Available in Chelyabinsk region such a miracle of nature as Stone River: an amazing and impressive natural formation. The Big Stone River Taganay is a natural monument. A formation similar in size and beauty of stones is known only in India and nowhere else on the globe.
The Stone River is a uniform accumulation of huge rocky debris that stretches for many hundreds of meters and looks very similar to a river.
The Bolshaya Kamennaya River is located between the Bolshoi and Middle Taganay ridges and stretches from northeast to southwest for approximately 6 km, reaching a width of 20 to 270 m. The Kamennaya River consists of large blocks with a volume of up to 30 m³ (but on average 3 -4 m³). Per 100 sq. meters there are up to 300 blocks, they lie no less than 4-6 m deep, i.e. in 3-4 layers. There is no vegetation here except lichens. Nothing can grow through a pile of stones.
Numerous mountain streams are often buried under the “bed” of ancient stone streams.
Stone rivers consist mainly of quartzites, and in Taganay - of their variety - aventurine.
The origin of the stone rivers has not been fully studied; there are versions that the Bolshaya Kamennaya was formed by a glacier during the descent from the Taganay Mountains.
Many people mistakenly call the stone river kurumnik. Unlike the kurums, which even today continue to slowly slide down, the Big Stone River is currently practically motionless, and the slope here does not exceed 2.5°.
Coordinates the beginning of the stone river on the hiking trail:
55°14’44.58″С
59°46’24.27″B
Further the path crosses a stone riverbed
Every tourist is obliged to visit this miracle of nature. The Stone River on Taganay is also accessible to family hike. It's easy to get there.
In the north of Zlatoust, find the village. Pushkinsky (the road to the village of Magnitka begins from here.
After 300 m there will be a worship cross on the left, and a sign “Taganay National Park” on the right. Here in the house with the inscription “Tourist Registration” you need to check in the log. There are information stands in front of the park entrance.
The “lower” path leads to the Kamennaya River itself, the one that crosses the Bolshaya Tesma along the lower bridge. You can see the detailed route at the stands or ask a park employee.
Article text updated: 05/29/2018
Please note that this review attractions natural park Taganay and weekend routes consists of two parts. So that you don’t get lost in the abundance of information, let me tell you: summary articles:
1. What is Taganay National Park?
This is a huge area of taiga measuring approximately 70*20 kilometers, located in the Southern Urals. Approximately, the territory of the park is limited to the cities of Miass, Zlatoust and Karabash, as well as the villages of Magnitka and Aleksandrovka. The lands in the park of the reserve belong to the Kusinsky district and the city of Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk region.
You can get to the main attractions of the park from Magnitka, Karabash, Miass and Zlatoust. My friends and I went on a hike to Taganay from the checkpoint in Zlatoust, and my description of the routes is based precisely on the start from this point.
The wealth of the national park is its mountain ranges, covered with impenetrable taiga: Big, Middle and Small Taganay, Ural and Small Ural, Big and Small Talovsky. On average, the height of the mountains is 1.0-1.1 kilometers above sea level. The highest peak is Mount Kruglitsa (height - 1178 meters); She submitted to us only the second time.
2. How to get to Taganay National Park
If you decide get to the reserve by car, you need to get to the city of Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk region. The entrance to the park is located at the exit to Magnitka. If we enter the city from Miass, then first the road goes along Griboyedov Street; turning right we get onto the street. Anosova. In general, the main goal is to get to railway station. From there there will be signs “Magnitka” (that’s the name of the village in the vicinity of Zlatoust). Anosova Street will stop after the station and turn sharply to the left. From there we turn onto the street. Sandy right and we approach the big one tourist base, where the administration house is located, among other things.
2. Driving directions through the territory of Zlatoust “How to get to the entrance to national park Taganay"
For those who have a navigator, I inform you GPS coordinates car parking and the beginning of the hiking route: 55.221214, 59.731699.
Here we left the car in a paid parking lot (60 rubles per day), registered with the Rescue Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and received a map of weekend hiking routes in the territory of the Taganay National Park.
