Marble Lake state for 16 years. Marble lake. Marble lakes of Russia

Caspian News has already written about a healing lake in Kalmykia, about a “dead” lake in Kazakhstan, about an incredibly beautiful lake in Dagestan. It's time to tell about the little-known sights of the Astrakhan region - Marble Lake. It's not easy to see him. But those who are lucky enough are delighted!

Marble Lake is located not far from the most famous salt reservoir of the Astrakhan region - Lake Baskunchak. But if there is more than enough information about Baskunchak, then Marble Lake is shrouded in a veil of mystery. Which unwittingly fuels the interest of tourists. No wonder this lake is included in the TOP-5 places of power in the Astrakhan region.

So. Marble Lake is an artificial reservoir. It was formed after a gypsum quarry was blown up and flooded with groundwater, Rambler writes. There are a large number of gypsum boulders in the lake. They form islands and have an external resemblance to white marble. Hence the name of the lake.

Of interest is the fact that the water spouting from underground is fresh, and the rocks through which it is filtered are salty. Therefore, the lake is also salty, but not as strong as, for example, Lake Baskunchak, Astrakhan tourist reports. The water at a depth is the purest and unusual color.

“Even in the century before last, the development of a gypsum deposit began here,” writes a blogger from Akhtubinsk (Astrakhan region) olgasam009. - The gypsum quarry expanded and deepened. And once, after the explosion of another monolith, springs with artesian water began to beat in the quarry. They say that literally overnight the quarry turned into a lake. The local population began to visit this lake with pleasure, because this is a real miracle among our steppes. A blue lake among marble rocks - it remained so unusually beautiful in my memories. And it was interesting to swim in this lake. The water here is salty. The salt concentration is higher than in sea water, but much less than in Baskunchak. Going to the depth, you just hang in the water. You don't have to move your arms or legs. Swimming is also very easy. For those who don’t know how, it’s easiest to learn here.”

Since 1998, the German concern Knauf has become the owner of the local gypsum production, and the Marble Lake turned out to be in their jurisdictional closed territory. And only once a year, on the Builder's Day (celebrated on the second Sunday of August), the lake was open to the public.

“Once upon a time, the local “beach” was completely rocky,” a resident of Akhtubinsk writes on the Otzovik website. - Later, a layer of sand was opened, which was scattered along an impromptu beach - either for guests of honor, or for all ordinary people - but the buzz is complete. Sand - sifted and filtered - not a lump, not a pebble, sheer grace! The water at a depth is the purest and unusual color. The entrance to Marble Lake is the softest sand interspersed with therapeutic mud. Smells like hydrogen sulfide. A special aesthetic pleasure is the red cuts of the rock.”

Marble Lake coordinates: 48.203056, 46.795833. “It is best to go to it through the village of Sredny Baskunchak, but only if you go there on the day when the lake opens for visiting,” explains the What to Visit portal. - If you just want to look at Marble Lake, then it is best to move from the village of Nizhny Baskunchak. As soon as you enter the village, you need to proceed to the first crossroads and turn right. After that, move to the red tower, turn right in front of it and move straight along the road until you see a quarry, in which there will be Marble Lake.

We had this trip from August 26 to September 2 - damn when! Just got to the photos. A short trip from Krasnaya Polyana - we spent eight days, because we were in no hurry and did day trips, and in principle, we can meet it in five.

It turned out such a lake ring - through the lakes of the Dzitaku Valley, Marble Lake, Heavenly Lake, lakes in the upper reaches of the Achipsta River and Turquoise Lakes - and through the Stroiteley Pass back to the cable car of the Gazprom ski complex.

Here is the map (click to open a larger one):

Of all the above, we have not seen Marble Lake before and have long wanted to see it. In addition, we once passed Turquoise Lakes in 2010, but because of the weather we didn’t turn on them, but immediately went down to Chistaya. Turquoise lakes are often visited from Krasnaya Polyana, but for some reason they seemed boring to me in absentia, but it turned out to be a very picturesque and cozy place! It was so cool there that we just took and lived there an extra day.

On the border of August and September, we felt this subtle transition from a stuffy summer to a cool autumn, which until then I had always been able to spend in the city. At first it was very hot and all distant views were covered with a dense haze, and on the third day the temperature dropped sharply and the air became more transparent.

