June 22nd, 2013
Lake Baskunchak and Mount Bogdo are the main objects of the Bogdinsko-Baskunchaksky Reserve, which attracted my attention for photography. In addition, they are located in relative proximity to Moscow, and therefore, it will take a little time and money to get to them and thoroughly examine everything.
The first time I went there was in September 2010. The Moscow-Makhachkala train attracted me with its convenient time of departure and arrival and the cheapness of its tickets. However, after staying in it left an unpleasant aftertaste. Creepy
dirt and dust in the carriage, the passengers are Caucasian faces. The gloomy and unsmiling conductor after the departure of the train doomedly dragged a dirty gray bag across the floor, from which she scattered the same gray and damp bed linen to all the passengers with sweeping movements. Fortunately, the trip is not long, but on my next trips in this direction, I still preferred another train - Moscow-Astrakhan.
The stop I need is Verkhny Baskunchak, from there to Astrakhan it takes about a few more hours by train. At first glance, the roadside village seemed quite neat and clean. Not far from the station there is a small market where you can buy various smoked fish, which I used on the way back.
In 20 minutes, a local taxi driver drove me to the village of Nizhny Baskunchak, where I planned to spend several days. She settled in a hotel, a small 2-storey building, with rooms of various levels of comfort. There is a split system, which is important in the hot season. The only inconvenience - the toilet, shower, kitchen are located separately at the end of the corridor. Considering that at this time of the year there are practically no residents in the hotel, I could use all these benefits without limit.
A hundred meters from the hotel is the Bassol sanatorium, where I hastened to check in. After a small check and a conversation with the doctor, a 4-day plan for wellness procedures was drawn up for me. From early morning, mud wraps, a halochamber - a salt cave, a carbonic bath, hydromassage, general massage were waiting for me. Daytime was devoted to exploring the village and its environs. In the evening - bathing in the brine of Baskunchak lake. Having reached the hotel, I fell on the bed in a pleasant exhaustion and fatigue.
The village is small and the proximity of the salt lake determined the names of its establishments - the Solyanik cultural center, the Solonochka cafe ... The museum is very good, it has many interesting expositions dedicated to the history of salt mining and the nature of the area. 
The lake is located 20 minutes walk from the village. On the way to it, there are areas with wooden posts sticking out of the salt - traces of salt mining that has long passed here. 
The salt crust in the coastal part of the lake is quite strong, it can withstand the weight of a person. Beneath it is useful and therapeutic mud, with a complex of macro- and microelements. The farther from the coast, the thicker the layer of salt. Railway rails are laid right on the salt and along them, to the place of development and back to the village, a train with wagons regularly travels. In the village itself, the brought salt goes to the Bassol plant, where it is brought to a marketable condition. The breaks in the lake left after industrial development are filled with concentrated brine - brine, you can swim in it, but not for long - after all, the salt concentration is very high. In such a reservoir, you can also safely lie on the surface without fear of drowning. 
Lake Baskunchak is the largest among European and Russian salt lakes. It has an elongated shape, its length reaches 18 kilometers, width - 10-12 kilometers, the total area is more than 100 square kilometers. It is a small depression - a kind of crater of a salt mountain that arose in the Triassic, more than 200 million years ago. 
The thickness of salt deposits reaches 10-18 meters, the thickness of the surface brine - a saturated aqueous solution of salt, varies from a few centimeters to a meter. In the composition of lake salt, sodium chloride, or table salt, accounts for over 90% of the composition, the rest is other mineral salts: halite, salts of bromine, iodine, fluorine. A lot of such useful salts are also found in salt mud. The local population and "wild" tourists use this for their recovery - they smear themselves with therapeutic mud and take short-term brine baths. It turns out a kind of open-air sanatorium, for which you don’t have to pay ...
The vicinity of the salt lake is a saline desert, which is not distinguished by a great variety of life. Its formation is largely due to the climate of the area where the lake is located. Sharp daily fluctuations in air temperature and humidity, hot and dry summers, winters with little snow - these are the main indicators of weather conditions. Salt marsh is a lifeless gray-brown land around the lake, on which salt crystallizes. With a blinding snow-white cover, salt covers the banks and channels of dried-up streams. 
