent 2 hours on it. After falling into the water, the backpack got wet and gained 3-4 kilos.
The water temperature in the river was 5-7 degrees. The guys lit a fire so that those who had just crossed over, as well as Andrey, who was walking back and forth, could warm themselves.
The next 15 kilometers were boring - we just walked through the forest along the path and waited for the next ford. We approached the ford at about 7 pm, Andrey crossed it, staggering and shouting that we would definitely be carried away on it. Olya and I were in a panic and offered to put up tents and spend the night right here. Andrey encouraged us for a long time, Alena and Yura simply went to the other side and we had no choice but to follow them. I took 2 sticks and ran across to the other side in a couple of minutes. We spent an hour and a half thinking before this ford and it was already starting to get dark. Andrey said that there were only 6 kilometers left (in a straight line!!) and we would be at the cordon (house of park rangers). At that time it was somewhere around 8:30 - 9:00 pm, and we had to cover 6 kilometers at an average speed of 3 km per hour before midnight.
But these 6 kilometers were not the same as the last 15 to the ford, and there were not 6 of them, but about 8. The path went up sharply, then swamps began, then it turned out that we had to go through 2-3 more small fords at moonlight. My flashlight had run out, the other one was somewhere in the back of my backpack. But when we got to the houses at the cordon, everything was in the past. It’s good that I didn’t know that time what lay ahead...
Day 3. Break
Yura waited for the opportunity to go fishing, and he and Alena set out to look for fish places. Anton was completely tired during these 2 days and Andrey organized a horse ride for him from the cordon. We went to the lake, dried our things, and flooded the bathhouse. In general, we restored as much as possible.
We reached the lake, located about 3 kilometers away, in half an hour; without backpacks you wouldn’t notice such a distance. Anton caught grayling, which we fried in the evening along with Yura and Alena’s catch. Andrey took great photos for us.
Let's move on...
Day 4. Up, only up
The fourth day began with farewell to Anton, he remained to wait for the horses.
Andrey: “We’ll go to that pass, and on the way we’ll go to the waterfalls.” As I later learned, if Abvgat says that we are behind that mountain and points in some direction, then we should expect that we are going to the farthest mountain, and not the one you thought about.
On this day we walked only up, with the exception of descents to streams to get water. I found myself a comfortable stick that helped take some of the pressure off my knees.
As it turned out, in the next few days we had reconnaissance, that is, Andrey himself (and nobody in the world) had not yet walked this road, and it was difficult to estimate how much longer we had to go. Luckily today there was only one obstacle on the way besides the mountains.
From experience, we quickly ran across it and continued to move up.
The climb takes a lot of energy, after 4 hours of travel we stopped for lunch, and then there would be no opportunity to make a fire.
When we walked 6-7 kilometers and climbed about 700 meters (this is all approximately), it got colder and it began to rain. We had to change the plan a little and we went straight to the place where we spent the night, without going to the waterfalls. It was the right decision. I didn’t buy almost anything for the hike and took what was in the closet from previous walks in the Caucasus mountains.
"Let's move on, the finish line remains!" - said Andrey, and in about 3 hours, we reached the 'camp'. By that time we had already gained about a kilometer of altitude and continued to climb over the rocks. I was in shape, the day without fording was going well for me. Our goal was to get around the mountain. Imagine a conical pyramid that you need to get behind. You could walk a longer distance, but not climb, or you could climb higher and take a shortcut. Andrey, Olya, and I broke away, everyone walked along different roads, I walked more in a circle, Andrey and Olya walked across the top.
When we approached the descent, Alen, Yura and Vova were not visible. Andrey sent Olya and me down to look for a place for camp, and he himself went to look for the second part of the group. Olya “took spare legs out of her backpack” and after 10 minutes I didn’t see her anymore. An hour later we were all at camp.
It's approximately 9pm. We built a place for cooking, set up tents, had dinner and went to tent. Unfortunately, the forest zone is not coming soon and there will be no fire today...