We arrived in Krasnaya Polyana the day before, at about midnight, we stopped at the Aboriginal House Hotel, in which, it seems, there was no one else besides us, there was a neat but cramped room, and most importantly, no one objected to the dog :)

In the morning we went to the Gazprom cable car, went upstairs and after a few hours, without noise and dust, we were already setting up a tent on the Jitaku lakes :)

The sunset was cloudy and foggy, did not live up to expectations, but the water in the lakes was warm and you could swim. It was generally a very hygienic hike due to the hot weather - I personally swam twice every day, in the morning and in the evening :)

Morning: a couple of views of Big Jitaku Lake




and we broke our camp and went on. Today we have a plan - to pass the Kholodny camp, climb along the ridge to Mramornaya Mountain and descend from it to Marble Lake. I can't even tell if it's objectively a big plan or not, but it was hard in this heat! Behind the Kholodny camp we turned right and went deeper into the forest. We were worried that we would have to struggle through, but the forest turned out to be without undergrowth, comfortable and in some places a good path was found. At the top we stopped for a halt and, exhausted by the heat, fell asleep! Slept for probably an hour. The further way up was tiring and rather tedious, distant views were covered with haze. Therefore, only a few photos remain: the Marble Glacier

Lake Prigladnikovoe under the Marble Glacier:

and such a multi-layered view of Chugush

At some point, we ran out of water and we were saved by shiksha - she is also a crowberry, and it is not for nothing that she has such a name, she really quenches thirst.

Finally, Marble Lake!

It's the next morning. In general, we wandered along its banks enough, Mitya went around everything, and I took a swim, but the light was boring, so there are not many photos.






From here we climbed the Wide Pass and descended into the Chelipsi valley. It was also very hot and therefore very long, so let's jump straight down :) By this moment the sun had sunk so low that the river was in the shade and it was possible to rest in relative coolness.

A familiar climb through the forest - in 2011 we went to our first count of the tour and chamois and descended this way.

Ideally, we wanted to climb Lake Heaven that day, but the transition tired us more than we expected. A little before reaching the lake there is one place, a clearing with crooked birches, which we noticed last time, and then we still thought: “I wish we could spend the night here somehow,” and we also thought, “Probably, blueberries are apparently invisible here at the end of summer "

In short, everything was going to stop here. The place lived up to its expectations, but the blueberries turned out to be less than we would like! After dinner, we saw competitors wandering around the parking lot eating blueberries. The wind blew from them to us, so they did not notice us for a long time and did not run away, but were busy with their work. And we watched them and felt a rare moment of absolute harmony with the world. A little imagination - and one could imagine that the bears know about our presence, but we simply do not interfere with them, and they are not afraid of us ...

This is the most comfortable parking lot the next morning:

I go and finish eating what the bears graciously left us on the blueberry bushes :)

For a long time we could not pack up and leave here in order to finally climb to the lake. Because as soon as we collected all our junk, except for the tent, it started to rain. We climbed inside and at first we waited uncomfortably on the bare floor in our jackets, then we inflated the rugs again and unfolded the sleeping bags, took off our jackets and lay down to lie down. Then the rain stopped, and we collected everything again, and he went again :) At some point there was even hail, and at another moment Mitya got out of the tent and photographed this rainbow:

In general, we had already decided not to go anywhere further that day, but to spend the day on the lake, so we were in no hurry. Looking ahead, it was the only rain for the entire trip, and just after it it became cooler, and nature, along with the weather, obviously turned towards September.

Lake of Heaven.

By the end of the summer it becomes quite shallow: last time we were here in July, and all these stones were hidden under water.

On the shore, someone made an incomprehensible installation with deer antlers. Worcester decided that this was a strategic object and he would guard it.

I went to pick blueberries, and Mitya and Wooster went for a walk along the Alous Ridge and admire the clouds

Achipsta Valley

All covered in clouds

A small reservoir on the eastern slope of the Alous Ridge, located directly above Lake Achipsta. It looks like a little blue dot on the map, and I've always wondered what it was.

Lake Heaven and Chelipsi river valley

While Mitya was gone, I also spent time productively!

In the next morning. Today we need to climb the Grozovaya Pass, descend to the upper reaches of the Achipsta River and cross the Turquoise Lakes Pass to the Turquoise Lakes. It had become very cold yesterday, and in the morning, looking to the northwest, we clearly saw everything that the heat hid in a dense haze - Urushten, Slate, Dzhugu ...

We rise above the lake to the Grozovaya pass. Chugush with a glacier peeps out to the left in the frame.

