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The Best of Kamchatka - Volcanoes and the Inhabitants of the Peninsula

Preliminary Tour Itinerary

Itinerary: Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Paratunka Valley, Mutnovsky and Gorely Volcanoes,Tolbachik Volcano, Esso, Avacha Volcano
Duration: 15 days

Day 1: Arrival in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and tour of Paratunka 
On the morning of the arrival to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the capital of the Kamchatka Region, an IBEX representative will greet you, and you will transfer by bus to Paratunka, a resort village famous for its numerous thermal springs and located about 15 miles from the airport. The Paratunka Valley, just a 45 minute drive from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, is a wonderland of geothermal activity including hot springs, mineral pools and sprouting geysers. After a welcoming lunch where you will meet Dr. Dushenkov and your traveling companions, you will have the opportunity to tour the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. In the evening, the group will dine at a local restaurant, and afterwards you may want to relax in the thermal pool before retiring for a restful night in the luxury resort hotel.

Day 2.

Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer by 6WD vehicle to the caldera between the Mutnovsky and Gorely Volcanoes (about 4 hours). The road passes by the Vilyuchinsky Volcano, a favorite place for downhill skiing for Kamchatka dwellers (quite often you may see snow even in July). Lunch en route. Dinner, overnight at the tented camp.

Day 3.

 Breakfast. Hike (without backpacks) to the Mutnovsky Volcano (about 12 hours). Hike into the crater of the Mutnovsky active volcano through a crack in the volcano's edge. 
The Mutnovsky active volcano, being a nest of merged craters, is perhaps the most beautiful volcanic phenomenon of Kamchatka. The view from its top is magnificent:  steep walls  surrounding  the vast  and  deep  crater cavity,  glittering of firm and sparkling glaciers split by cracks,  torches of fumaroles  oscillating  far below  and  drawing  a translucent view over the northern crater, the southern crater under its armor of ice and above all this  a column of vapor rising from the Active Funnel crater, surrounded by a cogged crest. The crater contains a lake of bitter whitish water and two groups of powerful fumaroles. Near the crater, there are vast mud pits. The total distance of hiking during this day is 14 miles. Picnic lunch. Return to the camp. Dinner, overnight in the tented camp.

Day 4.

Breakfast. Ascend and hiking excursion to the chain of craters of the Gorely Volcano. The Gorely is a massive shield volcano with three separate craters. At the end of the Pleistocene, all that was left from Gorely was a huge 8 by 7-mile caldera filled with lava from earlier eruptions. Between 6,000 and 2,000 years ago, Gorely became a quiet volcano with occasional explosive eruptions and a few lava flows. Gorely has a height of 1,097 feet and comprises three merged cones, about 11 craters and 40 volcanic vents. During the historical time the volcano has erupted about 10 times. The latest eruption in 1986 was characterized by weak activity. Currently, the most intensive fumarolic activity is concentrated in the central crater of the volcano. The Central crater has a telescopic structure with steep walls up to 300 feet high composed of lava rock. Located atop of the Gorely volcanic massif on the bottom of the active funnel, an acid lake impresses visitors with the intense blue color of its water. Following a picnic lunch, an afternoon hiking excursion will lead you to the chain of craters of the Gorely Volcano. All the craters can be visited in a single day when the weather is favorable. The hiking distance is 12 miles, but the route is not difficult. The excursion takes about 8 hours; however, those who wish may return to the camp earlier. Dinner, overnight in the tented camp.

Day 5.

Transfer by 6WD vehicle to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Visit to the fish market. Optional (for an additional fee) visit to the Museum of local lore, the Museum of the Institute for Volcanology, the Salmon Museum, or the museum and visitor center of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve (acquaintance with the especially protected nature areas of Kamchatka – Kronotsky Nature Reserve and South Kamchatka State Nature Sanctuary). Lunch at the café. Transfer to Paratunka. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Day 6.
Breakfast. Transfer by 6WD vehicle to the area of the Tolbachik Volcano (more than 320 miles, about 10-12 hours with sightseeing stops). Picnic lunch. Dinner, overnight at the tented camp at the bottom of the Plosky (“Flat”) Tolbachik Volcano.

