Sim-sim, open up! The volcano Gorely. Kamchatka.

Traveling in Kamchatka does not imply five-star comfort and coziness. This is, to a greater extent, a harsh, I would say, men's holiday, where you need to count your strength. After all, it is fraught with a lot of movements "on your own two feet" :-). Yes, you will not get to the most interesting places either on a shift (a high-speed shift bus), or on a jeep (other cars are not even considered here), or on a motorbike, but only on foot. No, of course, you will be shaken from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the starting point for 3-4 hours off-road. And then the most interesting thing will begin – an hour-long test of yourself and your physical abilities with a small backpack on your back.

For me personally, climbing the Gorely volcano was not a serious physical challenge, but for an ordinary city dweller who does not burden himself with regular sports, it may well become one. But even here it will be more important to properly tune in moral and psychological endurance has not been canceled, the unbearable do not go to Kamchatka.
Moving from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the foot of the volcano is a whole separate journey. I had it in the company of 20 more of the same tourists, ready to taste the wild and therefore especially beautiful beauties of Kamchatka. After leaving the city a little after dawn and making two short stops along the way: first at the Hare Creek to replenish supplies of fresh drinking natural water, and then, at the Vilyuchinsky pass, in order to enjoy the fascinating views of the tearing valley, after 4 hours of leisurely rocking in the shift, we got to the foot of the Gorely volcano, which by that time a lot of the same high-passable transport gathered.

Our high-passable transport)

After a short briefing and a little playful warm-up, accompanied by two experienced guides, our ascent to the crater of the volcano began. Locals often talk about the Gorely volcano: "you'll be lucky if he opens up to you." But there are no magic words, as in the fairy tale about Aladdin, to him, alas)). By its beauty, the crater of the Gorely volcano, located at an altitude of 1829 m above sea level, occupies one of the leading places among the natural attractions of Kamchatka accessible without climbing balancing. At a leisurely pace, with breaks for rest, water and admiring the views, our group reached the caldera ridge in 2.5 hours.
Standing at the top and peering into the distance, on the one hand you feel like a grain of sand in this huge and majestic world, on the other hand you realize that you are certainly an important part of all this earthly splendor :–). A storm of mixed emotions captures the mind at this moment: starting from delight, sincere joy of children, ending with the realization of their smallness, an indispensable desire to create and preserve this pristine nature.

During the ascent to the Gorely volcano, this view opens to Vilyuchinsky volcano

Gorely volcano is very active and the terrain around it is constantly changing, its caldera stretches as much as 14 km in diameter. But we came from the side where you immediately get into the holy of holies. A Blue lake opens up to you, an eastern crater, so named after the turquoise color of the reservoir located in it. Steep cliffs towering two hundred meters above the acidic water. The contents of the crater serve as a kind of litmus test, signaling the state of the volcano. When it is in a period of relative rest, the lake retains its blue color. When an eruption or other manifestation of activity is approaching, the liquid changes color and begins to boil.

Blue lake in the crater of the Gorely volcano

You should definitely walk along the ridge of the crater, go around the lake and look at it from all sides. With every 100 meters passed, the view of the crater will open up in a new way. More and more details will catch your eye and clearly take root in your memory. A visit to the Gorely volcano should become a mandatory part of your trip to Kamchatka. We are waiting for your comments and photos about this beautiful place).