Here he is closer

Achipsta Valley

We went down to the river.

And again we rise to its upper reaches

The upper reaches of Achipsta are known for their three lakes of different colors. The largest Yu.V. Efremov called Upper Achipsta, and we named the other two for ourselves Azure and Blue. Azure was especially striking in its color, this is what it was like:

Here's how it turned out this year:

The upper Achipsta is just as muddy, with clay suspension in the water.

And Lake Achipsta itself, visible in the distance and famous for its bright turquoise color, is the same milky whitish.

Apparently, somewhere in the upper reaches some rocks slide into the river and spoil the view :) Probably, by next year the lakes will be cleared and will regain their usual color. And this is Blue Lake - it is located a little higher on the stream, the right tributary of the Achipsta - the water in it is the same as always.

We stopped on the shore of the lower lake. At night I forced myself to get out and take a couple of shots to justify carrying a tripod :)

The stars were invisible! And airplanes too. Here, close to Sochi, the impression is that the planes surf the sky every minute.

To begin with, even the trip itself in a comfortable bus did not become boring.

Beautiful landscapes floated outside the window, but I must say that in our Astrakhan region they are not monotonous. Here you will also see water meadows.

And the steppes

And forests along the riverbeds

But the main beauty was revealed to us when we arrived at the place. And so - Lake Baskunchak. I must say right away that a photograph, no matter how well it is taken, will not convey what is revealed to the eye, so to speak, “live”.

The feeling that in the middle of our spring you suddenly found yourself in snow-covered lands was bright and distinct.

I will not tell everything and much. It is better to see it for yourself once than to read someone else's story about it a hundred times. And here are my questions. Do you know what kind of piles peek out from the lake?

And where did Lake Baskunchak come from and what exactly is it?
Do you know why it is called the "All-Russian Salt Cellar"?

And what connects and makes the Baskunchak lake and Bogdo mountain related?
Well, let's leave these questions unanswered for now. In the meantime, admire a few more views of this huge "salt shaker" ...

Let's leave Baskunchak for a while and move to Mount Bogdo. Many legends surround it, I can only say that this place could not do without mystery and fairy tales. Yes, take a look yourself.

I want to ask again. Do you know who lives on the top of Mount Bogdo?

And who chose "singing rocks" for their dwelling? And by the way, why are they actually "singing"?

And further: why is Bogdo constantly growing? What are castra caves? How are Mount Bogdo, Lake Baskunchak and Marble Lake connected? How diverse is the living world of this nature reserve? If you are still interested in getting answers to these questions, as well as many others, then there is advice. Take advantage of the services of one of the best tour operators in the Astrakhan region. I'm talking about the company "Elite Tour". Finding her is easy. Just go to the website of the travel agency http://elittur30.ru
or call 89033486224 or 622033and help you find your destination. By the way, the office of the agency is located Astrakhan, Kirov street 55-a of 403. Travel agency "Elit-Tour" works with almost all popular destinations both within Russia and abroad. And of course, he organizes excellent excursions in our region. Special thanks to the tour guide Dmitry Profatilov.

There was very little strength left, dehydration and terrible heat affected, but I still decided to reach the top. Somehow it happened that I climbed the steepest slope, in some places I practically climbed scree and ... here are the views from the observation deck. My way up lay along the slope, which is in the center of the frame.

I climbed quite quickly and after 5 minutes of climbing I was already at the top. First of all, I crawled to the topographical sign on the top of the mountain. (on the left in the frame).

And then went to enjoy the views from above. Lake Baskunchak and Surikovskaya beam.

The road along the lake, along which we walked to Bogdo.

From a height it was clearly visible how the salt was mined. Today, up to 80% of the salt consumed in Russia is mined here. This is approximately from 1.5 to 5 million tons per year. So, when you go to the kitchen, the salt in the cabinet will most likely come from Baskunchak.

View of the observation deck of the hiking trail.

In the photo: "Singing rocks". Surprisingly, the Big Bogdo mountain grows by 1mm every year! This is due to the bulging salt dome. There are several interesting legends about where the 170-meter mountain came from in the middle of the steppe. I especially like the Kalmyk version.