But still, on salt marshes, you can find some plant species that have adapted to harsh living conditions. These are halophytes - salt-loving plants that cannot imagine their life without salt crystals. The appearance of these plants is unusual, since they have to extract moisture from salty soil.
The most common inhabitants of typical salt marshes are hodgepodges and saltworts. These plants are small, have jointed fleshy stems and tiny leaves with a high content of stored water. Plants assimilate water from saline soils due to the increased osmotic pressure of cell sap, while the maximum water consumption occurs in spring and autumn, when the soil contains less salts. Many plants of the solonchak are characterized by seasonal coloration, they meet in spring and summer in a yellow-green color, and in autumn they acquire a brown-raspberry outfit. 
Two kilometers from the southwestern shore of the lake, there is another local celebrity - Big Bogdo Mountain.
The mountain is small in size, reaching no more than 200 meters in height. However, this is the only mountain that rises in the steppe surroundings of the salt lake. It is well visible from afar and serves as an excellent guide in the endless steppe. 
The western slope of the mountain is long and gentle, the eastern slope is steep and steep. It is the eastern slope that is most interesting for inspection. Here, in the cliffs of the mountain, layers of earth rocks come to the surface - layers of red-brown and blue clays, gray limestones, sandstone and crystalline gypsum. Overlapping each other, the rocks create a bizarre palette of colors. 
All rock layers differ from each other in their chemical composition, among the elements that make up the rock are brown iron ore, lead, copper ore, native sulfur, quartz and jasper. There are fossilized remains of animals that lived in the Triassic, during the formation of the mountain. Under the thick layers of sedimentary rocks, a giant monolith of rock salt is hidden - the remains of the once existing sea. In the mountain itself, as well as in the small rocks surrounding it, there are numerous caves, voids, grottoes. All of them have the gift of singing. It is enough to roam the steppe with a breeze, and the mountains start their unpretentious melody. It is unstable and depends on the strength and direction of the wind. 
Mount Bogdo has long been considered a sacred place where the spirits of the mountains and the souls of the dead should be worshipped. Sacred Buddhist rites are still performed here, for which believing pilgrims and a Buddhist lama come from Kalmykia. In general, several legends are associated with this mountain. According to one of them, the Dalai Lama, who came from Tibet, stayed here. To diversify the meager steppe landscapes, he ordered two of his monks to bring a small mountain from the Urals and place it in the middle of the steppe. However, at the last meters, the monks lost their strength, and the mountain collapsed on them with all its weight. The red slopes of the mountain are supposedly the color of the blood of the holy brothers, and the nearby salt lake is the tears of the Dalai Lama who mourned them. According to another legend, Mount Bogdo arose from a sacred stone brought to the steppe by wandering Kalmyks from the distant mountains of the Tien Shan. There is another name for the mountain - Arslan-ola, which in translation from Kalmyk means "Lion Mountain". The mountain received a similar name for its great external resemblance to a lying lion. The mountain has a younger namesake - Small Bogdo, which is much lower in height (only 37 meters), and it is located a few tens of kilometers from Big Bogdo, on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Like Lake Baskunchak, Mount Bogdo is also surrounded by semi-desert and solonchak soils, rich in soluble salts, with steppe and semi-desert plant species that can tolerate low moisture and salinity.
Depending on the season, plants colorfully transform foothill landscapes. In April-May, tulips bloom, cinquefoils, astragalus, sage, sweet clover bloom - the steppe becomes elegant. Closer to autumn, cereals and wormwood burn out and the steppe acquires a golden hue. 
You can get to Mount Bogdo from the village along the only road laid across the steppe. True, in a small village it is rather problematic to catch a car, but it is possible. At the checkpoint of the reserve for a small bribe - an environmental fee, you find yourself in the vicinity of the mountain and walk 4 km along the winding steppe road past small singing rocks to the mountain itself. From its height, of course, a fantastic view opens - a bizarre palette of colors of open rocks, a salt lake dazzling with its whiteness and an endless steppe. 
