It has been almost two years since we visited Kamchatka, and we still cannot help talking about it all the time. Perhaps, this is the most cosmic place out of all places we have seen. Today, we are publishing our final story – on the horse riding around the town of Esso, towards the lake Ikar.
Horse Riding.
Esso is an ideal hub to see many Kamchatka beauties, and many people go there to reach Tolbachik volcano then. We fell in love with Tolbachik too, yet, there is a lot to see around Esso as well. In Esso, there is a museum and the open hot swimming pool created by the hot springs.
Having walked around quite a lot, we decided to go for the horse ride around Esso. It was not that easy to organize it on Sunday morning when the horse owners were not replying the phone calls and the farms offering horses were just empty. Some phones of horse owners (perhaps, you are luckier): 89619650940 (Andrei), 89140242396 (Masha), 891478530308 (Sasha). Finally, we reached Ruslan (89147898967), and he agreed to make an excursion for us.
We started off to Ikar lake – by three horses with Ruslan, the foal of one of the horses, and the dog who was supposed to smell the bear (Ruslan even told that we may see bears on the road, but we were happy not to see them). We waded across the river for several times, it did not feel too pleasant. Ruslan tied Nastya’s horse to his horse. He told that once a tourist fell down from the horse into the river, his foot got hooked in the stirrup and he was hanging with his head down in the river. Ruslan had to save him. Another danger may come in case the horses sees or smells a bear, gets scared, and starts running. In this case you have to keep in the saddle as strong as you can.
The road went through the forest, and it was quite passable for the feet, the quad bikes, and the horses.
There are many beautiful flowers and mushrooms on the way, a lot to picture. Ruslan told that once he brought the tourists to the place in which ginseng, a very expensive medicine, grows. They marked the place on their GPS, returned there, and cut the ginseng. Since then, Ruslan does not bring tourists to see ginseng.
Lake Ikar.
Finally, we reached the observation point opening excellent views to the river valley and lake Ikar.
Ruslan told that on the other side of the river, further away, there are Evenks living and herding their reindeers. The Evenks collect and process fly agaric mushrooms so that they become edible, but also bring hallucinations. The Evenks eat these mushrooms on purpose, as then they may see what happens to their herds, even in case the herds are behind the hill. Such hallucinations they have, believe it or not 🙂
Around the lake many trees are burnt due to the recent fire.
Nature.
After visiting the observation point, we went down and stopped for food.
Ruslan collected many different herbs and flowers and made tea out of them.
He made birch spoons for us.
Esso.
The way back was even merrier.
Then we stopped at other hot springs offering both mineral water for drinking and healing water for bathing.
This was the end of the excursion and we returned to Ruslan’s stable. The horses were very happy.
We returned home and enjoyed another Kamchatka miracle in the evening – splendid grilled fish. We still remember Kamchatka fish and caviar, as no other place we have been to may boast of that good fish products.
That is how our Kamchatka trip ended: the next day we returned to Petropavlovsk and then flew back home. If you are still thinking whether to visit Kamchatka or not, there is nothing to think about. We have not seen that fantastic views in any other place in the world.
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