You can go to Zlatoust go by train. Trains traveling from Chelyabinsk to Moscow and from Samara to Chelyabinsk stop at the local railway station. There are two routes from Yekaterinburg (the journey takes 7.5 hours).
From Chelyabinsk the train is coming 2.5 hours, from Ufa – 6.5 hours, from Tyumen it will take 13 hours.
Getting to Taganay is quite convenient by bus. Minibuses depart from Chelyabinsk to Zlatoust every half hour, from 7:00 to 21:00, from the Northern Bus Station.
Perhaps my words will sound boring, but when we arrive at the park, we must remember that here is a real, remote Ural taiga. I don’t think that you can get lost on the routes that I will describe below, but before the hike you need to undergo certain preparation: find out the telephone numbers of the administration and rescue services (), take with you maps of the area, a navigator.
All trails on the two-day route are marked. But keep in mind that in the mountains of the Southern Urals in winter there is snow higher than human height - it’s easy to get into trouble if a snowstorm starts. In 2011, in the Zyuratkul National Park, a problem happened to our group: we climbed onto a ridge (height - 1175 meters), and there was a thunderstorm, rain, clouds touched the stones, nothing was visible at all. During the ascent, the last 100 meters are a steep slope, the path is not noticeable. We took a wrong turn and wandered for about half an hour through thickets of grass, which in the mountains at the end of July are also over your head - it’s impossible to navigate. When a slight panic was already beginning, we finally came out onto the path...
In Taganay National Park there are many areas with huge stones: all the peaks are covered with them. Please note that some boulders are movable and you can trip and get seriously injured. That is why the park administration encourages all tourists to register their groups with the Ministry of Emergency Situations!
The route I describe takes two days of travel, one overnight stay. Therefore, unlike all other tours in the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions described on the site, you will have to carry much more cargo than usual. There were 5 people in our group - each participant carried either a 50-liter tourist backpack (sleeping bags, tents, food, a change of clothes) or some other luggage.
Hiking shoes are a must: sneakers or, better yet, trekking boots. Personally, I walked in old shoes - it was still a pleasure: my feet very quickly begin to hurt due to constant jumping on stones.
Every day you will have to cover quite long distances: 15-25 kilometers. Moreover, most of the path to Mount Kruglitsa, Mitkin Rocks and Otklikny Ridge passes with an upward slope. Before organizing a tour in the mountains of the Southern Urals, it is advisable to actively engage in physical exercise for at least a month: exercises, squats, running - i.e., you need to keep yourself in good physical shape.
Taganay National Park – popular place not only among tourists coming from Chelyabinsk, Tyumen and Ufa, but also among travelers from all over Russia. I call on all like-minded people, lovers active rest take the garbage with you into civilization: the reserve is slowly turning into a not very tidy place. It’s better to buy firewood from rangers in shelters - at least they cut it from old dry trees - if every tourist cuts down wood in the clearings, soon we’ll be writing reports about trips to the desert, not to the taiga... In the area of Otklikny ridge on the saddle in the direction near Kruglitsa there is already a forest-tundra: the trees are small, gnarled, and after human intervention they take decades to recover.
4. Route for a weekend hike, where you can see the main attractions of Taganay
On the official website of the park you can find a map of the paths, a plan for the placement of the main beautiful places.
I used a dotted line to show the trails we hiked in the summers of 2009 and 2010. Green - first day. Yellow - second day of the second trip. The red one is a diagram of returning to base on the first trip.
Option 1
The first day. Administration (1) – bridge over the Bolshaya Braid river (2) – “White Key” shelter (3) – “Gremyachiy Klyuch” shelter (4). We walk along this section in full gear: we carry heavy hiking backpacks. At Gremyachiy Klyuch we leave our luggage with the rangers and lightly “run” to the top of the Otkliknaya ridge (6), the distance to which is 4 kilometers in one direction.