I happened to visit the mountain and its environs at different times of the year. Each of them is beautiful in its own way. In winter - transparent brine of an unfreezing lake and red-white rocks of Bogdo, in spring - blooming wild tulips, in autumn - yellow-brown brine and golden steppe.
Spring in the steppe is, of course, the brightest period of the year, the awakening time for tulips. Their delicate flowers open, turning the steppe into a colorful carpet. Early types of tulips bloom first - a two-flowered tulip, a little later, Bieberstein tulips open their buds. Rare and larger Schrenk tulips complete the flowering period. Brightly colorful steppe expanses and air filled with ethereal aroma leave indelible memories... 
I haven't been out for a while. And then the moment came when the desire to visit new places prompted me to go as far as 350 kilometers from Astrakhan. My choice fell on Mount Bogdo and Lake Baskunchak, which are located in the Astrakhan region.
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To begin with, even the trip itself in a comfortable bus did not become boring.
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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”.
Lake legend. Many, many centuries ago, a wild beast ran across the steppe, either a steppe wolf or a fox. The animal ran to the lake, wanted to drink water, put its face into the water, but could not drink - the water was too salty. The animal ran on. The sun was beating down mercilessly and the salt appeared on the muzzle as white crystals. A man saw that beast, got scared and ran away, shouting loudly “bask chak! bask chak!”, Which in ancient language meant salty head. This is the name of the famous lake.
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"?
The thickness of the surface salt deposit on Lake Baskunchak reaches 10-18 m. As a result of salt mining, faults up to 8 meters deep were formed. The depth of salt on Lake Baskunchak reaches 6 km. In spring and autumn, the level of brine in the lake is maximum - up to 1 meter. Only bacteria that tolerate salt live in brine. Today, the extremely pure salt of Lake Baskunchak accounts for up to 80% of the total salt production in Russia; from 1.5 to 5 million tons of salt are mined here annually.
Since ancient times, to be more precise, since the 8th century, salt has been mined here and sent along the road that connected East Asia with the Mediterranean Sea. The people called this route the Silk Road. The first mention of Lake Baskunchak can be considered in 1627, in the 1st geographical description of Russia, as a place "where crystal clear salt is mined, like ice."
And what connects and makes Lake Baskunchak 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" ...
An interesting fact we can call what salt is sometimes called “living” - since during the extraction of salt, its crystals are not subject to chemical, thermal or mechanical effects, and from this it follows that they are not destroyed, the intracrystalline lattice is not damaged, and all useful elements are preserved in the salt .
At the moment, Baskunchak salt is one of the best salts containing sodium in the world. Moreover, there is an opinion of various experts that the composition of salt is almost identical to the salt of the World Ocean and, at the same time, is close to the composition of human blood plasma, so baths with such salt will be very useful for people at any age to maintain your beauty and psychological state.
Today, the salt of the presented lake is incredibly pure, which is confirmed by repeated measurements of sodium in the lake (the level of NaCl reaches 99.8%). The human need for salt varies. It is about 5 million tons per year. The food of the unique reservoir occurs mainly at the expense of springs. Numerous springs flow into the salt lake Baskunchak along its northwestern shore, bringing more than 2.5 thousand tons of salt into the lake during the day.
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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.
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Big Bogdo is famous for its exceptional composition. This picturesque mountain is part of the Bogdinsko-Baskunchaksky nature reserve, located on south coast Lake Baskunchak. Buddhists consider it a holy mountain. Many legends are associated with it.
One of the legends says that this landmark was originally located on the banks of the Urals, but several saints wished to move it to the banks of the Volga. After praying and fasting for a long time, the saints took the mountain on their shoulders and decided to carry it on their own through the sultry steppe. One saint could not stand it and fell, and immediately saw a charming girl who was very good, but aroused sinful thoughts in him. The mountain punished him by climbing on top of him. The blood that came out of it colored one of the sides of the Bogdo Mountain, which is why it still shimmers in red.
