Caucasus 12-23 August 2021
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Day 7. Syltran pass.
This was a long day, we crossed Syltran pass and descended far into the valley, so that next day we would quickly get to Vekhniy Baksan.
The blue line shows our track. Shift-click on the track link will open it in nakarte.me.
We got up early in the morning and by 7 am were already on the other side of the river. The children were carried across.
A mountain above our camp resembled a castle.
The Syltran pass is getting closer and closer. We are looking at a group of wild goats on the ridge.
Voruta pass with Mkyara glacier behind it.
The Syltran pass.
Olya is writing a message to leave in the cairn.
We had lunch at the Syltran-kol lake.
There were quite a few tents around the lake - but until this moment we hardly saw any people. The wild goats are attracted by the litter left by the hikers.
We went down into the Syltransu valley. We came across quite a few people here, from large groups to families to sole hikers.
Red screes are in striking contrast with green grass.
The Baksan valley is far down. We got to the tree line and set camp on a clearing by a steep gorge (just on the left from a wooded knoll in the centre of the picture). We knew of this place from another group's description, they promised a great camping spot by the river but forgot to mention the gorge... We had to go back and forth to the river crossing to get some water for cooking.
Victor and Masha thought that they saw a hummingbird, but when we found this creature again, it turned out to be a Hawk moth.
Hawk moth at work.
Our camping spot. We marked the edge of the cliff with walking sticks and warned the children not to get near it. Anya is cooking mushrooms which we picked earlier.
An evening by the fire. Tomorrow we will be back in the civilised world.
