Lake Baikal
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2006
1
45
551
Trip End
Dec 01, 2007
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Lisvianka,
Russia
Saturday, May 27, 2006
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Again slept only 2 hours because of jetlag. Got up, dropped my bag at another hostel, and headed with Angelique to the bus station, where we immediately took off with a minibus. Crazy driving, but we got there really fast.
On the pier, the locals were allready smoking their fish and dressing souvenir stalls for the tourists. We took our time to figure out the best hike to do, given the possibilities of boat and bus transport. Tilman and Florian, and then Rob, joined us for the hike.
So we started in Lisvianka, going north-east along the shore. Some places were quite steep, but we made it allright. After 5km we stopped for lunch, and I bathed for a fez seconds too. After that, Rob and Angelique continued to Bolshe Koty (another 15km, they arrived there at 20h30), and Tilman, Florain and I went back through another trail, as we had to catch our train to Mongolia early in the morning.
Lake Baikal is truly amazing: it is immense, and on this hot day, I was not able to see the other side. The lake counts for 1/4 of the fresh water reserves on earth. The actual depth is over 6000m, but there are some 5km of sediments between the two tectonic plates, and therefore the lake is "only" 1500m deep.
The water is cristal clear. and we could see the bottom of the lake throughout our walk along the cliffs.
One amazing thing is the refrigerating effect of the water: when walking at 30m above the lake, we were being cooked alive by the sun. But when we had to walk nearer to the lake surface, the temperature would decrease sharply.
I finally got myself into the water, but really it was damn cold !!!
Check-out more pictures on Angelique's website
GPS Lisvianka
51.50.46 N ; 104.52.29 E ; alt 454m
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