Kamchatka is a river on the peninsula with the same name. It is located in the northeast of Eurasia.

Kamchatka River (description)

The river is the largest on the peninsula of the same name, located on Far East Russian Federation. The source and mouth of the Kamchatka River are 758 kilometers apart. The area of ​​the river basin is 55,900 square kilometers. The source of Kamchatka is located in the mountainous central part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, namely, in the southern part of the Sredinny Range. Before connecting with the tributary Pravaya Kamchatka, the river is called Ozernaya. After the confluence with Pravaya, along the bank of the river until it flows into the bay of the same name, there is a highway connecting Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky with Ust-Kamchatsky.

Different sections of the river

The upper reaches of Kamchatka are typical for a mountain river: green waters flow in a stormy stream from the Ganalsky and Sredinny ridges. The current is so violent that it carries large stones over vast distances. These boulders form rapids and riffles on the river. Having passed by the village of Pushchina, entering the Central Kamchatka Lowland, the river calms down and becomes a flat stream. 80 percent of the length of Kamchatka lies on the plain. The width also becomes more impressive - from 100 to 150 meters near the village of Milkovo. The further downstream, the wider and fuller the river. The riverbed is winding, has many branches and oxbow lakes, and forms meanders. The floodplain of the river is occupied by green meadows, fields, and forests.

Sometimes the forest comes very close to the river, forming a “green hedge”. In the lower reaches of Kamchatka, the latitude reaches 600 meters and the depth reaches 6 meters. In some places navigation is possible, but due to floods these areas change their position, which is very inconvenient. The Kamchatka River delta consists of many channels, which are separated by spits of sand and pebbles. At different times of the year general view delta is changing. Where the river flows into the bay, it is joined by a channel flowing from the largest lake on the peninsula called Nerpichye.

Mountains on the river's path

As already mentioned, the Kamchatka (river) begins in the southern part of the Sredinny Range. It is formed, thanks to the waters of melted snowfields, in a deep, bowl-shaped gorge. Further it flows between two ridges - Middle and Eastern. Average height Sredinny ridge - from 1400 to 1800 meters, maximum height- 3621 meters. The average height of the Eastern Range is from 1200 to 1600 meters, and the highest point is 2412 meters. The waterway is blocked by the huge Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano. Going around it, the Kamchatka River then flows to the east. Where Klyuchevskaya Sopka is located can be understood from afar, thanks to the sparkling glaciers on the top of the volcanic mountain. Then, cutting through the Kumroch ridge, it flows through a narrow valley (the “Cheeks” gorge) and reaches the Pacific Ocean onto the coastal lowland, where it flows into the Kamchatka Bay, which belongs to the Bering Sea.

Big Cheeks Gorge

The flat bed of Kamchatka cuts through the Kumroch Mountains, passing through the gorge Big Cheeks. Its length is 23 kilometers and it ends 4 km from the former Nizhnekamchatsk. The river in this place gathers into one narrow channel, the flow speed increases. Previously, back in the 19th century, there was a fort here where the Itelmens, the indigenous people of the Kamchatka Peninsula, lived. And already in the next century, a fishing farm was formed here from the Lenin’s Path collective farm. The catch was supplied to a fish canning plant in Ust-Kamchatsk.

Hydrological regime

Kamchatka is a river that is one of the deepest. The average water consumption per year is 950 cubic meters per second. The river is fed mainly underground (35 percent), so rain moisture easily passes through volcanic rocks and feeds groundwater. Snow nutrition is 34 percent and ranks second. Then comes glacial and a very small share (3 percent) is rain. The hydrological regime is characterized by significant floods in spring and summer, which occurs due to the melting of snow and glaciers in the mountains.

It is at this time that 50 to 70 percent of the total annual flow occurs. The flood consists of two waves. The first wave comes when snow melts in the valley, and the second comes from the melting of mountain snowfields. After the period of high water, low water begins, which includes September and October. During this period, the river is very full due to incoming groundwater and glacial waters. Next comes winter low water, which lasts approximately 180 days. The ice on the river appears in November, and the river breaks up in April or May.