Second day. The morning was rainy and cloudy. In the mountains the clouds are a continuous, impenetrable fog. We, like hedgehogs, followed the clearing past the Otklikny ridge (6) to the Valley of Fairy Tales (7). Nothing was visible there - along a very steep path (7-9) we went down to the Taganay shelter (9). From here, along the Old Kialim Road we returned to the starting point of our hike, where a car was waiting for us in the parking lot.
Option 2
The first day. This time we were more fortunate with the weather - it was sunny for two days. We walked from the Base (1) to the White Key parking lot (3). We left our backpacks in the care of the ranger, and ourselves climbed to the top of the Two-Headed Sopka mountain (altitude 1034 meters above sea level). We went down, had something to eat and proceeded to the “Rattlesnake Spring” (4), where we again set up camp and left our things with the forester. We went light to the Mitka rocks (5).
Second day. They didn’t bother dragging their backpacks, they entrusted them to the owner of the “Gremuchiy Ruchey” shelter. We went to the Response Ridge (6) and further to the Valley of Fairy Tales (7). We rested, saw the “miracles” and climbed Mount Kruglitsa (8) – the most high peak in Taganay National Park. Since the lower trail along the Old Kialim Road is not so interesting (there is only the Big Stone River there), we returned to the beginning of the route the same way we came: 8-7-6...1.
Both times we went on a tour of the Southern Urals from Yekaterinburg on Thursday evening. Spent the night at small lake between the cities of Miass and Zlatoust in tents. The hike along Taganay began at 10 am on Friday. We returned back to Yekaterinburg late on Saturday evening (in fact, almost on Sunday). It takes about 5-6 hours to travel from Zlatoust to the capital of the Middle Urals - including rest.
5. Weekend hike in the mountains of the Taganay National Park. Report
In 2009, I photographed with a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W15 point-and-shoot camera. And it was only at that PVD that I held a DSLR in my hands for the first time. It was in those days that I realized what kind of camera I needed if I wanted to bring back beautiful, high-quality photographs from vacation. In general, some of the images presented in this story were taken on a compact camera, and some were taken on a Canon EOS 400D KIT 18-55 SLR camera. We didn’t know how to take photographs, we had never heard of processing RAW files, so all the photos were taken in JPEG format. I tried my best to prepare the pictures for publication, but, dear readers, please don’t be harsh! And one more thing: I ask for forgiveness for the fact that the report will contain a lot of selfies - in those happy days I did not know that I would be blogging and writing recommendations for organizing a tour of the Urals.
So, we left the car in the park administration parking lot (cost 60 rubles per day), recorded the GPS coordinates of the starting point and set off on a journey.
The upper trail is marked with white-blue-white paint. It starts at the barrier in front of the parking lot. First you walk along a rutted road, which then turns left, the path goes to the right. After some time, the trail splits into Upper and Lower. We turned to Verkhnyaya - there is a bridge over the Bolshaya Tesma River.
5.1 Shelter “White Key” and Mount Dvugovaya Sopka
Both paths meet at the White Key shelter at the foot of the Two-Headed Sopka mountain. The White Key base consists of several wooden houses, bathhouses and gazebos for relaxation. A spring with delicious water flows straight from the mountain. Here, in summer days there are a lot of tourists, since it is not very far to get from the administration (about 6.5 kilometers). Very close to here is the Big Stone River.
We leave our backpacks for storage with the ranger, and we ourselves climb, first along a metal ladder, and then along a very steep path, to the top of the mountain.
The height of the Two-Headed Hill is 1034 meters above sea level. The views are unforgettable! I am sure that you will definitely not regret the efforts spent on climbing.
7. On one of the “feathers” of the Two-Headed Sopka mountain. Taganay Park in the Chelyabinsk region
After the descent we were already pretty hungry. For 50 rubles you can buy firewood for a fire, cook lunch and take a break.
5.2 Shelter Gremochiy Klyuch and Peak Otvoliknaya Ridge
Let's take a breath, let's move on. There is a picturesque forest around, along the way we cross the right tributary of the stone river - Kurum. We find ourselves in a clearing in front of the Gremyachiy Klyuch shelter. There used to be a small hut here. Now, judging by the official website of the Taganay National Park, a two-story guest house has been built (the room can be booked in advance).