Day 5. A short climb, and then hit the road
In the morning I didn’t understand what our plans were for the day. Andrey said something about camera traps, we had breakfast and went to look for them. Then we went to that mountain (remember what that means?). Yes, yes, to the one that is highest and farthest, fortunately without backpacks.
Vova slept at the foot of the mountain, I climbed 300 meters. During the climb, I began to understand that today was not a break day, we were just warming up before the walking day. My leg hurt very badly around the knee and I hobbled back to camp. In general, only Andrey, Olya and Yura reached the top.
We returned to the camp, had lunch, rested, I took painkillers and at 4 pm we left with plans to walk at least 15 km, and maybe 20 km.
The track was simple, with slight climbs sometimes. I really liked this transition, maybe because I took painkillers, but more likely because I could see far ahead and it was roughly clear where I had to go today. There were no obstacles on the way, except for local swampy places and one small ford.
After crossing a small pass, we found ourselves in the tundra and finally learned what a dwarf birch tree is and how to find a trail.
For most of the road, Andrey or Yura found an animal trail, but at times they had to make their way through the bushes, and the speed dropped to 0.5 km per hour. We walked again until dark. At some point, Andrey found a good path and ran ahead, I tried to keep up, my strength allowed me that day. We stopped somewhere in the middle of the valley which can be seen in the photo above. At first glance, it seems that it is impossible to pitch a tent in the tundra, but in some places there are small clearings of white moss, it is very soft and pleasant to sleep on.
Judging by the lighting in the previous photo, this is not a camp yet, but a short break. We usually arrived in the dark.
Unfortunately, we did not reach the forest area, but Yura was in the mood for a fire, and we tried. As it turns out, with proper skill and diligence, you can make a fire from a dwarf birch tree.
If you are walking along the tundra and see a fireplace, everything is fine, you are not glitching. The evening was long, no one suspected that tomorrow would be a little more difficult than today, and we had fun until sleep itself overtook us.
Day 6. The scariest day of my life
Same headline again? Well, it is true, that day was the scariest at that time. The day started out great: a sunny morning, beauty all around, a pass ahead and maybe we’ll reach the beams with a bathhouse. We left quite early, it was very hot and we wanted the clouds to cover the scorching sun. Be afraid of your desires...
We plan to go somewhere to the right of this sharp mountain (we will return to this photo later), there will be a pass and then a valley straight up to the beams.
Andrey went a little to the right, the others followed Yura from below. While the guys sat down to rest, I went forward and for some reason followed Andrey. After a while, I noticed that the others continued to go down. As a result, I gained an extra 150 meters of height and then dropped it back. But nevertheless, I felt good.
Andrey ran ahead, I followed him about 300 meters, and then the rest of the group, the sun was scorching and I didn’t want to raise my head, you just walked along, looking for which stone was best to step on.
Suddenly Andrey runs somewhere in the distance and yells: “A bear is running towards you, where you look!”
I was the closest to the bear, although it was relatively far away, about 100 meters, but it continued to slowly approach. We screamed, he was afraid, stood up on his hind legs, but came closer. Andrey said that the bear needs to go home through the pass and we are blocking his way. We stepped aside, became quiet and followed him with our gaze to the pass, which we ourselves then had to climb.
The pass turned out to be very simple, we climbed up in about 30 minutes, there we found a note from 2006.
After meeting the bear, I lost my enthusiasm; I wanted to move on, somewhere far away, and maybe tomorrow I’ll forget about it. But the guys were full of energy and decided to write a note from our group.
Do you think the bear made this day the worst? We move on, as it turned out we weren’t going at this pass, we just needed to change the batteries in the camera trap, and then we had to go along the ridge to another pass. Remember the morning photo, where I wrote that we were somewhere to the right of a sharp mountain, and so there from behind we could see the entire ridge which, as it turned out, we needed to go through.
In this photo you can clearly see how abruptly in some places it was necessary to climb over huge stones, it’s good that the sun was shining and the stones were dry... But no, the sky became overcast and it began to rain. We got out onto a flat area and waited out the rain under the awning.