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Another legend tells that Mount Bogdo was formed from the holy stone, which was brought by pilgrims from the Tien Shan mountain.
And here is another legend. Two heroes once lived in the Caspian steppe: a father and a son. They did not have their own farm, so they grazed flocks of other people's sheep. At that time in the steppe there was neither a hillock nor a mound. When tall grass rose in spring, it was impossible to see animals and predators hiding in the steppe behind it. Once a father and son went to the Urals. When they returned home, they agreed to take with them a block of Ural stone from the Ural Mountains. The father took the big one, and the son took the smaller one. The road is long. The path is difficult. The younger hero began to languish. He took off his burden, lay down to rest, but immediately died. After burying his son, the father moved on. He wanted to carry the block to his native wagon. Passing along the shore of a salt lake, he decided to take a pinch of salt in his mouth. But as soon as he bent down for salt, the mountain fell on him with all its weight. The hero fell, and the earth around him turned crimson, which is why it is still red.
Big Bogdo had another Kalmyk name - "Arslan-Ola" i.e. "Lion-mountain" (Kalm. "Arslan" - "lion"), for the outward resemblance of the mountain to a lying lion.
I want to ask again. Do you know who lives on the top of Mount Bogdo?
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Bogdo among the Mongols and Kalmyks means something sublime and majestic, just as in this sense the Chinese owner is called Bogdo-khan, "the highest khan." Mount Bogdo is sacred to the Kalmyks, who believe that it was consecrated by the Dalai Lama and come to worship it. According to one legend, Mount Bogdo was formed from a sacred stone, which was brought by Kalmyk pilgrims from the distant mountains of the Tien Shan. Another legend, written down by Academician Gmelin, says that Mount Bogdo used to stand on the banks of the Ural River, but two holy Kalmyks decided to move it to the banks of the Volga. After long fasts and prayers, the Kalmyks put her on their shoulders and carried her across the endless sultry steppes, but one of them fell under the weight of the burden at the moment when a sinful thought flashed through his head. The mountain crushed him and was sprinkled with blood, which is why one side of it is still red.
One spring evening, it was decided to pull into the wide Astrakhan steppes to look at the salt lakes.
Baskunchak was chosen, which is a local tourist mecca. With all the consequences. It is quite possible to swim in the lake itself, although it is difficult, since it is almost a dead sea and the water actively resists your presence in it. Picturesquely very, very Martian, in view of the fact that the soil is red.
The camp was set up late at night, we did not even understand where we were standing and how far to the lake. The navigator assured us that we had been in the water for a long time. We woke up in the morning from the barking of a dog, we were disturbed by a local watchman - it turns out that we are standing in a closed area. Later it turned out that almost the entire shore surrounding the lake was privatized by some cunning organizations.
Baskunchak 1 is not a completely wild place, you will not be alone here - traces of a person are everywhere: a railway stretched along the entire lake, wooden poles with wires, and most importantly, fridge magnets with the image of this wonderful lake are sold. The thing is that edible salt is mined on an industrial scale on the lake. And they promote Baskunchak as a tourist attraction. Here you will be taken to the lake itself for some crazy money on very strange vehicles, in fact, being a motorcycle with a sidecar, in the company of other 5-7 people. Terrible service in my opinion.
The remains of some buildings in the form of a palisade of wooden columns torn by salt. I read that the pillars were needed for a kind of salt production - a net was attached to them, which was lowered into a highly hypertonic solution of the lake itself. Then they raised it and the salt crystallized. She was shaken off and the procedure was repeated.
the salt crust makes it quite possible to stand on it and shimmers very beautifully
a hole from under the column is quietly covered with salt, the lake, as if alive, heals wounds
a bush drowned in a lake is gradually covered with a crispy crust
Baskunchak landscape with Big Bogdo mountain
salt snakes crawl towards their pillars
Martian landscapes, and maybe Australian
Phoenix left its mark
Large Baskunchak salt
Having washed off the salt in the open-air shower for a modest 50 rubles from a human nose and 30 rubles from a dog's (this is an undoubted plus of civilization), we set off to conquer Bogdo.