I recommend stopping for the night at the Rattle Spring. The most important thing is that a stream with the purest mountain water flows here. In the clearing near the Otklikny ridge, it seems, there is also a spring, but we witnessed several times how tourists came to our stream for water from above - that is, they had to travel 4 kilometers down, and 4 kilometers back, with heavy burden. And at Gremuchiy Klyuch we calmly took water to cook dinner or wash ourselves after a hard hike in the heat.
We arrive at this point on the route when the sun is still quite high. In July 2009, we left our backpacks for storage and set off to conquer the top of the Otkliknaya ridge. It got this name because if you shout something from above, the echo will respond several times. The height of the rocks is about 100 meters, and the mountain rises 1155 meters above sea level. At the base there are kurmas, made of huge stone blocks.
We tried to climb to the very top. But, firstly, a thundercloud, black as hell itself, loomed on the horizon, and I didn’t really want to pretend to be a target for Perun, standing at the top. And secondly, the stones are very large; in some places it is extremely difficult to climb without climbing equipment. And you must always remember that going down in such places is much more dangerous! Experienced tourists do not advise climbing up if you are not sure that you can then overcome the way down... Thirdly, two people from our team, including me, have a fear of heights. In general, at that time we only reached the middle of the Otklikny ridge - and for 6 years now I have been tormented by the realization that the goal has not been achieved... We will have to organize another weekend tour by car to the Chelyabinsk region in order to conquer this unruly peak of Taganay.
16. In the background is the Middle Taganay ridge
Returning to the “Rattling Key” shelter, we set up tents and had time to dine on the world’s most delicious buckwheat porridge and mountain herb tea before the thunderstorm.
You can’t imagine what a joy it is to plop down in a tent after walking along 16 kilometers of roads cutting through the mountain taiga! You lie down, share your impressions of the day with friends, breathe in the cleanest air, listen to the birds singing...
And at night there is a thunderstorm! The electric arrows did not hit from above, as in ordinary life, but from the side - the Gremuchiy Klyuch parking lot is located at an altitude of 822 meters above sea level. Unusual, I tell you...
5.3 Old Kialimskaya Road and Big Stone River in Taganay
On our first trip, in the summer of 2009, the next morning greeted us gloomily: nothing was visible at a distance of 50 meters. They took their luggage and stomped towards the clearing near the Otklikny ridge. In the fog it is completely invisible.
On the saddle between it and Mount Kruglitsa there is a section of forest-tundra. The pines look like in the fairy tale about Baba Yaga and Koshchei the Immortal. The fog turned this forest into a fairyland.
We reached point No. 7 on the route map of the national park - Valley of Fairy Tales. Here there are scatterings of white quartz sand between stunted pine trees, which is why locals call this place Sand Hills. And also - scatterings of strangely shaped stones, reminiscent of fairy tale characters. But the fog prevented us from admiring the beauty - we found a path (7-9) leading through barricades of fallen trees down to the Taganay shelter (9).
If you decide to climb Mount Kruglitsa by walking along the Old Kialim Road (1-9), prepare for the fact that at the end of the road you will be assaulted by an almost vertical wall.
Trail 9-1 is mostly horizontal. It would seem that this is a relief. But without trekking boots it’s a real challenge! The road is paved with medium-sized stones (about the size of a fist), which dig painfully into the sole.
21. Great Kialimskaya Road - Lower Trail. There are no strong slopes here, like on the Upper Trail, but it is uncomfortable to walk because of the mud and stones. Description of routes along Taganay
The main tourist attraction on the Old Kilaim Road is the Big Stone River. These are placers of huge stone blocks weighing up to 10 tons in the valley between the Bolshoi and Middle Taganay ridges. The length of the kurum is 5-6 kilometers, the width is from 25 to 250 meters.
By the way, let me remind you that we already saw photographs of a small stone river in a report about a weekend trip to the mountains of Bashkiria. Kurumnik is located near the Otnurok village.