Once the Dalai Lama spotted a beautiful mountain in the form of a lion and wanted to move it to the Volga, so that there would be something to worship the local Buddhists. He ordered his will to be fulfilled by two strong brothers - Buddhist monks. They carried their burden for a long time, but one of them, not far from the salt lake, stared at a pretty girl. He indulged in sinful thoughts and his strength left him. all the problems because of the women The mountain collapsed, crushing the brother with its weight, and the gushing blood forever painted the slopes of the mountain red. Since then, Mount Big Bogdo has been standing here, and the evil spirit Tsagan Ebugai, the White Spirit of Lake Baskunchak, protects it from uninvited guests.

Tsagan Ebugai, either rested or went on vacation, but I successfully climbed the mountain and took a bunch of shots.

Scientists are much more boring people. According to them, the mountain is a huge salty dome, and the red talus is actually clay that was squeezed out of the bowels of the earth, because, as I already wrote, every year the dome increases by 1mm. I don’t know which of them is right, but the mountain turned out to be very beautiful! Especially the red part.

From a height, the strips from the conveyor looked like a striped flag.

The side opposite from Lake Baskunchak was dotted with numerous ravines and holes - karst failures. There are more than 30 caves of different lengths on the territory of the reserve. One of them, Bolshaya Baskunchakskaya, has a length of 1500 meters, that's where we will go on the third day, but for now I had to go down the mountain.

I went down another, more gentle slope. From here there was a splendid view of the red clay slopes.

Along the way, I hit a hiking trail. From there, the view was no better. If you come here with a tour, then go for it.

We had about half a liter of water left for two of us, and we didn’t have the strength to go back at all ... But fortunately, having met with a partner, we met a family from Yaroslavl. They treated us with water and agreed to give us a lift to Nizhny Baskunchak, for which we are VERY grateful. I know that you will read this article, and so - welcome and once again sincerely thank you for your help and nice company!!! On the way back we stopped at a gypsum quarry in the Middle Baskunchak.

The lake was formed as a result of undermining the rock and flooding with groundwater. According to rumors, the water in this quarry is fresh and moreover, the former owner allowed swimming here.

But, with the change of leadership, good security was put up and the "marble lake" was under lock and key. Although, it is possible to understand the position of the career management. The object is primarily industrial: huge blocks of rock at the bottom, working machinery, etc. and so on. And we moved back home. Entering the apartment, we immediately passed out, and our evening trip to the beach was rescheduled for another day. However, a sudden hurricane also made adjustments.

DAY THREE: "The legend of how two young men went into the cave and ran from the wolves"

The morning after the rain was noticeably cooler. The air was saturated with the aroma of wet grass, and the local landscapes became a little more filled with life than usual. This time we decided to get to the Baskunchakskaya cave with a length of one and a half kilometers. Local residents can happily take them there for 2000-2400 rubles, but considering this a robbery, we set off on foot. It was about 10 km one way to the cave, there were a couple of kg more equipment in backpacks, and overboard +35 degrees Celsius - a great start, isn't it? Leaving the village, we passed next to the RUSSOLE factory and headed along the lake towards the border with Kazakhstan.

On the left side of the road, about a kilometer from the village, we found another beach. The water in it was not as salty as on the nearby beach, and there were even fewer people here.

With each step we entered deeper into the border area. If you go to the cave by car, then you will certainly pass through the checkpoint of the border guards. There they will rewrite your passport data and issue a pass to the border zone. In a word, nothing special. But we were walking, and it was quite inconvenient to make a detour to the checkpoint. Having decided that they would definitely not shoot us on the territory of the Russian Federation, and in which case we would simply be turned in the opposite direction, we went illegally.

We walked quite fast, unlike the previous day. Still, humidity and air temperature are decisive factors in hiking in these places. Photo in reverse. On the left you can see the pipe of the salt factory "RUSSOL".

While drinking wanted still more than usual.

The place was absolutely wild. No footprints, no people. Even on the lake there was a perfect, untouched surface. Serenity.

On the way to the Cave gully, we crossed two more ravines: Ulan-Blag and Sharovsky. A small stream came out of each beam, feeding the lake and there were small bridges, as in the photo below.

At such moments, I so wanted to plunge into the water and cool off a little from the sun's rays, but, alas, after such purchases you instantly crystallize and rub a bunch of corns ...

After a couple of hours, we reached the Cave gully and, moving away from the lake, continued our journey along it.

I recently wrote here about the absence of traces ... They were, only wolf ones. Following one of these tracks, they came to the scattered bones of cattle.