To visit the mountain, you need to buy an entrance ticket, you are instructed that in no case should you go on an excursion trail, as rare species of vegetation and animals live here.
Here, in fact, is Bogdo 2. Yes, she is exactly that, Martian color
The mountain stands almost on the shore of Lake Baskunchak and, in fact, is a hill, not a mountain. But for the look that she gives, I am ready to forgive her for her modest size. The landscape with Bogdo opens up heartbreaking...
I felt very keenly the true size of myself in this world. Huge space, absolutely flat, like a tabletop, the steppe to the horizon! If desired, you can even notice some bending of the horizon. Or does it seem?
My eloquence betrays me every time I try to formulate my feelings about this place. I did not want to leave Bogdo ....
Summing up, I will say that Baskunchak is a very picturesque place, and Mount Bogdo is simply fabulous, but there are a number of disadvantages. It seemed to us that there were too many people and too intrusive infrastructure of the “Vasya was here” format, partially destroying the magic of the unique lake and harming the local ecosystem. These disadvantages are so significant for me that I will not come here a second time, but I am damn glad that Bogdo and Baskunchak salt lake were in my life.
Taking this opportunity, last week I took a couple of days of vacation, attached it to the weekend and went to visit a good friend in Astrakhan - to extend my summer, eat watermelons, swim in the Volga and enjoy the temperature of +35 degrees. There are enough impressions in this short time, but in short, it is hot, dusty and flat there.
Now - about a trip to the very north of the region to Mount Bogdo and the salt lake Baskunchak, the name of which has been firmly planted in the brain since the time of school lessons in geography. The mountain is only 150 meters high, but by local standards it is just Everest, and it offers stunning views of the Steppe. Naturally, it was categorically impossible to miss the opportunity to climb somewhere even in the conditions of the Astrakhan semi-desert.
In fact, the entire territory of the Astrakhan region is one large flat plain, which in some places even falls below sea level. There are no trees, the hot sun, sand, dust and endless steppe roads. 
Also, the Astrakhan gas processing plant smokes not like a child. 
All the police this weekend were concentrated in the city, where the Day of the Oilman was held, as well as the search for a group of Astrakhan partisans, who recently shot four patrols. Therefore, the speed on the tracks was controlled by nanotech robocops. 
Sometimes very serious comrades came across 
Along the trails they sell either meat or fish, as well as watermelons and melons... 
And local cows do not pay any attention to cars at all, constantly creating emergency situations. 
So we drove for two hours, and the landscape outside the window hardly changed. But at some point, like a mirage, Mount Bogdo appeared out of the haze. 
The temptation to rush to her directly through the steppe was great, but we decided not to tempt fate and drove along the "normal" bypass road. It turned out to be a gravel mound several tens of kilometers long. 
It is impossible to drive along it quickly, and it’s a pity for the car, so 20 meters from the road there is a knurled track right across the steppe. Here it is - somewhat reminiscent of the African savannah. 
In search of Lake Baskunchak, we arrived at the lake of the same name. locality, which, surprisingly, looked like an ordinary village in the Vladimir region. 
As soon as we entered the village, two Kazakh children immediately ran up from somewhere, who vying with each other began to assure that only they could show the way to the lake and Mount Bogdo, but we ourselves would not find and get lost. We decided to take them as guides, at the same time and give them the opportunity to earn some extra money.
We decided not to go to the lake - there was a very complicated logistics chain to get to a place where swimming was "allowed", so we didn't waste time and went straight to the mountain, especially since it was already very close. 
At the entrance it turned out that the mountain and the entire surrounding steppe is a reserve, entry and entry into which is prohibited. 
The issue of entry was resolved by issuing a "voucher" for 140 rubles per person, and now we are at the entrance to Bogdo. 
To go upstairs, you have to overcome a rather steep climb up the stairs. Although not high, but in the wild heat it was pretty hard. 