Altitudinal zone

Since the river basin is located partly in the mountains, it has developed altitudinal zone. In the upper reaches of the rivers that flow into Kamchatka, mountain tundras are widespread.

In the upper reaches of Kamchatka itself, mainly white and stone birch grow, and dry meadows are common. In the middle reaches there are larch forests with an admixture of spruce (Ayan spruce and Okhotsk larch). In the lower reaches there are alder-willow forests and shrubs, the area is swampy.

Tributaries

In the Kamchatka River basin there are 7,707 tributaries, the total length of which is 30,352 kilometers. But at the same time, 7105 of them are rivers with a length of less than 10 kilometers. The longest tributary is the Elovka River (242 kilometers).

It is followed by Kozyrevka (222 kilometers), Shchapina (172 kilometers), Tolbachik (148 km), Kitilgina (140 km), Kirganik (121 km), Bolshaya Khapitsa (111 km), Kavycha (108 km), Vakhvina Levaya, Andrianovka , Rainbow, Right Kamchatka.

The influence of volcanic activity on the river

The Kamchatka River Valley is located in a zone of increased seismic activity and volcanic activity. When nearby volcanoes erupt, natural phenomena such as mudflows sometimes occur due to the sudden melting of glaciers.

In 1956, a catastrophic eruption of the Bezymianny volcano occurred, a powerful stream of mud and stones merged with the Bolshaya Khapitsa tributary, which fed the Kamchatka River. A photo of that eruption shows how large it was, the explosion destroyed half the cone. Therefore, after the awakening of volcanoes, the river becomes most turbid. Another phenomenon is that in some areas the river does not freeze in winter due to the release of thermal waters.

Animal world

There is a lot of fish in the river, and valuable species of salmon spawn. Here you can meet the following types from the salmon family: pink salmon, chum salmon, sockeye salmon, coho salmon, chinook salmon, kunja. Also found: char, mykiss, grayling, and Dolly Varden. Fishing industry is developed. The following species are found in the river basin: Siberian char, Amur carp, silver crucian carp. Water tourists from Ust-Kamchatsk often raft along the river.

Many amazing things can be seen in these magnificent and richly diverse natural phenomena edges of Russia. This wonderful corner of the earth is called Kamchatka. The most diverse landscapes, vegetation and the most amazing animals are concentrated here.

You can find out where the Kamchatka River is, what its features are and what natural wonders it is rich in in this article.

Location of the Kamchatka Peninsula, description

The peninsula is washed by the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from the west, the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean from the east.

Kamchatka is located on the border of the Eurasian continent and one of the greatest oceans on the planet. All this influences the formation of a varied topography of the territory, climate and the distribution of the world of animals and vegetation. In this unique place, like no other corner of Russia, the most amazing and vibrant natural phenomena are concentrated.

Here are ancient volcanoes (active and extinct), mineral hot and cold springs, and water basins of glacial, tectonic and volcanic origin, rare throughout the world. Among all this splendor, the beautiful Kamchatka (river) flows here.

Description of the river: geographical location

Kamchatka is the largest river located on the peninsula of the same name. And it flows into the Bering Sea of ​​the Pacific Ocean through the Kamchatka Bay. The total length of the river is 758 kilometers, and its basin extends over a vast area of ​​55.9 thousand km².

Kamchatka is a river with varied topography of its bed. The upper flow has a faster mountain character; in its bed there are a large number of rifts and rapids. In the central one it flows into the Central Kamchatka lowland and changes the nature of its flow to a calmer one. Here the riverbed is quite winding and in some places it diverges into branches.

During lower river goes around Klyuchevskaya Sopka(massif) and turns east, where in the lower reaches it intersects with the Kumroch ridge.

At the very mouth of the river, a delta is formed, which consists of numerous channels. At the point where Kamchatka flows into the sea, it is connected by the Ozernaya Channel with the largest lake on the island, Nerpichy.

