Three Volcanoes

The Valley of Geysers is a unique natural site located in The Kronotsky Reserve in a vast gorge and Geysernaya river flowing along it. All forms of geothermal activity can be found here within 6 kilometers, including active and pulsing boiling springs, hot lakes, mud pots, and small volcanoes, steam jets, hot fields, and, of course, geysers. The Valley of Geysers is very picturesque, an incredible mosaics is created by multicolored clay, weird in structure and in hue geyserites structures, thermophilic algae, and profuse greenery of grasses.

Karymsky volcano is located in the central part of the Eastern volcanic belt of Kamchatka. It is a 1,536 meters height typical stratovolcano with a regular cone. Nowadays it is one of the most active volcanoes in the world with 20 eruptions for the last 215 years. Now it is in process of activation of its new volcanic cycle. The latest eruption started on 2nd January 1996 and is still going on. Each 5-15 minutes it throws out gas and ash 300-1,000 meters above its crater.

The Bystraya River (Malkinskaya) is a mountain river of 2nd difficulty level. While rafting travelers will be surrounded by mighty mountains of the Sredinny Range, islands covered with lush greenery and by untouched serene beauty of nature.

The territory of Paratunka hot geothermal springs – is a health and resort zone of Kamchatka. Several health resorts and a great number of recreation bases function nowadays. Here you can relax and recover in hot thermal waters.

Viluchisky volcano is situated to the south-west of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski. The volcano is extinct. It elevates 2,175 m. above the sea-level. In winter it is a good place for alpine skiing and snowboarding. In the south-east part of the foot there are hot springs. In summer there is a beautiful forty meters waterfall at the foot. The top of the volcano is cut on the western part and on its top the huge rocks elevate, separated by accumulation of ice and granular snow. Lava and pyroclastics which make these rocks are changed in variegate colors, possibly, by the fumaroles activity not so long ago. Slopes of the volcano are cut by deep barrancoses (ravines), descending radially from the top or from the middle of the slope. The space of the upper ones is filled with ice and granular snow.

Mutnovsky volcano is one of the biggest volcanoes in the south of Kamchatka. It has a complex structure and a long history of development. The volcano (2,323 m.) is made up of four merged cones with top calderas. The most astonishing thing that differs the ascent on Mutnovsky volcano from other ones is that the path goes in the break inside the volcano itself! While trekking you feel as if you are in the center of the Earth, it seems, one moment and hot lava breaks out from the ground! A majestic picture of an active crater opens to a traveler from the top of Mutnovsky volcano. Inside a deep hollow there are big hissing fumaroles, which collars are the bright yellow color builds of sulphur crystals, hot boiling mud pots, boiling small lakes and geysers. The whole this exotic is surrounded by rocks with overhanging blue glacier; everything bubbles, hisses, spits hot splashes and steams. After the latest earthquake of 2000, a huge glacier in the crater of Mutnovsky volcano partially melted, forming a crater lake of deep-turquoise color. It freezes in winter and melts late in July, stripping its surface from the shield ice. A small river Vulcannaya, springs from the crater of volcano, streams along the lava field and falls into a deep Opasny (“Dangerous”) canyon, forming a waterfall of 80 meters height. This place is awesome in its beauty!  

The body of an active Gorely volcano gives a truly breathtaking sight! In the past, the upper part of a big ancient shield volcano lowered, forming a 13 kilometers caldera, from its bottom by chain of craters intensive eruptions started. Some craters merged with one another while these eruptions. As a result, an unusual ridge-shaped massif of complex strata-volcano now elevates from the top of a vast caldera. On the upper part of the volcano there are 11 craters of various size and form! Besides, inside and outside the caldera more than 10 smaller side slag craters and lava cupolas appeared. The volcano is unique in its beautiful collection of different craters on its upper part. Some of them are filled with multicolor lakes, some with snow and ice, and in crater Active fumaroles are permanently steaming!

Avacha Bay is known as the biggest and one of the most beautiful bays in the world. Surrounded by hills and snow-white mountain tops it is capable to hold the world fleet! Boat-trip is a good possibility to observe eared seals, kalans (sea otters), fur seals, and perhaps beauty killer-whales cleaving endless space of the Pacific Ocean. A great number of birds are nesting on the island, such as red-faced cormorant, glaucous-winged gull, fulmar, tufted puffin, pigeon guillemot and many others. These islands are also the place of habitat for a rare Sea-eagle –it’s the biggest eagle in the world. Smaller bays have their own unique outlines and rocks have their own legends. For instance at the entrance to the ocean you can take a picture of “Gates of the town” – these are three rocks, elevating above water. Also the rocks are called “Three brothers” They say, ones brothers rose to defend Petropavlovsk and turned into stone protecting the coastline from tsunami. All this and a majestic panorama of Avacha Bay with a crown of Viluchinsky volcano top will leave in your hearth an incredible impression!