I am now finishing the first part of my review of the trip to Southern Urals. Today we found out where it is located natural Park Taganay, how to get to it by car and by car public transport, how to get to the starting point in Zlatoust, got acquainted with the route map for 2 days and saw photographs of several beautiful places: the Two-Headed Sopka mountain, the Otkliknaya ridge peak and the Bolshaya Kamennaya River. In the next part we will look at photos from the Mitkin Rocks and from the ascent to Mount Kruglitsa.
Taganay is a mountain range located in the west of the Chelyabinsk region. It occupies part of the Taganay National Park. This is a magnificent creation of nature, beauty embodied in stone.
Name history
Translated from Bashkir, Taganay means “Moon Stand”. And this is very similar to the truth - on a clear night you can observe how the Moon seems to “sit” on one of the peaks. locals know a lot beautiful legends about your land. They are happy to tell them to tourists.
For example, about the battle between the brothers Svarog and Div, after which the “diva people” were hidden under the Ural Mountains. The kingdom of Diva sank underground and is still in captivity to this day. Almost all the legends of the local population are based on the fact that in the depths of the mountain there live a people who have been hiding from people for thousands of years.
Mount Taganay - characteristics
Taganay - mountains that amazingly combine alpine outcrops on the tops with granite rocks, located in the middle of a centuries-old forest, and picturesque river channels. Mount Taganay is the common name for three ridges. Their total length- more than 20 kilometers. Local residents call them Small, Middle and Big Taganay.
Big Taganay consists of several peaks. These are Responsive Comb, Double Headed Sopka, Kruglitsa and Dalniy. The highest of them is Mount Kruglitsa (Taganay). She rose 1178 m above sea level. Kruglitsa has a round shape, which is probably where the name came from. The indigenous people call it the “Bashkir hat”. It really resembles a cone-shaped Turkic headdress in outline. Based on the height of Kruglitsa, it is generally accepted that the height of Mount Taganay is 1178 meters.
The upper sections of Taganay are formed by quartzites. The peculiarity of these places is considered to be unique mica interspersed with sparkles that sparkle in the sun. This is taganaite, better known as aventurine. It looks great in souvenirs and decorations.
Almost all Taganay ridges are distinguished by slope steepness of 10-15° at the base, 15-25° in the middle and 25-35° at the top. As a rule, the peaks are inaccessible. They impress everyone who comes to see Taganay. The mountains amaze with their grandeur and beauty. Of particular note is the luxurious Response Comb.
Rivers
In this mountain range, rivers originate, which then feed the great Caspian Sea. First of all, this is the Kusa River with its tributaries Shumga, Bolshaya and Malaya Tesma.
natural features
There are two climatic zones on this land: one of them is located on the peaks. It consists of subalpine forests and meadows, and the second - in the valleys and on the lower slopes of the mountains.
Various natural areas, which connect on Taganay, give this region a special originality. The northern part of the ridges is covered with spruce-fir forests of the middle taiga. On the eastern slopes there are taiga forests in which larches, birches, and larches grow. In addition, there are areas covered with beautiful
Mount Taganay (Zlatoust) in the highlands is covered with mountain tundra and subalpine meadows. These places are unique in that plants of Central European, Western, Eastern species, and Central Siberian flora coexist here. Arctic plants descend along the highlands far to the south, and steppe vegetation rushes along the foothills of the east to the north.
Mount Taganay is an old Ural massif. Manifestations of seismic activity have been recorded here. The last earthquake with a magnitude of 3.5 was recorded in 2002.
Riddles of Taganay
On sunny and hot days, many tourists, as well as local residents, observe an interesting effect - Mount Taganay seems to sway. Experts explain this phenomenon by the proximity of groundwater. Under the influence of the sun's rays, moisture begins to actively evaporate, and in the ascending air currents the effect of mobility of the mountain range is created.
Mount Taganay is part of the Ural zone, which is considered anomalous. Here you can often meet expeditions of ufologists, local residents manage to see traces of Bigfoot, tourists talk about encounters with ghosts.
