New Year holidays in Altai

On this day we will see the most beautiful places of lower Katun.

First, let's take a walk to the Kamyshlinsky waterfall. The total height of the waterfall is about 12 meters.

In winter, the rock from which the water falls is covered with a thick crust of turquoise ice. The waterfall continues to roar under the ice.

All around, all the trees and rocks are usually covered with a thick layer of frost, creating a picture from Russian folk tales about the snow maiden.

After the waterfall, we drive towards the village of Chemal.

Our next stop is "Blue Lakes".

This is a non-freezing reservoir with the clearest water right on the shore of Katun.

Open water "soars" in the cold, enveloping everything around with a dramatic fog.

After lunch, we will visit the island of Patmos in the middle of Katun, where there is a very colorful Orthodox church.

The island was consecrated in 1855, and later a temple was built on it. Metropolitan Macarius visited the island.

In the 1920s, the church was destroyed, and in 2000 it was rebuilt as the church of the Apostle John the Theologian.

There is a suspension bridge leading to the island, from which great photos are taken.

Then we will walk along the "goat" trail, between the monastery and another landmark of Chemal — the local hydroelectric power station.

The trail runs along the high bank of the Katun River and offers magnificent views.

Katun freezes incompletely and its turquoise water is visible between the snow-white ice floes.

Then we drive along the Katuni Valley to the Orokto Bridge.

The Katuni Valley is so beautiful that you can stop to admire nature literally every 5 minutes!

But the most beautiful thing awaits us in the area of the Oroktoy bridge.

The bridge is located in a very narrow Katuni Canyon. The width of the river here in some places is about 20 m!

All the shores are sheer cliffs that break into the water. There is usually a large pile of ice hummocks inside the canyon. In general, the sight is very worthy!

Today we continue an exciting trip along the Chui highway to the village of Ak-Tash.

The nature in these places is significantly different.

The practically non-freezing Katun flows along our entire path, and then the Chuya.

In Cherga we buy real mountain cheese, locally produced, with a quality that has been unchanged since the Soviet era.

We have lunch at the proven Barsugan cafe, opposite the Shaman Stone mountain, where, according to legend, the shaman Kanaa conducted her rituals.

Next, a long climb to the 1717m-high Seminsky pass.

There is a colorful local bazaar with souvenirs on the pass.

Then the road descends into the valley of the Ursul River.

There are many ancient mounds here, dating back to Scythian times and several thousand years old.

After the village of Ongudai, the serpentine road will begin to climb to the next, very beautiful Chike-Taman pass.

From Chike Taman there are excellent views of the serpentine roads and valleys below.

Every turn of the river creates an excellent observation deck, where we will certainly stop and take pictures.

Further, the Chuisky tract goes into the Katuni valley, where we will see the most beautiful rock bombs — Korguchub, Urkoshb with amazing sandy walls, Ayrytashb where the ancient Turkic fortress was located, Kyngyrarbom with the remains of an ancient road.

And the entire Katuni valley, where we are driving, consists of giant terraces, several hundred meters high, which appeared about 15,000 years ago as a result of catastrophic floods.

And of course, the most beautiful and large—scale place of power in this area is the confluence of the Chuya River with Katun. The place has been sacred among the Turkic peoples since ancient times.

The road along Chuya is no less beautiful. The river is rapid and does not freeze completely. The banks usually consist of ice hummocks, and the water of the river looks more like greenish-emerald ink, its color seems so unreal.

Let's stop at some of the most interesting places.

We arrive in Aktau in the late afternoon.

On this day we will reach almost the Mongolian border.

Perhaps this is the most beautiful section of the Chui tract.

Our first stop is at Geyser Lake.

The lake does not freeze in winter and is famous for its unreal water color. Thermal springs are beating at the bottom, keeping the lake from freezing, and they also create intricate drawings at the bottom of the reservoir.

Next we go to "Mars", the Kyzyl-Chin tract, famous for its Martian red landscapes.

These colors are due to the high content of various iron oxides. But visually, everything looks like the surface of an alien planet, which is probably why the first thing that comes to mind is the same as on Mars!

It is also not uncommon to find ancient fossils in this place, 200-300 million years old. At that time, this place was the bottom of warm shallow bays, literally teeming with all sorts of small animals.

Here we will admire the views of the Yuzhno-Chuisky ridge. 

We will have lunch in Kosh-Agach, where we will definitely visit a store with Mongolian goods made of camel wool, cashmere and yak wool.

On the way back, we will look at the observation deck of the North Chui Ridge to take large-scale panoramas. These are already really high mountains, snow and ice do not melt on them even in summer! It's going to be a very busy day!

We spend the night in Aktau, in a hotel.

In the village of Ak-Tash, we turn onto the road leading to the Ulagan pass.

Our first stop is the Red Gate, a narrow cleft in the reddish rocks through which the road passes.

There are many high-altitude lakes on the Ulagan plateau. The altitude is around 2000 meters, the landscapes here are more severe and majestic.

We will pass the district center of Ulagan, where there will be normal shops and you can buy something.

After the village of Balyktuyul, we will turn to the Pazyryk mounds, famous for their sensational finds, Scythian leaders who lived in these places 2500 years ago were buried here. The items found here are kept in the Hermitage.

Our goal for today is the Katu-Yaryk pass, descending into the Chulyshman Valley, an impressive serpentine. The pass offers stunning views of the valley.

We will definitely stop here to take unforgettable photos or just enjoy the greatness of nature and this place of power.

Depending on the time, we may go down to the Chulyshman valley and walk to the nearest waterfall. And the winter waterfall is an ice block of the most bizarre shapes.

On the way back, we will stop at the unusual museum — the "Russian ensign".

We will return to Aktau late in the evening.

First, we will stop at the waterfalls of the Ular tract.

Two powerful waterfalls are located in neighboring gorges and are arguing among themselves over which of them is more beautiful.

Then our way to Gorno-Altaysk passes along the road we already know.

First, along Chuya, where we will see the Kalbaktas sanctuary, with thousands of rock carvings. Some of the drawings are unique, not found anywhere else.

Chuya will also delight us with sparkling turquoise ice, frost on the trees and powerful ice hummocks along the shores. 

Then we are waiting for another waterfall, popularly called "Maiden's Tears", for a small amount of water flowing down from a sheer cliff.

In winter, the waterfall is almost unheard of, and instead of it, a huge, emerald, ice block hangs on the rock, very pretty.

Then we will have lunch at a proven cafe and drive further along the Chuisky highway along the Katun River.

We will inspect the old suspension bridge in the village of Inya. Soon this bridge will be 100 years old!

We will examine the ancient Ina steles, ritual stones standing vertically near the Scythian mound.

On the way, we stop and take pictures of interesting and simply beautiful places.

We spend the night at a warm tourist base in the Chemala area. 

The return home is scheduled for the next day.