!!!Valley of Geysers, Kamchatka

by Dmitry Moiseenko and Stanislav Sedov,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\


with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Surprisingly, the Valley of Geysers — one of the most famous attractions
of Kamchatka region — was discovered less than a hundred years ago.

It's worth mentioning that along with the Valley of Geysers, Kronotskiy
Wildlife Refuge in Kamchatka is one of the oldest wildlife reserves in
Russia dating back to 1882. However, it seems that its territory wasn't
explored even after it was given a national status in 1934.

In the early to mid-nineteenth century scientists made long field trips,
exploring unique local nature. In the spring of 1941 the legendary
Kamchatka geologist Tatiana Ustinova and her assistant Anisifor Krupenin
went to inspect the river on a dogsled.

[{Image src='01_Valley of Geysers.jpg' caption='Valley of Geysers' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='892'}]

On the afternoon of April 14, when they were ready to continue their
journey, they saw a steam on the opposite bank of the river followed by
a powerful jet of hot water shooting up from the ground. Crossing the
river, the researchers found an opening with swirling water that was
shooting jets of steam. That's how Pervenets geyser was discovered; and
previously unknown river (tributary of the Shumnaya River) was given a
new name "Geysernaya". Sometime later scientists discovered that the
entire river valley was in fact a geyser field. Before this discovery,
it was believed that there were no geysers on the continent of Eurasia.

Geyser is a natural spring characterized by intermittent discharge of
water and steam. Each one is unique and has its own frequency and the
nature of eruption. The Valley of Geysers is a canyon 4 km wide, 8 km
long, and 400 m deep. There are dozens of similar canyons in Kamchatka,
but this is the only one with 40 geysers and numerous hot springs
stretched 6 km from the mouth of the river. All known modern forms of
hydrothermal activity is represented in the valley: active and pulsating
boiling springs, hot lakes, mud pots, mud volcanoes, and steam jets.

Unfortunately, in 2007 a natural disaster occurred in the Valley of
Geysers, which threatened the very existence of the Kamchatka natural
monument. A powerful landslide hit the Valley of Geysers. Sweeping all
trees on its path, mudflow consisting of water, snow, boulders, and
small fragments of rocks went down at the speed of 35-40 kilometers per
hour. The flow reached the river and formed a dam, covering the most
beautiful places of the Valley of Geysers: waterfalls, thermal fields,
and boiling springs.

In the following months water gradually went away, but the valley
terrain changed permanently: Vorota basalt rocks were destroyed, a new
geyser Mladenec appeared, and a few old geysers, including Pervenets
geyser, were flooded by the new Geysernaya Lake formed after the
landslide.

But the Valley of Geysers always has a new surprise for you: six years
after the natural disaster it suddenly began to restore itself. In 2013
Lake Geysernaya water level started to drop, releasing geysers
previously hidden under its surface. Although it's unlikely that the
valley will look exactly like it did before 2007, it is definitely too
early to discard some of its places of interest.

[{Image src='02_Kamchatka, Russia.jpg' caption='Kamchatka, Russia' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

Scientists continue to study this amazing natural monument of Kamchatka,
and now you can admire it from a bird's eye view.

And the story about our amazing journey to Kamchatka will be told, for
the most part, by our producer and pretty muse Alina Trigubenko, who has
already participated in AirPano projects, such as the one in Hong Kong.
I will also add my comments to her story.

Stas and I instantly fell in love with Kamchatka when we first shot
Tolbachik volcano eruption in December 2012. Nature, people, and even
cold weather (-25 degrees Celsius) — everything around us was friendly
and sincere. Since then I have been thinking about going back to
Kamchatka all the time. And so when my phone rang in early August and a
female voice said, "Hello, I'm calling from The Kronotsky Biosphere
Reserve" I knew that it was an opportunity that I couldn't miss.

The tourist season is very short in Kamchatka: July, August, and
September. The most "delicious" time is the fall colors at the very end
of the season. This is what we planned to capture. After a month of
negotiations, phone calls, and approvals we finally bought our tickets.
We had 2 days before departure!

Alina: Our expedition to Kamchatka began in Elizovo, a small far eastern
town. I noticed metal sheets covering walls of some houses to protect
them from severe weather conditions.

I remember a thought, or rather a hope, popping up in my mind: what if
the weather has already been preparing a surprise for us, which would
catch us off guard? That would give us a chance to shoot powerful
dramatic pictures.

Surprisingly, in spite of my stereotypical expectations, early September
in Kamchatka turned out to be very warm, much warmer than it was in
rainy Moscow.

[{Image src='03_Kamchatka, Russia.jpg' caption='Kamchatka, Russia' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='600'}]

Still sleepy upon arrival we were taken to meet the director of The
Kronotsky Biosphere Reserve, Tikhon Igorevich Shpilenko. We received
instructions, signed the papers, and went to see
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city. The only way to overcome jetleg is to
stay awake until local evening time. To keep us in even better shape
they scheduled our first flight for the following morning.  We were
going to see bears on Kurile Lake.

A: Our crew was very lucky. We had an opportunity to spend a night at
Travyanoy cordon, where an arrogant clever fox posed in front of our
cameras. In the morning, drawn by the smell of my cooking, it would hang
around the kitchen trying to get a piece of our crew's breakfast. Rivers
surrounding Travyanoy cordon are literally a bears' lair!

The only thing that separated us from these massive and seemingly
dangerous wild animals was a light electric fence, but it did its job!
When a wet bear's nose touches a stretched wire, it gets a rather
painful shock.

However there was a case when precautions turned out to be a hindrance
to a human being. Several years ago, a famous Japanese photographer came
to Travyanoy cordon and decided to live in his tent, not in the house,
to be closer to the surrounding wild nature. A bear took its chance, and
the incident ended tragically.