The weather conditions in Taganay are amazing. In a matter of minutes they can change dramatically. During the day the temperature often fluctuates within ten degrees. Local residents will not be surprised by the snow that fell in June. Tourists can experience all seasons of the year in one day - from hot summer to harsh and windy winter. Another feature is strong winds, their speed sometimes reaches 50 m per second.
An amazing picture of the Southern Urals opens from the Taganay Mountains. Beauty and Features natural complex fascinate and surprise. Even in bad weather, the peaks of Taganay, shrouded in a shroud of fog, amaze with their grandeur. Tourists from different regions of the country flock to these places. Traditional routes for tourists pass here.
National Park
This unique park was created in March 1991. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that in a relatively small area a variety of animals live and plants grow from different geographical zones.
Taganay National Park is full of secrets and mysteries. mountain range surrounded by dense forest - the best place for the habitat of various evil spirits. Local residents say that the caves of the ridge are inhabited by amazing creatures, and Mount Kruglitsa is a point of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence - Roerich himself wrote about this.
Nature generously endowed Taganay Park with its amazing creations. In a relict forest, stone rivers flow among unusual ones, petrified people live, and the water from the springs is considered alive. All this splendor fascinates even an experienced traveler.
Even an unprepared tourist can conquer the Taganay Mountains. When going hiking, wear comfortable shoes and don’t forget tick and mosquito repellent. During the rainy season, travelers are unlikely to be able to do without rubber boots.
Stone River
In this massif you can see unique sights. Taganay has become famous throughout the world for its amazing natural formation, which is a uniform accumulation of huge rocky debris. The length of the stone Taganay River exceeds six kilometers, and its width reaches 200 meters.
The Stone River “flows” between the Dvuhglavaya Sopka mountain and the Middle Taganay ridge. Its origin is currently unknown. There is a version that the stone river was formed by a glacier that came down from the Taganay mountains.
Anomalous zone
In the Taganay forestry, which was built at the foot of the mountain, V.N. Efimova, an employee of the environmental department, confirmed rumors about the anomaly of these places.
As it turned out, in the mountains - on the Urenga ridge - ball lightning appears quite often, more often than other places. They are also common in the village of Veselovka. These objects behave rather strangely - they hit the same places, as if they consciously meander while moving. According to experts, there are “lightning nests” in the classic form, with reduced soil resistance. This indicates either large deposits of metal or sources of water located underground.
Mysterious swamp
The anomalous Taganay is represented by an even more mysterious place - Bolshoy It is located between the tip of Maly Taganay in the north and the southern foothills of Itsil. The swamp occupies an area of 36 square meters. kilometers and is located in a giant trench of tectonic origin. It resembles an oval bowl with a long axis.
In this territory, the human psyche changes - orientation is disrupted, because of this, even experienced foresters can get lost here. Travelers here see all sorts of amazing things that seem so real that they are taken at face value.
Most likely, this is due to a mixture of underground gases, which contains carbon dioxide and methane. They emerge from a large deep fault and have a toxicomatic and psychotropic effect on humans.
Those who wish to wander through the swamps expose themselves to stupefaction and sometimes serious poisoning. This state facilitates encounters with “flying saucers,” humanoids, translucent substances, and kikimoras.
Sound mirages also happen here. Various forest noises can be heard - the rustling of leaves, as if approaching, close steps. In fact, there won't be anyone nearby.
Tourists often stop at the Otklikny ridge. It received this name for its comb-like outline and loud, multiplying echo, which arises due to the reflection of sound from each vertical rock. If you look at the ridge from afar, it resembles a stegosaur lizard, a sea wave, and an elongated ridge.
There is a tectonic fault in the northeast of the ridge. In 2002, tourists noted several air turbulences in the form of dark pillars over Taganay. Later, meteorological services confirmed this information. The tornado appeared when a cold front passed through Taganay. It consisted of three independent vortexes that merged together.
Sand slides
If you follow the path leading to Kruglitsa, you can get to the “Valley of Fairy Tales” - Sand Hills. This is an area of extraordinary beauty - the saddle of a low-growing forest. Here you can see clearings with numerous original remains.
