Kchr uchkulan mahar distance km. A trip to the maharskoe gorge. A trip to the Mahara Gorge: what you need to take

I don't like to write, so it's very short.
So, we are again in Karachay-Cherkessia. We pass Karachaevsk.By the way, landscapes of unreal beauty begin after Karachaevsk and become more beautiful with every kilometer.
In the upper reaches of the Kuban River, at its confluence with the Uchkulan River, there is a valley of the same name. There are the ancient Karachay villages of Kart-Dzhurt, Khurzuk and Uchkulan, inhabited hundreds of years ago. It seems that life here is the same as it was a hundred years ago. In a good way. Measured, calm, untouched by civilization, the life of a mountain village. Rarely passing cars return to reality.

From the villages further along the valley to the mountains there is a wide and very long grader road. This road will lead to a few and sparsely populated tourist bases. In this place there is a branching into the Mahar Gorge with the Mahar River and the Gondarai Gorge with the Gondarai River. Further off-road.
We turned to Mahar. Ahead of the frontier posts and access control (we took care of obtaining a pass in advance).
The plan was to drive our UAZ as high as we could, but preferably to the second frontier post (we tick the box, but most likely we won’t go there by car, ha ha). And then on foot higher and higher up to mountain lake(but here, unfortunately, there is nothing to brag about, pedestrian travelers among us are useless; we excuse ourselves by the fact that a thunderstorm began, and we had to go down, although there was absolutely nothing left to the goal).
So, steep climbs, large stones on the road, cliffs, seven fords (impassable in full-flowing rivers) and breathtaking views!!!
Speaking of fords. They pulled out some daredevil on a regular Oise from the river. He didn't start his engine again. This means that you always need to evaluate your strengths in advance and think about where and why you are going.
I'm done with writing. Look!

.


.


.


.
.

.


And we swam in this waterfall.


Mountain cows graze freely on the slopes, chewing juicy environmentally friendly grass, washing it down with the purest river water.


.


.


.


.


.


.


And here we are on foot.


.


.


Glacier water.


Why not alpine meadows?!


.


.


.


It was here that we were forced to interrupt our journey due to a thunderstorm. And then - a lower descent, help to a sinking UAZ, a long-awaited halt.
The next day we return back by the same route. We pass villages Kart-Jurt, Khurzuk, Uchkulan.


.

Over the years of my excursion practice, I often heard from tourists questions like: “I want to go to the mountains, but I’m afraid of them” or “Is there any unusual place-power in the Caucasus, otherwise I’m a psychic” or “Where can I take a blind a non-walking grandmother”, “What if I want to go on vacation with a cat” and so on. There is absolutely nothing funny about the fact that people choose places to stay according to their specific, sometimes not always standard views and preferences. Here, as they say, "there is a product for any buyer." The Caucasus Mountains are so diverse that they combine the miniature Alps, Pyrenees, Himalayas and even the Andes.

And if we carry out such a classification and really choose places for specific types of recreation, it would be quite obvious to me that the Mahar Gorge in the Karachevsky District of the Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia is ideal for children or families. Why? That's what this post is about.

Mahar (translated from Turkic - “warrior”) is both a river and a gorge, and even the common name of a resort located just a few kilometers from the village of Uchkulan. Located at an altitude of 1600 meters above sea level, it has a unique microclimate, composed of the combined influence of vegetation, atmospheric pressure and the location of mountain peaks. Here, on a small piece of land, almost everything that is needed for a worthy replacement of expensive sanatoriums and newfangled resorts is concentrated: there is the purest drinking water, medicinal narzans, natural health paths and, most importantly, the absence of anthropogenic activity.

At the very beginning of the post, I called Mahar - a children's resort. The fact is that the mild, almost windless climate of the valley, and the special properties of the most ordinary river water at one time saved this area from a plague epidemic (the only one in the entire North Caucasus). Even according to the statistics, there has always been the largest number of centenarians here and the animals got sick less often than in other mountainous regions. Believe it or not. The old spies, Akhmad and Roza (who, by the way, have as many as eleven children), who look after the local Soviet recreation center Globus, said that back in the USSR, when the base of the Kyiv Institute was located here, there was fame about the favorable influence of the Mahar climate on babies. So how many people then poured into these parts! Then everything was slowly forgotten. On, as they say, gold, it glitters even in a bag.

So, the village of Uchkulan is located about 20 km from the Mahara Gorge. This is the last place with a working cell phone. And good. Only nature, nothing more. Having punctured tires and fumbling for several hours changing them, we decided to spend the night right in the middle of the road, not risking further driving along the dark, rocky road.

Well, the next day, having a quick bite to eat, we safely reached the first local attraction - the source of the Shamanov family, also known as the Narzan Shamanlans.

The source is very easy to miss. Approximately 17 kilometers from Uchkulan, a rickety log bridge can be seen on the right side of the road. Once all these lands were fairly divided between different Karachay families or clans. This is how the different names of tracts, springs and mountain ranges became entrenched among the people. Having tasted the prickly water, sprinkled all around with glandular ocher, we move on.

At the entrance to Mahar there are no identification marks or signs with the name of the area. On the left side, the word "Bilal" is inscribed in clumsy letters. This is the host name of perhaps the most popular local base. Bilyal Tambiev is a kind of marketing brand. He is a cook, he is a landscaper, an animator and many more. It's always crowded here. On the right side is another base, "Forest Glade", a former frontier post. Less noisy companies like to gather here. Even further away are the bases "Globus", "At Makhmud" and a summer camp for children on the basis of Karachay University. Now, however, other bases are being built, but in general, until the road is asphalted, you should not worry about the influx of tourists.

We settled down on one of the spacious and picturesque glades: we set up tents, found a fire pit from former tourists and brought firewood.