But in most cases, according to ranger Konstantine, who accompanied us
in this trip, it's the animals that need protection from humans, not the
other way around. Of course, we carried protective ammunition to every
photo shoot, but our ranger's main weapon was his knowledge of bear
psychology, its behavior, and its habits. Apparently, if unprovoked,
bears are not aggressive. Four "bipedal erectus" creatures and a strange
flying thingy with a camera couldn't compete with a fat fish only a paw
away from its mouth. Spawning season brings millions of red salmon, full
of eggs and a death wish. Sounds horrible, but it's true: salmon dies
after spawning to provide all the necessary nutrition to their
offsprings!

We had a chance to photograph fishing bears, islands, and most
interesting Kuthiny Baty Cliffs in good sunlight. Although it rained on
the day of our departure, I can surely say that AirPano team is very
lucky!

[{Image src='04_Valley of Geysers.jpg' caption='Valley of Geysers' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='501'}]

We didn't want to leave Kurile Lake. Where else could you see 10 bears
roaming a few meters from you and ignoring your presence? (Perhaps the
ranger could command them with his powerful stare?) It was a very
thrilling incomparable experience. On the way back we stopped at the
"Khodutka" hot springs. However instead of taking a deep in 40-degree
healing water, we decided to take pictures. One can't omit any details
when describing Kamchatka!

A: Our next stop was the Valley of Geysers. This is a truly amazing
place, one of five similar places in the world and the only one in
Eurasia. During a massive landslide in 2007 some geysers ended up
underwater, but nobody was hurt: mudslide stopped a meter from a
residential house. Photo panorama of the Valley clearly shows the scale
of the disaster.

Fortunately, many geysers survived underwater and eventually turned the
lake emerald, making it yet another signature sight of the Valley of
Geysers. Our first shooting day was marvelous. Getting used to the local
conditions, the following morning we were going to shoot a 360-degree
video of the "Grand" geyser in all its glory: a 12-meter water pillar,
clouds of steam and all...

A: During our first attempt to shoot an erupting geyser from above, a
powerful jet of steam hit our helicopter. Losing control it crashed into
a mud wall on the opposite bank. Our pilot Stas had to go on an
equipment salvage expedition: first he had to climb rocks, and then dive
into the murky waters of the lake where hidden hot springs caught him
off guard. Despite of the dangers all parts of our photo unit were
collected and Stas got off with noting more than a burned heel.

I would tell you more about our photo experience, but it so happened
that a natural disaster took us by surprise, and we were trapped in the
Valley of Geysers with almost no food and no communication.

A: It was a powerful cyclone that killed dozens of people in Japan few
days earlier. Our wooden hut, a "guest house", was shaking from wind
gusts. It has rained for three days in a row. By a fantastic
coincidence, a helicopter with wealthy tourists landed in the valley
right before the cyclone. They had a good supply of food, and moreover,
they brought a professional chef! Thanks to Dmitry who shared his
hand-made candies with us after our crew finished last chocolate bar
from our supplies. On the fourth day even they ran out of food, and so
we proudly contributed a bag of oatmeal.

On the fifth day the cyclone disappeared along with three meters of
water in the lake! Of course, our team was the first to photograph this
extraordinary event and to fly over shallow lake with a video camera. We
were the lucky ones who saw and, of course, documented several geysers,
previously hidden under water, coming to life. We saw how a geyser
pushed through the mud: a stream of boiling water literally breaks the
soil destroying everything on its way up! What a fantastic spectacle.

[{Image src='05_Valley of Geysers.jpg' caption='Valley of Geysers' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='623'}]

Yes, the sky cleared, helicopters brought more tourists, Alina returned
to mainland, and Stas and I headed to Uzon volcanic caldera. You will
read about it in the next article, and here I want to share only the
emotional part of my story.

It was a celebration of colors in Uzon caldera: yellow birches, red
blueberry and cranberry bushes, green spruce groves, and blue waters of
thermal lakes. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I call it one of the most
beautiful places on the planet, especially when seen from the air.

It was a filming location of a famous Soviet sci-fi movie called
"Sannikov Land".

Everywhere you look you see something seething, bubbling, and smoking.
The underground kitchen knows no rest: boiling mud volcanoes of
different colors, jets of steam shooting from the surface, hot springs
and lakes... I guess this is the way our planet looked at the very
beginning.

On the way back from one of our photo shoots Stas spotted a big bear
harvesting blueberries thirty meters away from our trail. The beast paid
no attention as we walked by. I rushed into the hut to pick up my
telephoto lens. No, the bear didn't notice people: eating berries before
hibernation was much more important to him than a human with a tripod.
Later on rangers told us that such a calm behavior was rather deceptive.
"Two leaps" they estimated the distance between the bear and myself when
I showed them the photograph.

One day in Uzon caldera flew by unnoticed. The weather forecasts talked
of another storm. There was a good chance to be cut off from the outside
world, just like in the Valley of Geysers. We didn't want to push our
luck and returned to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the next flight.

"Valley of Geysers, Kamchatka, Russia" is the last tour from the trilogy
of aerial photo shoot of Kamchatka. We have previously published other
tours from the trilogy: "Uzon caldera" and "The Land of Bears, Kurile
Lake".

AirPano team would like to express our gratitude to the Russian
Geographical Society for their financial contribution to the creation of
this virtual photo tour and to the admistration of the Kronotsky
Biosphere Reserve and personaly its direcror Shpilenok Tikhon Igorevich
for perfect organization of the photo shoot, and warm welcome.

\\ \\
[10 Panoramas of Valley_of_Geysers|Geography/Asia/Russia/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Valley_of_Geysers]










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