Winter trekking in the Chegem gorge

We are going to explore the surroundings of the winter village of Bulungu. 

First of all, we will discover Golden castles and a Stone mushroom. 

To see all these, you need to climb a little above the village of Bulungu.

The Stone Mushroom is our first interesting location. 

In this place, nature has created a huge mushroom, on the cap of which interesting pictures are obtained. 

There is also an excellent observation deck, from where we will look at the future locations of our winter tour to Chegem — the village of Eltyubyu and Mount Zinki.

Next, we will walk through a small forest and climb to the Golden Remnants. 

Golden castles or outliers are huge sand figures that seem to grow on top of a mountain. 

In sunny weather, they look spectacular, and on foggy days they look very mystical!

Active part: 14.5 km on foot, altitude difference 1620-2150 m, duration 6-7 hours.

Zinki is the most popular local peak. 

Its height is 2498 m and this mountain can be seen from anywhere in the villages of Bulungu and Eltuby. 

Even from our guest house we will admire this mountain every day!

There is a Chegem airfield on Zinki, where paragliders fly in summer. 

We will arrive at the location where these sky lovers live and start the walking route from here. 

We will smoothly climb the winter gorge, see the shepherd's kosh and by lunch we will go out to the spectacular Oko Chegem rock, or it is also called the Eye of Chegem. 

It is rumored that it is through this eye that the Zinki rock watches everything that happens around.

We will have lunch at this place and admire the surroundings. 

Despite the fact that we drove only a few kilometers from our village of Bulungu, the landscape around us will change very much: we will see very beautiful, sharp rocks, and in the distance the inviting mountains of the Aktoprak pass will be visible.

Active part: 8.7 km on foot, 1500-2050-1660 m, duration 6-7 hours.

We take off-road vehicles to the distant gorges, drive towards the Main Caucasian Ridge. 

Today we will see Mount Tihtengen — it is a four-thousand-meter high 4611 m. 

This mountain immediately attracts the eye and you immediately realize that he is the owner of this gorge.

We will go to the foot of this mountain to see and taste the Chegem narzan. 

Narzan is water that comes straight from the ground, has a small mineralization and is saturated with useful trace elements. 

Then, according to the tour program, we go to the neighboring Bashil gorge to see the largest waterfall of these places. 

The waterfall of hunter Abai has a height of 78 m!! 

But you have already realized that in winter all waterfalls freeze and turn into icefalls. 

In addition, here we will see the basalt rock, which looks very impressive, and in some places resembles a mountain organ.

Active part: 10.8 km on foot, height differences within 150-200 m.

Today we will go to the Aktoprak pass. 

Along the way, we will make several photo stops to admire the mountains and endless expanses. 

In this place, the instructor will tell you the legend of untold treasures and about the secret passage that once existed in these places.

And then we go to the lake, which is called Lake Baikal in the Caucasus! 

We go to Lake Gizhgit, which freezes completely in winter. 

There is little snowfall in this area, most often the surface of the lake is open and looks like a huge ice rink.

After taking a walk near the lake, we go further to the village of Eltyubyu. 

We will see:

• the tower of love and a bonus to hear the legend about it;
• The snow-white mosque;
• a book in stone with poems by the Balkarian poet;
• The Fardyk-Keshene necropolis, where there are huge octagonal crypts.

Active part: 5 km on foot, drops within 100 m, duration 6-7 hours.

In the morning we set off on our way back.

12:30-13:30 Arrival in Mineralnye Vody (airport, railway station), departure home.

Depending on the weather conditions, the physical condition of the participants and other factors, the route of the hike may be changed.