Throughout the river there are many islands. For the most part they are low, sandy, almost bare or slightly overgrown with tall grass or small willows.

The Kamchatka River is amazing and interesting. It is simply impossible to describe all its unique natural attractions in one article.

Tributaries, source, settlements

The river has several tributaries, both right and left. Among them are the largest: Kensol, Zhulanka, Andrianovka and Kozyrevka - left; Urts, Kitilgina - right.

There is a village with the port of Ust-Kamchatsk. Also on the banks of the river are the small villages of Klyuchi and Milkovo.

Where is the source of the river? Kamchatka has two sources: the left one (Ozernaya Kamchatka), starting at the Sredinny Range; right (Right Kamchatka), located in the eastern ridge. They are found in the Ganal tundra region and together form the beginning of a magnificent river.

Flora of Kamchatka

The vegetation of the entire peninsula was influenced by a number of factors, such as the geographical location of the territory, mountainous terrain (mainly), the impact humid climate due to the close location of the ocean, the peculiarities of the history of landscape formation, strong impact volcanism, etc.

Coniferous forests (larch and spruce) are widespread in the central part. Birch and aspen trees also grow here interspersed with them.

In Kamchatka, the richest and most diverse in terms of vegetation are floodplain forests. In them you can find hairy alder, willow, choicenia, etc.

Kamchatka is a river, the coastal part of which abounds in a wide variety of types of vegetation. The banks of the upper and middle reaches of the river represent an excellent forest, represented by poplar, fir, larch, interspersed with willow, alder, hawthorn and other vegetation. The lower coastal part of the river is already more swampy and covered with grass, small willows and horsetail.

River fauna

Kamchatka is a river rich in rare and valuable fish species. This is a spawning ground for many of the world's most magnificent species, including chum salmon, pink salmon and chinook salmon. This happens at the end of summer. Both seals and belugas come from the ocean to Lake Nerpichye and the mouth of the Kamchatka River.

Both amateur and industrial fishing is carried out in these places.

Aquatic flora

The main vegetation of the river and sea bottom is commercial algae of several species. Due to the sufficient amount of reserves, specialized fishing for them is not carried out.

Birds and animals

Exceptionally diverse fauna not only the territory of the river in question, but also the entire Kamchatka region.

Among the birds, of which there are a huge number (about two hundred and twenty species), there are gulls, cormorants, puffins, guillemots, guillemots, etc. You can also find crows, magpies, wagtails, nutcrackers, partridges, etc.

The fauna of the coastal part consists of: ermine, Kamchatka sable, otter, muskrat, mountain hare, elk, reindeer, lynx, fox, bighorn sheep, wolverine, weasel and many others. etc. Among the largest forest animals in the forest zone, the famous Kamchatka brown bear can be noted.

In conclusion

In addition to all its natural magnificent landscapes, the territory of the Kamchatka River is also distinguished by the fact that the climate of its valley is the best on the entire peninsula and is the most suitable for agriculture, especially in the areas between the villages of Ushakovskoye and Kirganovskoye.

Due to the speed of the current, this Kamchatka is popular among numerous tourists and is widely used by them for hiking, both on water and on foot. There is something to see and remember forever.

Kamchatka is beautiful and magnificent. And to know more about her, you must see her.

The Itelmens (one of the indigenous peoples of Kamchatka) used to call the river “Uykoal”, which means “Big River”.

Over six thousand large and small rivers flow through the territory of the Kamchatka Territory.