The sun came out again and we continued upward. But before we get the summit, all the recently spilled water evaporated, gathered in clouds and began to pour out again. Only this time in the form of hail.
We sat under the tent and counted the seconds between thunder and lightning, it was 12 seconds, then 7, then 3, then flashes sparkled from all sides and the thunder played along with them, almost without stopping.
And we... just sat under the tent, although not everyone remained so positive
Andrey ran to the ridge to see what awaited us ahead.
“Where did you go to, if I may ask?' said Thorin to Gandalf as they rode along.
To look ahead,' said he.
And what brought you back in the nick of time?'
Looking behind,' said he.
And there was something on the way that Andrey didn’t like and we sitting under the tent wondered what kind of difficulties awaited us.
At 5 p.m., the hail turned to light rain, and we had no choice but to move on along the slippery rocks into the unknown. And a cliff awaited us, pressed on one side by a rock.
Fortunately, the fearless Yura was with us, who handed over all the backpacks to Andrey, we climbed over and moved on. My mouth was dry again from fear. I dropped the bottle into a cliff, so I drank from the puddles of melted hail.
About an hour later we arrived at the place where we started our descent.
Well, the scariest day is coming to an end, but this is only by the hour, not by the sensations. It was about 7pm and we began our descent. Yura and Alena fell behind, and the rest followed Andrey. Yura decided to take a risk and went a different route. From where we stood, it was not clear whether it was possible to pass there or whether there was a cliff. But he was lucky and after 30-40 minutes he and Alena were already on the ground. I saw them when I could no longer go back. I along with the other participants in the hike continued to descend along the moving stones. Several stones slid down onto Olya, boulders weighing 30 kilograms flew from under my feet 5-10 meters down. Andrey descended quickly enough and guided us from below. After an hour and a half of descending on all fours, we were at the bottom. I was wet all the way down to my underpants, it was very cold, it was unclear where to sleep and what would happen tomorrow, but I was filled with happiness from the fact that I was standing on a flat surface, the likelihood of returning home increased significantly. We could see trees in the distance, and we dreamed of getting to them to make a fire and at least dry clothes and boots out a little.
Andrey came forward and led us all the way to the place where we made a camp. Very soon it got dark, we entered a dwarf birch tree and could not find the path. On the other side of the river, the forest zone had already begun and the only right decision was made - to wander the river and get up. The time was around midnight, after 12 hours of travel, wet, hungry, we approached a fast river and crossed it, as if it were a puddle on an asphalt road.
Day 7. Go to the bathhouse
The next morning, I was in an incomprehensible mood, I really wanted to go home, just so that I could pick it up and move in an instant. As usual, we 'quickly' got ready, lit a fire, cooked food, ate..... and left at about 11 am. Fortunately, the transition was short and somewhere 12 kilometers away, beams with a bathhouse were waiting for us. This was very motivating; if there was another pass ahead, I would have completely wilted.
In the background you can see the pass from which we descended yesterday.
All day we made our way through the dwarf birch tree. Yura found animal trails that were lost after each stream.
Halfway through the journey, a downpour hit us, which we waited out under the cedars with a fire and tea.
We walked further wet, all the water from the trees and bushes remained on us, but after yesterday it was a walk in the park. It was still dark when we reached the beams; we just had to avoid getting killed by jumping over the last river.
On the way we picked wild garlic, had a delicious dinner and went to bed.
Day 8. Break
The break day is the most anticipated day of the hike, but the impressions are minimal. I went to wash my clothes
I washed it right here
We ate, went to the bathhouse, slept a few times, well, in general, a break day, and moved on.
Day 9. Let's go visit Misha
Misha is a Russian name. Bear in Russian Medved, and usually we call bears misha. To scare away the bears we shouted all the way Misha we are coming
During the preparing boats and food, Andrey did not manage to get to the place where it was planned to start the rafting, so our final part of the route changed a little, and it just so happened that the rest of the route would also be reconnaissance, that is, Andrey did not go through most of this road. But today we have about 80% of the known road, and it was calming.
