May 25th 2016  Bucket list day!

Me and Lindsay flying high and loving it!

Wednesday 25 will remain a very special and memorable day for us - a day of firsts and realised dreams. Volcanoes, helicopter rides and bears. After a slightly anxious start waiting to hear if we could make it over the Peninsula's volcanoes and into the Valley of Geysers - the entrance to the valley is narrow so winds are a problem and fog is the other huge problem, we lifted off at 1pm! But prior to lift off we were treated to a tour of Petropavlovsk (PK) which gets its name from its two patron saints - St Peter and St Paul. The origin of the name Kamchatka is not so clear - some say it was named by the early exploring Cossacks because the mountains looked like folds of rich brightly coloured velvet (in its autumn colours), others say it is based on an aboriginal word the meaning of which I don't recall exactly, but something like 'people from this place'. Regardless it is a quite special part of the world. It's the eastern defense line of Russia nationally and politically, but is geographically astonishing and stunningly beautiful. It attracts the world's top volcanologists, biologists and geologists as well as snow-sport enthusiasts, serious hikers, white water rafters, bird watchers and and and .....  The Provence attracts 40-50,000 tourists each year half of which are Russian. 

Flying in to the valley via snow-encrusted corridors

We munched on statistics and exotic-sounding names most of the day but remember few - our guide Elaini was very knowledgeable about Kamchatka and very passionate about her home. She's a lecturer in tourism at the Kamchatka Uni and has traveled extensively often on specialised trips with people such as wild life photographer Mark Brazil (Birds of East Asia) and the like.  Fortunately for us she is passionate about the natural world and we looked at tiny violets, dwarf Japanese cedar, alder trees sprouting their sweet smelling catkins, dwarf willow, stone birch, wild grasses, ferns and curious herbage that grows only in the hot acidic waters and mud of volcanic regions. A botanist's dream place. 

Our helicopter was a 4 seater and was very 'cozy' but it afforded us an almost panoramic view. Our pilot Alexi was very skilled and so we felt safe the whole time. The winds were a bit blustery so the ride was a little bumpy as our little bubble of 'glass' and metal was tossed about, but that made it feel so much more real and exciting. We communicated through headphone speakers because the noise level is really high - the blades are only feet above your head after all! Lindsay bravely sat in the front with all that nothingness under him. What a star but it was his 70th birthday present albeit 2 odd years late so he got to be in the birthday chair!

Ash-coated snow

We flew through valleys and along side towering, and not so towering, volcanoes - hard to believe that we were right there so close to the rugged crags of live volcanoes.  There's a few hundred on the Peninsula but at the moment only about 30 active ... wow! We saw a couple like sleeping dragons breathing out plumes of gas/smoke/steam and one which, although not active yesterday, is perpetually black and 'smooth' because it constantly spews out black ash.  The snow for miles around is grey - mind boggling really.  We saw foot prints of bear leaving bizarre tracings in the snow on the slopes and we were told that a mother and a couple of cubs were found wandering inside the rim of one crater. 

So they do venture up pretty high, but concentrate around the many rivers during the salmon season gorging themselves on fish until around October when they seem to only eat the roe - they stand on the fish and squirt the eggs into their mouths, clever things. They also eat the brains - all high fat and protein food to last them through winter. The rest of the time they live on cedar nuts, berries and meadow sweet (or some herbaceous plants like that).

We were surrounded by volcanoes - what an awesome spectacle. We learnt about the 5 different types of volcanoes on Kamchatka and in fact saw all 5 so we felt very lucky. The destination of the flight, the Valley of Geysers 200 from PK, was discovered by a woman geologist back in 1941. 

Valley of Geysers - you had to be there

The valley is quite beautiful - green and lush with a river barreling through it, valley walls variously coloured with smears of sulphur and other minerals deposited by the many geysers and springs that dot the walls of the entire valley. Then further up the slope there are pools of blue water, gorgeous to look at but quite toxic, mud pots of various sizes plopping away like saucepans of simmering chocolate custard but to be avoided at all costs. Steps! I lost count but Lindsay reckons we walked down into the valley from where we landed an equivalent height of a 20 story building (I survived it with the help of few puffs from my puffer). We descended, walked, then ascend half way, wandered some more - and then we saw him.  A beautiful brown bear about 20-30 metres away grazing quietly. What an amazing experience! We felt sort of safe as we had a ranger with us to protect us and the bears - he carried a gun just to scare them off. Incidentally we saw 7 bears throughout the day.

Bear and us - we shared the paths!

I could write a book on the whole wonderful day, but maybe later.  On the way back, we stop in another valley where there are hot springs.  Unsurprisingly, there are hot springs all over the place but this string of pools has been made accessible and a lodge built for people to visit the area. Still very rugged and basic but totally delightful.  We had a bit of a float in the warm sepia water watching the sky fade and the snow take on the faintest blush of pink. By this time it was about 8pm - and mozzies about the size of our helicopter were starting to dine on us! so we clambered out of the pool and back into the chopper to head home for a very late supper and then to fall into bed completely exhausted but feeling totally replete. And this is just the start of our Russian odyssey! Next .........

National Park - just us and the view!