The cave was only about 2 kilometers away. There were quite a lot of roads, which can not be said about landmarks. In the end, we got a little off track. Stopping, I began to check the coordinates byGPSwhen suddenly a car started to approach us. Having caught ourselves thinking that it could be worse, for example, a pack of wolves, we calmly began to wait for our fate. It turned out that they were local border guards. They found out with great surprise for themselves that we had come here on foot from the Lower Baskunchak and were heading towards the caves. They had nothing against, except that they warned us that wild animals could hide in the caves during the day from the heat. Plus, they listed the types of poisonous reptiles found in such cool places and left. For about 10 minutes we thought about whether it was worth continuing the path forward. Of course, it was clear that the border guards could embellish a lot, but poisonous spiders and snakes really lived here, and the lack of transport when bitten reduced our chances of survival to zero. Yes, and, outside the cave, we had no one to leave. Realizing our mistake to walk, we decided to turn back. As it turned out later, we were only 500 meters from the entrance to the Baskunchak cave, but as my partner rightly said: “You need to be able to stop in time.”

Insanely upset, we wandered back. The cave is unique in that it is practically untouched by man and preserved in its original form. Reaching a maximum depth of 32 meters, it has three levels and even several small underground freshwater lakes. As they say, a reason to come back here again.

The road to the house was difficult. We walked about 20 km, and to recuperate before an evening walk, we needed a couple of hours to sit under the air conditioner at home. The rest of the day decided to go by car to the far beach. To save 200 rubles, we decided to go not from the village, but from the nearest beach. In the photos from Baskunchak, you could often notice wooden posts in the middle of the lake. These columns are monuments from the past. In the past, salt was mined by hand. The process was extremely simple in words and difficult in practice: a log was driven into the surface of the lake, after a certain time the water drained, and salt settled on the column, and then it was collected.

Having paid 400 rubles for the car, we set off to the distant beach, located right by the fresh salt mine in the middle of the lake.

Because of the high water, there was a lot of water in Baskunchak, and we drove straight along the brine. In it, we were dropped off on a distant beach. For things here they made such wooden floorings.

There was really a lot of water, and the lake seemed endlessly long. If we talk about numbers, then the length of Baskunchak is 18 km, and the width is 13.

Ahead was a railroad and a working salt conveyor. It works on the principle of a vacuum cleaner, capturing salt from the bottom of the lake and filling railway cars with it. Then the wagons go to the Russol factory, where they are unloaded, the water is drained and the resulting salt is purified.

And here are the wagons.

View of Mount Bolshoye Bogdo, which we visited the day before.

On the beach we again met a family from Yaroslavl. By the way, here I am, demonstrating the buoyancy of water. At first, salt water burns a little, but the skin quickly gets used to it. The main thing is to prevent this water from getting into your eyes - it will hurt.

The skin is instantly covered with salt crystals. Very strange feeling. I advise you to take a small supply of fresh water with you to rinse after swimming. Otherwise, you can rub the skin in the most unpleasant places.

The depth of the bottom on the far beach ranges from 30 cm to 2 meters. But given the specifics of swimming, 30 cm will be enough for you.

If you search, you could find whole salt blocks. It's a pity there was no place in the backpack to take home as a keepsake.

The sunset was getting closer, which meant that the last day in Baskunchak was coming to an end. We called the UAZ by phone and 10 minutes later we were already shaking in the car on the way to the rented apartment. Early in the morning we will take a train in Upper Baskunchak and drive back to Saratov.

I was very pleased with the trip and I think that you should definitely visit here, if only to expand your own horizons and see these salty landscapes with your own eyes. Believe me, it's worth it. Below I will write a few tips:

1. It is worth driving in your own car, since the most expensive thing in Baskunchak is transport. Your own car will make it possible to visit Mount Bogdo and the Baskunchak cave cheaply and comfortably.


2. Be sure to take two or even three times as much fresh water with you. In addition to the fact that you are much more thirsty here, you often need to rinse your eyes or skin from salt.


3. The apartment should be rented ONLY with air conditioning. It's very hard without him.


4. If you go by car, then it is better to rent a house, as you can leave the transport in the yard and not worry that something will happen to it.


5. When traveling to the beach, cooperate with other vacationers. This will make it possible to pay instead of 600 rubles - 200 or even less.


6. Be prepared for the fact that you will not go far on foot. Especially if there are any health problems.


7. For treatment, it is best to go to Baskunchak in autumn or spring. Summer is perfect for swimming in the lake.

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