To be honest, there is nothing special to tell, we walked along, climbed a small pass, and descended not into the valley we were supposed to go to according to plan, but into the neighboring one. We were starting to be pressed for deadlines, everyone had to go to work on Monday-Tuesday and we wanted to get to the drop off in a couple of days, but these were grandiose plans that we did not implement.
At lunch, Andrey pulled out a surprise from backpack - a large pack of M&M's. These are not the M&M's that you eat in a chair, these are M&M's in the taiga after 2 weeks of travel.
While descending into the valley, we met a huge bear, he saw us and immediately ran away, and in this place that we set up camp...
Day 10. The other side of the pass
In the morning we got ready and went to the last pass. The thought that today we could reach the final point created euphoria; we wanted to run all day and all night. When we approached the pass, Andrey took out the tracker and began to look for an alternative route. The pass seemed very difficult.
And we went in the other direction, it was easy to go up, although it took more than an hour, but the descent remained a mystery. Andrey reassured us that if there was a difficult descent, we would follow the ridge to that pass... But the plan in which the word ridge appears could not reassure me.
There was no (ТУР don't know how it is in English. Small buildings made of stones on a summit or pass where people leave notes) at the pass, we built ours and wrote a note.
And somewhere down there we need to go. In fact, it was difficult for the first 10 minutes, and then there was a descent along moving stones, if you didn’t have to be careful not to kill someone with the stones below, the descent would have been completely simple.
Half an hour later everyone was passed it.
A beautiful lake awaited us in the valley, near which we had lunch.
All that was left to do was to walk about 25 kilometers through the forest. But not like on the first or second day, but without a trail. We even had thoughts that we were ready to do it today.
The backpacks were already empty and weighed less than 15 kilograms, so we just ran for the first 5 kilometers, I think the pace was about 4 km per hour. Then more and more windbreaks began to appear. Walking became difficult, and most importantly, boring.
Crossing a powerful river invigorated me a little
After that, we ran a couple more kilometers and stood by the river.
That day we walked 27 kilometers, including a pass and a couple of difficult tributaries. Shortly before the camp I fell and broke my knee. I didn’t really want to deal with the fire and cook dinner. But still I overcame myself. I never thought that I wouldn't want to make a fire some evening.
I’m standing in shorts and a jacket because my knee has been treated with an antiseptic.
Day 11. In search of food
There were only 12 kilometers left before the final camp, but the road was expected to be difficult. We set out at about 11am, as usual. The rubble of huge trees did not allow us to move quickly, but walking only 12 km after 27 km was a piece of cake.
A new problem appeared - ticks, you had to constantly examine yourself, not unfasten your clothes and preferably walk in a hood. The next control point was a hut 5 kilometers from our camp. We constantly lost the path and sometimes moved slower than 1 km per hour.
After passing the first hut there were about 4 kilometers left until the next one. I didn’t have a tracker, and I almost never asked how far we had walked and how much was left, so it was very convenient for me to go with checkpoints in the form of huts.
After the second hut there were several kilometers left. We continued to advance at a speed of just over one kilometer per hour. Only by sunset we saw our final destination, after which we would no longer need to carry backpacks, maybe never in our lives.
In this hut, packrafts, paddles, helmets and a variety of food were waiting for us. After three, maybe five, good dinners, we retired to our sleeping quarters.
Day 12. Inflate packrafts
We ate until lunch, then had lunch and started getting ready. We took all our things and packrafts to the beginning of the rafting, had another snack there and got ready for the second part of the route.
We had to sail about 20 km to the planned place for night down the river, at a speed of about 10 km per hour. We left in the evening, around 4pm or 5pm. Nobody, apart from Abvgat, I had never sailed on packrafts before, and some had no experience at all in rowing with one oar. But the trip turned out to be more scary than difficult.