But one has only to go upstairs, as the view of the white Baskunchak is simply mesmerizing 
We can say that this is our Dead Sea - it is at a level of minus 21 meters relative to the world ocean. Baskunchak is a kind of deepening on the top of a salt mountain, leaving its base thousands of meters deep into the earth and covered with a layer of sedimentary rocks.
Salt was mined there back in the 8th century, and now it is up to 80% of all Russian production. If you look closely, you can see the line in the photo railway that runs right across the lake. 
The lake is fed mainly by springs. Numerous springs flow into it, bringing more than 2.5 thousand tons of salts into the lake during the day. An almost inexhaustible resource. 
You look in any direction - and bastard. 
And our guides frolic around 
At all times people liked this place 
Road back 
...take another look at the lake... 
...and down the stairs to the car again 
Gradually, the weather began to deteriorate, and the long-awaited rain began to fall. And along with the rain came the understanding that Astrakhan horses are as fearless as cows. 
The Astrakhan region is famous for the fact that in the area of \u200b\u200bthe modern village of Selitrennoye, the capital of the Golden Horde, Sarai-Batu, was once located, where Russian princes actively traveled for a label to reign. Now only a hillfort remains from Saray, which is actively excavated by archaeologists, but this does not prevent the military-historical festival "Itilsky Shore" from being regularly held in this area, which attracts military-historical freaks from all over the country. 
Like any similar event, the festival turned out to be quite an interesting spectacle. 
Salt Lake Baskunchak is our answer to the Dead Sea. This is a unique creation of nature, a kind of deepening on top of a huge salt mountain, leaving its base thousands of meters deep into the earth and covered with lean sedimentary rocks. The thickness of the surface salt deposit on the lake reaches 10-18 m. In addition to its importance as a powerful base for the industrial development of salt, Lake Baskunchak is part of a unique natural complex, including Mount Bolshoye Bogdo.
The lake has an irregular shape with a general orientation in the northwest direction. The length of the lake along the major axis is 18 km, the width varies between 6 - 13 km, the total area is 110 square meters. kilometers.
The water line in the lake is 21 m below sea level. The water in the lake is replenished by the Gorkaya River, whose catchment area is 11,000 km², and water from 25 springs. The salinity of the lake is about 300 g/l. The thickness of the surface salt deposit on the lake reaches 10-18 m. As a result of salt mining, faults up to 8 meters deep were formed. The depth of the salt reaches 6 km. In spring and autumn, the level of brine in the lake is maximum - up to 1 meter. Only bacteria that tolerate salt live in brine.
They say that swimming in the lake helps with a bunch of different diseases, etc. From the parking lot to the water you need to go in a bathing suit and always in rubber slippers - take nothing else with you - there will be nowhere to put it. It is strongly recommended to take cans of water - wash off the salt.
Mount Big Bogdo with a mark of 149 m above sea level is the highest point of the Caspian Sea and a place shrouded in a trail of legends and legends. By the grandeur and beauty of the outcrops, by the diversity and distinct arrangement of the layers, and most importantly by the paleontological nature of some of them, Bogdo is a truly classic area for a geologist and, like a ghost, appears among the horizontal, to the point of fatigue, monotonous steppe sediments. Mount Bogdo is sacred to the Kalmyks, who believe that it was consecrated by the Dalai Lama and come to worship it. According to one legend, Mount Bogdo was formed from a sacred stone, which was brought by Kalmyk pilgrims from the distant mountains of the Tien Shan. Another legend, written down by academician Gmelin, says that Mount Bogdo used to stand on the banks of the Ural River, but two holy Kalmyks decided to move it to the banks of the Volga. After long fasts and prayers, the Kalmyks put her on their shoulders and carried her across the endless sultry steppes, but one of them fell under the weight of the burden at the moment when a sinful thought flashed through his head. The mountain crushed him and was sprinkled with blood, which is why one side of it is still red. The surrounding area is so flat that Mount Bogdo, according to the Kirghiz, is visible for 50 miles. Considering the importance of preserving the original flora and fauna here, the Bogdinsko-Baskunchaksky natural complex has been declared a reserve, where a special environmental regime has been established on an area of 53.7 thousand hectares.