Day 7.
Hiking excursions at the bottom of the Plosky (“Flat”) Tolbachik Volcano. The altitude of this area is 3300 feet above the sea level. (In the Soviet time, the testing of the lunar exploring vehicle took place there). Picnic lunch. In the afternoon, hiking to the dormant volcano Krasnaya Sopka (Red Knoll) – 3 hours, about 3 miles. It is quite possible to see hares, reindeer and bears. Dinner, overnight at the tented camp.

Day 8.
Hike without backpacks to the area of the “Eruption of the Century” (the Big Cleft Tolbachinskiy eruption). This place is considered one of the largest basalt eruptions ever known in the volcano belt of the Kuril Isles and Kamchatka. It lasted for one and a half year (July, 1975 – December, 1976) and was included in the list of the six most powerful cleft eruptions ever recorded on Earth.The events were evolving in the mid of a wood 11 miles south from the volcano Plosky Tolbachik. The eruption was accurately forecasted and studied by scientists of the Institute of Volcanology (P.I.Tokarev). A flaming “candle” reached 1,5 miles in height, and the ash cloud was 7.5 miles long. In sequence, new clefts evolved one after another, and as a result four new cones of the Tolbachinski Volcanoes were formed (from 330 to 1800 feet high). The eruption turned an enormous territory around volcanoes into a burnt desert, the forests captured by the ash fall dried off to the root. Lakes evaporated and rivers disappeared. Those animals that had survived left the area for the best. Hiking excursion in the Peplovoe (“Ash”) Plateau (8 hours, about 11 miles). The view to this area is nice and quite unusual: a row of flat volcanoes, numerous clefts, with streams of hot gases coming through them. Ascend three small volcanoes. Visit the “Fairytale” forest (ash-buried forest that dried standing during the eruption). Dinner, overnight at the tented camp.

Day 9.
Hiking to the bottom of the Plosky Tolbachik and ascend this volcano (the total hiking distance is 12.5 miles; this route will take us from 3300 feet to 9840 feet above the sea level). The ascend of this volcano does not require special technical skills. The whole route will take about 9 hours. A view to the magnificent volcanoes of the Klyuchevskaya group (located to the opposite side from the Tolbachik Volcano) will open from the upper plateau (if we hike across the plateau). Lunch en route. Dinner, overnight at the tented camp.

Day 10.

 A reserved day in case of bad weather. In the afternoon, transfer by 6WD vehicle to Esso, the national village of the Evens and Koryaks (about 5 hours). Dinner, overnight at the hotel.

Day 11.
Visit the Ethnography Museum in Esso. Drive to the village of Anavgai, visit the ethnography complex (there are authentic “chums” - traditional dwellings of indigenous people covered by reindeer skins). Meet local people living in the village, taste traditional cuisine and herbal tea. Performance of the folk ensemble “Nurgeneck” and children folk group “Orjakan”. Dinner, overnight in the “chum” or private hotel in Esso.

Day 12.
Rafting down a very dynamic and picturesque section of Essovskaya Bystraya River. Make stops on the way for fishing (grayling, silver salmon, black golets). Dinner and overnight at the hotel in Esso.

Day 13.
Transfer by bus back to Paratunka. Lunch en route. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Day 14.
Transfer by 6WD vehicle to the bottom of the Avacha Volcano along the Sukhaya River. The Avacha Volcano, also known as Avachinskaya Sopka, is an active stratovolcano that provides breathtaking backdrop to the capital of the Kamchatka Krai, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. It is s one of the most active volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula that began erupting in the middle to late Pleistocene era. It has a horseshoe-shaped caldera, which formed 30,000 to -40,000 years ago in a major landslide. The landslide covered 193 square miles south of the volcano, including the land underneath the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Reconstruction of a new cone inside the caldera occurred in two major eruption phases, 18,000 and 7,000 years ago. From the plateau, you will take a leisurely 5- to 6-hour hike to the 8,953-feet high Avacha Volcano by a gradual slope to the top. You can walk at your own pace as you climb about 5,900 feet on a well-marked single trail. At the end of the trail, you will enjoy lunch on the edge of the crater of the volcano with the stunning panorama of the Avacha Volcano, the Pacific Ocean, Petropavlovsk, Koryaksky Volcano and the Nalycheva Valley. Drive back to Paratunka, dinner, and overnight at the hotel.

Day 15.
Transfer to the airport.