Although there was a small incident... Basically, we swam after each other so that everyone would follow the same trajectory, but we got into a conversation with Vova, and in one difficult place I continued to sail like everyone else, and Vova fell into the seething water and capsized. The splash-proof skirt of the packraft is tightly fastened with velcro, and when you are hanging upside down and hitting your helmet on the rocks, it is quite difficult to unhook. Vova only surfaced to take a breath of air, but after a minute everything was done. Vova surfaced and grabbed Andrey’s packraft, who was staying nearby. Vova’s oar floated past me, I picked it up and tried to sail to the shore, but it was awkward to swim with two oars in my hands, and I didn’t understand where to put the second one.
As a result, I laid it diagonally and was able to moor, Vova got into his packraft, took the oar and we swam further.
Day 13. Blowing away the packrafts
The next day we sailed a lot again. In the middle of the road, our river flowed into the Small Abakan and the number of rapids decreased. Sailing became even more difficult, the river no longer carried as much, and I had to row more. After many hours, we sailed to the final point of our route, where Andrey’s motor boat was waiting for us
Day 14. City Day
In fact, Andrey was planning to order another boat, but since Anton, who had gone home on the 4th day of the trip, was no longer with us, it became possible to fit everyone in Andrey’s boat. We spent the night in houses at some camp site, threw our things into the boat and sailed to Abaza. The sun was hot, we sometimes splashed ourselves with water, but it was not cold.
Finally I could look around and not be afraid that I was being drawn into a stone.
Due to the large weight of the boat, gasoline was consumed faster than expected, and when we sailed to Abaza, there were a few grams left, which would be enough for half a kilometer. Andrey turned off the engine, we took out the oars and began rafting again. While we were fussing with the oars, we almost flew into a stone, but at the last moment we avoided it.
Andrey started calling taxis so that someone would pick us up at the pier along with the boat, but everyone refused. It turned out that it was a city day in Abaza and boat competitions were taking place on our way. Defiant Abakan carried us straight to the crowd of spectators watching the competition. But everything worked out, we swam to the pier, started the engine and successfully landed in the planned place.
When Anton, having left our group on the 4th day of the hike, reached Abaza, he ordered us a banquet. So straight from the pier we went to the Kedr cafe to enjoy forgotten tastes.
After the banquet, Andrey and Yura went to Snow Leopard to get cars, and we went to the hotel.
Day 15. Leaving
Everyone went home. Yura, Alena and Olya set off on a long journey by car, and Andrey drove Vova and me to Abakan. Andrey and I went to the dining room, and I wandered into a rented apartment. There were no plane tickets to Moscow, so I stayed in Abakan until Tuesday.
Why is all this?
Why do people go hiking? Why do they climb 8-thousanders? Why do people have children, go to work and wake up in the morning?
My answer: Because this is our life.
I usually try to find rational reasons for everything. Okay, let's see. In 2023, I traveled a lot to different countries. None of this left the same impressions as the hike, which, by the way, was relatively inexpensive. Few? Ok, no steak can compare with pasta and stew after a day of walking made on a fire. No long island can compare with Zuko after a week of walking. Hiking is a way to return your taste buds to their original state and enjoy all the tastes again. Would you like to lose weight without denying yourself sweets? And again, the hike solves this problem: on average, the guys lost 10% of their weight.
Hiking with Abvgat may not be what you expect if you followed the routes from travel agencies. Imagine that you want to get to wild places where tourists don’t go, but you don’t understand how to do it, you’re afraid of getting lost or being eaten by a bear. So, a hike with Andrey creates just such an opportunity. They will take you to these places, point you in the direction and drag you through the most dangerous areas. But you have to go on your own, drag things, cook food, look for a path, and for a moment you can imagine that you are walking alone.
The only reason why I may not go to similar tests next year is because my family will worry, but otherwise, I would repeat.
Find videos on the channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TbieqDL8ZM&list=PLuI6UOGGkfcbckzVFvxkOQhqrMqpPQRDB&index=2