The valley is located in a zone of intense tectonic movements of the past. “Walking” fog often appears between the rocks. Moreover, it also “sings” when it gets into stone cracks and rubs against grains of different strengths. There are a lot of spruce trees here without tops - they suffered from autumn and winter windfalls.
In the clearing, the batteries are discharged very quickly, and as a result, all of them refuse to work electronic devices(video cameras, watches, cameras). Photographs, as a rule, are overexposed, and people see, for example, flying luminous balls.
The northern part of Kruglitsa is very attractive for ufologists. This is a perfectly flat area measuring 0.2 x 0.4 kilometers. Particularly fanatical ufologists are sure that this is the place where energy exchange with the Cosmos takes place. There are some symbolic letters and signs laid out from stones. Esotericists, occultists, and psychics are drawn here like a magnet. Judging by the ribbons hung in this place, which symbolize wishes made, and the sacred signs inscribed on the stones, Roerichites regularly visit here. Pilgrims are sure that the peak is given such attention because of the presence of special positive energy.
weather station
The Taganay Mountain weather station is located on the top of Dalniy Taganay. The weather site is located at an altitude of 1108 meters.
The station was opened in August 1932. Here observations were made of wind speed, air temperature and atmospheric pressure, cloudiness, and precipitation. All information was transmitted by radio to the Office of the Ural Hydrometeorological Service (Sverdlovsk).
During its operation, the station was rebuilt twice (in 1965 and 1982). It was closed in May 1992, and the premises were later transferred to the ownership of the city. Today, the weather station of the Taganay park and the rescue service team are based there.
“Rivers of stone flow of immeasurable depth, the solid drops of which form huge blocks” - this is how P. P. Anosov poetically described this natural phenomenon. Stone rivers (locally called placers) are not uncommon on Taganay, Urenga, and other ridges of the Southern Urals. They are linearly elongated accumulations of stone blocks and rubble that have moved from mountain slopes to intermountain valleys. From the top of the mountains, placers really resemble real rivers. Their formation dates back to the era of the last glaciation. At this time, glaciers in the Southern Urals covered only the tops of the ridges, the height of which was close to the heights of the modern Alps (up to 4800 m). In this zone, due to physical weathering, intensive destruction of rocks occurred. The peaks broke up into large blocks, which, under the influence of gravity, slowly shifted along the slopes of the ridges, forming large placers to this day, the largest of which on Taganay - the BIG STONE RIVER - stretches for 5-6 km, reaching a width of 20 to 250 and even up to 700 meters.
Imagine that this entire area is occupied by large rounded blocks of quartzite, including aventurine, with a volume of 0.2-30 cubic meters (on average 3-4 cubic meters) and weighing 9-10 tons. Per 100 sq. meters of placers there are up to 300 individual blocks, and they lie no less than 4-6 meters deep, i.e. in 3-4 layers. Unlike the kurumniks, which to this day slowly move along the slopes of the mountains, the Big Stone River today is practically motionless, because it lies on the surface with a slope of only 2.5°.
Numerous mountain springs are often hidden under the “bed” of ancient stone streams, the muffled murmur of which can be heard in different places of large placers.
As the famous local historian of the city of Zlatoust, Alexander Veniaminovich Kozlov, writes, he climbed the entire Kamennaya River up and down: The total area of the Big Kamennaya River is about 90 hectares. In this territory, more than 2.5 million stone blocks with a volume of 1-2 cubic meters lie on the surface alone. m each, and in total there can be up to 8-9 million of them, considering that in placers they lie in three or four layers. For comparison: the construction of the famous Egyptian pyramid Cheops used 2.3 million limestone blocks with a volume of about a cubic meter each. From this it turns out that in only one Big Stone River, 3-4 Cheops pyramids lie in a “disassembled” form. It is these wonderful places that we decided to visit. To see for yourself, and to show you.
1.Welcome to the fairy tale.
2. getting lost in the Taganay National Park is becoming more and more difficult, but people manage to do it. 
3.clear water of the Tesma River. 
