Rafting on the Indigirka River. Through the gorge of delight and admiration!

Arrival in Ust-Nera is approximately at 11:00.

Preparation of catamarans for rafting.

On this day, you will have a rafting trip of about 15 km.

The parking place is selected depending on the water level on the Indigirka river.

After the rafting is completed, rest.

The length of the day crossing is 15 km.

On this day, you can navigate by the highest mountain, which will be visible downstream of the river. This mountain is Nyurgun-Tas. Today we have to reach the foot of this mountain.

The Indigirka is a river with a fast current. The schedule for the route to the Gate is calculated in such a way that you do not put too much pressure on the oars, i.e. not on the intensity of rowing.

The goal of the first days is to achieve team coordination, which is necessary to pass the thresholds of the Indigir Pipe.

The section up to the Indigir Gorge has no dangerous rapids — there are shivers and one small threshold in front of the village of Chuumpu Kytyl.

Overnight on the right bank, 6 km above the mouth of the Olchan river.

The length of the day crossing is 39 km.

On this day, along the route on the right bank, you will see the village of Predporozhny, the Yubileyny mine. The village is half-abandoned. In the 70s and 80s, life was in full swing here: there was a hospital, a school, and a cultural center...

In the 90s, with the decline of gold mining, due to the decrease in the value of gold, the village stopped working. Now the work is carried out in shifts.

Parking in front of the rock, popularly called "Horseshoe". At this point, the Indigirka woman, having met a mountain of solid granite on her way, made a big circle.

The length of the day crossing is 47 km.

Behind the Horseshoe there is another old settlement of gold miners — the village of Arga-Moi. Translated from Yakut, Arga-Moi sounds like a Western Neck.

After the settlement, the mountains temporarily recede from the river, small hills with flat fields appear, similar to the steppe prairies of the Yukon of Alaska.

The high granite banks cut off by a strong river complement the landscape with an unusual appearance, and the Inhali River, which abruptly appeared around the bend with a snow-white blanket of ice surrounded by high mountains, involuntarily causes delight and admiration! You won't see this anywhere else on our planet!

On the opposite bank of the mouth of the Inyali River, the Yechenka River flows into the Indigirka. Rafting to this place takes only half a day. Today we have planned a trip to the mountains in this amazingly beautiful place. Parking was planned just behind the rockery. Yechenka is 1.5 km away.

After lunch, climb the mountain. We don't have to reach the top of the mountain — the main thing is to enjoy the beauty from the higher points of this unique landscape.

You can take a snack for the evening and wait for sunset here.

The length of the daytime water crossing is 26 km.

Today our way lies to the Gates of the Indigirskaya pipe.

At the beginning of the rafting, stop at the Inyali ice. The glaciers here are spread over a large area. Surrounded by high mountains, it is one of the most beautiful places in Indigirka.

Chuumpu Kytyl village is located in the middle of the day route on the left bank.

Chuumpu Kytyl is translated from Yakut as "quiet coast". Here, the Indigirka seems to calm down before the decisive throw over the mountains of the Chersky range. At this place, on both sides of the river, there are convenient valleys with rich vegetation suitable for keeping cattle and horses, and for this reason our ancestors chose this place. The village is surrounded by high mountains.

The villagers are courageous, hardworking people with a calm northern character. Our company has been maintaining friendly relations with them for more than ten years, and each of our visits is a joyful event for the village.

We have lunch planned here, on the shore under the village.

There is a second name for the village — Tebyulyakh. Tebyulakh is an old Yakut name, meaning that the river has channels here. A short tour of the village, a meeting with the villagers — with our friends, with whom we have been in touch for more than ten years.

After Chuumpu Kytyl, the Indigirka river expands. In this area, it is easy to see how a person is changing nature in search of mineral wealth...

The parking lot is on the right on a high bank, from where the entrance to the gorge is perfectly visible.

The length of the day crossing is 57 km.

"It's amazing that such a large river can fit into this narrow gorge!" our famous Yakut traveler Georgy Tsypandin admired in 2010.

Indeed, the river narrows twice at this point! Here, the Indigirka made its way through the granite massifs of two ridges of the Chersky mountain system — Porozhny and Chemalginsky.

After entering the gorge, the first rapids immediately appear. This is where teamwork is needed.

In the 2010 campaign, tourists from the Czech Republic went with us under the leadership of Roman Mach. They were on small kayaks. There are daredevils who can cross the rapids in motorboats with small metal hulls. Catamarans are much more reliable in comparison, and the six-meter catamarans Arctic-600 were developed by the Free Wind company specifically for these rapids.

After 7 kilometers of rafting, the first stop. The famous Busika Rock and the five-meter high ice are located here. At this place, on the peaks of the mountains, you can see remnants of kisilyakh.

Parking at the mouth of the Chibagalakh river. There is a deep pit with clear turquoise water at the confluence of the river. Here you can perfectly fish for large grayling. It is better to set up camp on a terrace in the forest.

Day trip length: 25 km.

On this day, the passage of the strongest and most dangerous thresholds of Indigirka: the Ytabyt rapids and the Krivun threshold. If the thresholds can always be passed along the edge without burrowing into the main waves, then the curve will have to be passed, because it is even impossible to bypass the threshold.

The Krivun threshold is located near the mouth of the Kuellakh-Mustakh river and actually consists of three parts, which include separate rapids.

The first part consists of standing waves with a height of up to 2 meters in high water. It is not difficult to pass the threshold through the center with an experienced team.

The most dangerous part is the middle one.

In this area, at low water, rocky ledges appear along the entire width of the river. They narrow the river on both sides. Rocky outcrops appear in the middle of the river, and sometimes they are not visible from the shore. They divide the current into two powerful drains with barrels at the end. They are the "windows" of the threshold. Passage along the right drain.

It is not recommended to pass the threshold along the left bank, where the sharp ends of the rocky ledges can rupture the cylinders of catamarans.

When the water is high, you can only see high standing waves without barrels. The wave height is up to 3 meters.

Passing the threshold after careful exploration!

In the middle of the third section of the threshold there is a powerful barrel among the standing waves. The barrel is located in the middle of the river and can be bypassed from the left or right.

Parking at the mouth of the Chibagalakh River. People from villages located downstream sometimes come up here to hunt or fish.

Chibagalakh is a beautiful river surrounded by rocky mountains of white rock. Photographers from other regions come here specially.

Day trip length: 29 km.

The mountains here are rich in a variety of colors: the slopes of the mountains on the left bank are covered with yellow and bright maroon rocks, and the right bank is covered with an array of white rocks.

There are areas with rapids along the river, but they are not as strong and dangerous as before.

After 30 kilometers, the river comes out of the embrace of the mountains, calms down and begins to roll its waters evenly over the Mom Depression.

After leaving the mountains, parking at a convenient location.

The choice of parking depends on the water level on the river.

In this area, the Indigirka is different – it takes on the character of a flat river. The current calms down, and therefore it takes more energy to work with the oars.

Parking on one of the islands.

A cellular connection (Beeline) appears here, as the village of Sobolokh is located nearby on the right bank of the river.

Continuation of the rafting.

From here to the end of the route is 30 km.

They will meet us in Honuu.

Camping in the courtyard of a private house.

In the evening, the team will have to work on drying all the equipment.

Honuu Airport is located next to the village.

Transfer to the airport.

Departure.

The tour ends with arrival in Yakutsk. You can take tickets for departure the next day after the end of the tour.