One of the main advantages of Mahar is the presence of gentle walking routes, which allow moms or dads in ergo backpacks not to be exhausted and enjoy the surrounding landscape with everyone. The rest, originally planned as a recreational one, assumed a clear, almost sanatorium-like observance of the instructions: an early rise (our kids woke up no later than 6-00), an hour walk to the Narzan springs with a climb of 250 m, breakfast, another walk, lunchtime sleep, and again a trip to the narzans. Longing, you say. Maybe, but you have to go through it. And adding to everything the fees of strawberries or wild raspberries, swimming in mountain rivers and a trip to the waterfalls turns out to be quite a good rest)

By the way, about swimming in mountain rivers. Who would have thought, but our kids splashed in the icy water (not for long, though) no worse than two small trout. And then they slept for four whole hours in the shade of sprawling green branches. This experience is not for the faint of heart.

It is impossible to travel all over the mountains of the North Caucasus, but we try, and almost every weekend in the summer we get out into nature.

A trip to the Mahar Gorge was planned with an overnight stay, in order to capture a visit to the ancient Alanian temple along the way, drink narzan and walk along the Mahar itself to the waterfalls (and the path there is long).

The Makhar Gorge is located in the southwestern part of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic at an altitude of about 1600 meters above sea level, a few kilometers from the Georgian border.

The trip to the Mahara Gorge started from the city of Essentuki. Essentuki is a small resort town of the Caucasian Mineral Waters with a population of just over 108 thousand people. On the Borgustan highway (Brick town of the city of Essentuki) we immediately made a stop near the Peter and Paul temple complex with the Sculpture of Christ. temple complex, whose foundation was laid in 1999, was built in the image of the shrines of Jerusalem. On the territory of the complex, which has not yet been fully equipped, there are 3 chapels, a baptismal, a dining room, a church shop, a Sunday school and a playground for kids at the entrance.

The statue of the Risen Christ "Jesus Christ - the Savior of the World", built in 2013 at the expense of a local resident-businessman, a Greek by nationality Pavel Aleksov, is currently the highest in Russia (height - 22 meters) and is located on highest point Essentukov. The statue itself is similar to the statue of Christ the Redeemer on Mount Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro. Entrance to the territory of the complex is free.

After walking and taking photos, we are on our way.

Village "Red East". KChR

The next stop is in the Malokarachaevsky district of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic in the village of Krasny Vostok to pick up a local narzan. The aul itself (more precisely, in 2004 it received the status of a village), located on the banks of the Kuma River, is not particularly remarkable. Only in February of this year, a new sports complex "Alashara" with an area of ​​more than 1000 m 2 was opened here.

10th century Shaonin temple

The next stop is the Alanian Shaonin temple of the 10th century, the oldest Christian temple in Russia, located on the left bank of the Kuban. The temple was consecrated in honor of St. George the Victorious (naturally, this is an Alanian temple).

In his early essay on I wrote a little about St. George Uastrji - the most revered by the Alans.

Inside the temple, the decoration does not shine with luxury, but there are icons and surviving frescoes on the walls. Lizards of various shapes and sizes scurry over the stones.

From above, a panorama of the village of Kosta Khetagurova, which is located in the vicinity, and a mountain with a cross opens. The village, named after the famous poet Kosta Levanovich Khetagurov, was founded in 1868 by visiting Ossetians and was previously called Georgievsko-Ossetian.

We are passing the Karachaevsky district - southeast of the industrial Karachaevsk in the upper reaches of the Kuban there is a rather large village of Uchkulan with beautiful mosques. By the way, as we later determined, this was the last place where the mobile network caught. Here, a whole three-liter jar of fresh ayran was bought from the locals.

At 17 km from Uchkulan there is a slightly "shabby" wooden bridge, crossing which you get to the Narzan source.

Mahar Gorge

We drank water and went to the recreation center in the Mahar Gorge itself (in the Turkic language, the word "mahar" means warrior). On the threshold of our guest house, we were met by such a beauty-toad).

After lunch, we went to explore the beauty in the surroundings. By the way, the border is already behind the power poles. You can ride horses.

Room in guest house was for 6 people (just our company); in the center is a cast-iron potbelly stove). Despite the fact that it was rather cold, we were afraid to drown it. It was the most budget option for spending the night - 100 rubles per person. These places are for lovers of "unions" with nature, so there is no electricity, all the amenities are on the street.

If you do not book accommodation in advance, you will still not be left without a roof over your head. There are a lot of similar camp sites and guest houses in the district. Some tourists put up tents, fry shish kebabs.

Early in the morning the next day - a walk to the clearing to the river Uchkulan and to the waterfalls in the valley of the Mahar-Su river.

We were lucky, it was just the azalea flowering season, which lasts less than a month (in another way, the azalea is called the yellow rhodendron). These bright yellow plants perfectly complemented the emerald green, blue sky and off-white snow... It should be borne in mind that the azalea is a very poisonous plant and you should not enjoy its sweetish aroma for a long time. In some places there were wild purple irises.

We walked, then returned to the car, said goodbye to our recreation center and drove back.

We made a stop in a small village, bought a circle of freshly made sweet homemade cheese, talked to a local black and white cat.

A trip to the Mahara Gorge: what you need to take

Useful information: It is MANDATORY to have a passport with you on a trip to the Mahara Gorge, as there is a border outpost nearby. Since we did not go far, at the checkpoint the border guards only copied our passport data.

Interesting Facts:

• In 2016, a three-ruble silver coin with the image of the Shaonin Temple was issued in Russia.
• More than 80% of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic is occupied by mountains.
• The meat of the Karachai black lamb, which has gained popularity since the middle of the 19th century, is considered the most delicious in the Caucasus.