4.chips. 
5. As in every fairy tale, ours has the same thing - a princess. 
6. Knight and queen in search of mushrooms))) 
7. Now the princess has joined them. 
8. Rejuvenating rose hips. 
9.And here is the mountain ash at the first stone stream, a tributary of the Stone River. 
10.His Majesty the fly agaric. 
11. We strain our eyes together and see a mythical dragon lying on the ground with its head towards us. This is the Responsive ridge, there is even a legend about it: Many years ago, a fierce beast allegedly lived in the cave of the Taganay ridge. He indiscriminately grabbed foot and horsemen and devoured them. Once a holy hermit, perhaps the same Zosimus, was walking, saw a beast crawling out of a cave, and turned to God with a prayer to destroy the monster. The Lord heeded the prayer and killed the beast with a block of stone, and as a souvenir to people, he left his voice in the mountains, “great and terrible,” add competent storytellers of some schismatic persuasion. 
12.
13.snack on the Kamennaya River, stones heated in the sun, murmur of water and beauty all around!!! 
14.Ottliknoy and Bolshaya Kamennaya River 
15.and here there is a place for a miracle 
16.How??? 
17.here is the thirst for life!!! 
18.Well, here, a whole pine tree has grown, without an ounce of soil on the stones. Isn't this a miracle!? 
19. And the Stone River, you know, “runs” further...... 
20.framed by the Taganay Mountains. View from the Kamennaya River to the Middle Taganay. 
21. A cloud came over and we got ready to go home. 
22. Go to that tower, not far from it, our mansions are located)))) 
23.on the road. 
24.
25. And as a farewell, Taganay gave us an amazingly beautiful sunset!!! 
26. Small Taganay (Sabbath). 
27.
28. Mind-blowing))) 
Well, this cloud probably flew to Taganay to spend the night... Remember how Lermontov did?
A golden cloud spent the night
On the chest of a giant cliff;
In the morning she rushed off early,
Playing merrily across the azure;
But there was a wet mark in the wrinkle
Old cliff. Alone
He stands, deep in thought
And he weeps softly in the desert. 
See you in the South Ural expanses.
Taganay National Park is a group of mountain ranges in the Southern Urals. Its length is 25 km, and its height rises to 1178 m. Here, between the ridges of the Bolshoi and Middle Taganay, there is the Big Stone River - an amazing and impressive natural formation, a real miracle of nature.
In fact, this is a natural wonder - a uniform conglomeration of huge rocky boulders that stretches for hundreds of meters and looks very much like a river. The large stone river Taganay stretches from northeast to southwest for about 6 km. The width of the river reaches from 20 to 270 m. On average, the size of the boulders is 3-4 cubic meters in volume, but there are much larger specimens - up to 30 meters and 9-10 tons of weight. According to rough calculations, we can say that about 300 blocks are located on 100 square meters. They lie at least 4.6 m deep, forming 3-4 layers.
Stone River is composed primarily of aventurine, a type of quartzite. Aventurine clumps vary in color and lichen patterns on them. There is no longer any vegetation on the stones except lichens. Nothing can grow through a stone conglomeration. The only exceptions are rare pines over a hundred years old. Numerous mountain streams often bury themselves under the “river bed” of ancient cliffs. Such a landmark would definitely not be lost in the list of 7 wonders of Russia.
Many people mistakenly call the Kamennaya River “kurumnik”. Although Kurum (ancient Turkic kamrums - stone rivers, stone streams) even today continues to slowly slide down. But this unusual river is now almost motionless, because the slope does not exceed 2.5 degrees. This unique field is a national treasure. Something similar can only be found in India, and nowhere else in the world. The origin of such stone rivers has not been fully studied, but there are versions that the Great Stone River Taganay was formed by a glacier during its descent from the Taganay Mountains.
Local residents say that winter is the most wonderful time in Taganay, and the river itself is a pearl national park. They invite all tourism lovers to visit this miracle of nature. The air here is extremely clean, and only birdsong, wind, sun, the smell of fir trees and rain disturb the perfect silence.