The Bolshaya River, which flows into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, is the second most important fishing river after the Kamchatka River. The history of the development of the peninsula as an administrative unit of the Russian Empire began with it.
Geography
The Bolshaya River is formed by the confluence of two large Kamchatka rivers: Bystraya and Plotnikova. Source of the river Bystroy is located on the northwestern spurs of the Ganalskie Vostryaki ridge, where two more originate from the slopes of Bakening volcano, called the “Kamchatka Peak”. large rivers— Kamchatka and Avacha. The length of the Bolshaya River (with the Bystraya River) is 275 km, the total fall is 1060 m.
First, the Bystraya flows south along the Sredinny ridge, along the Ganal tundra, and after merging with the river. Plotnikova, having already formed the river. Large, turns to the southwest. In the upper reaches of the river. The ancient villages of Ganaly and Malki are located in Bystra. On the western coast of Kamchatka the river. The big one spills into a vast estuary and flows along sea ​​coast to the southeast, where it flows into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, forming the huge Bolshoye Lake at its mouth. Navigable from the mouth to Oktyabrsky village.
Story
V. Martynenko in the book “Kamchatka Coast. Historical navigation" (1991) writes: "The largest river of the Kamchatka western coast - the Bolshaya - has been known to Russians since the end of the 17th century, since the famous campaign of the Pentecostal V. Atlasov, who marched with a detachment in 1697 along the western coast of the peninsula from the Ichi River to the Nynguchu River ( Golygina). In the “Drawing of the Kamchadal Lands Again” compiled at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, its author, the Siberian cartographer S. Remezov, based on the results of Atlasov’s campaign, marked the Bolshaya River with an explanatory inscription: “fell into the Penzhin Sea with many mouths.” The Sea of ​​Okhotsk was originally called Penzhinsky or Lamsky. In 1707, the Bolshaya River was noted in the report of the Cossack Rodion Presnetsov with a variant of the distorted local name - Kiksha. The toponym Kiksha (Kyksha) is also found on some old Russian drawings of Kamchatka and probably goes back to the Itelmen word “kyg”, which means “river”. The origin of the Russian name was later explained by S. Krasheninnikov: “It is called big because of all the rivers flowing into the Penzhin Sea, it is the only one you can walk along from the mouth to the very top.”
At the beginning of the 18th century. Russia was actively developing the Far Eastern borders of the empire. Russian sailors paved a sea route 603 miles long from Okhotsk to the mouth of the river. Bolshoi and in 1703-1704. They built a winter hut several tens of kilometers above the mouth, which was later called the Bolsheretsky fort. In those days, the river did not wind along the coast, but flowed straight downstream into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk (Fig. 2). Near the mouth there was a large bay, extending to the south (such bays in Kamchatka have been called “kultuks” since ancient times, hence, by the way, the name of Lake Kultuchnogo in Petropavlovsk, it was once a bay of Avachinskaya Bay).
The entry of ships into the mouth of the river. Big in good weather and high tides were quite safe, and ships entering the bay were reliably sheltered from storms.
We find in S. Krasheninnikov’s “Description of the Land of Kamchatka”:
“Chekavina, in Kamchatka, Shkhvachu river, two versts from the mouth of the Bolshaya... It is worthy of note because sea vessels spend the winter in it, for which reason the guard barracks and storage sheds from the Kamchatka expedition were built there. Ships enter it during rising water, and during receding water it is so narrow that you can jump over it, and so shallow that ships fall on their sides, but this does not cause any damage to them because its bottom is soft.”
Thus, in those days, Chekavinskaya harbor served not only as a shelter for ships, but also served as a kind of dry dock.
According to some historical information, the mouth of Chekavka was dug artificially. Geologist by training and traveler by life, German scientist Karl von Ditmar, being an official of special assignments for the mountainous part under Governor Vasily Stepanovich Zavoiko, was engaged in the study of Kamchatka.

Map of Ditmar. Reconstruction of Semenov.
This is what he writes in his book “Trips and Stays in Kamchatka in 1851-1855”:
“October 3 (1853 - author's note). They say that in former pre-Russian times, the bag-shaped bay of the Big River, which currently goes very far to the south, opened into the sea at its southern end, but the Kamchadals, who then lived here, decided to dig up a spit opposite the mouth of the river in order to create a closer and more accessible place for migratory fish. a path convenient for fishing. It ended with the fact that during the work the dam suddenly burst, and many people died in the immediately gushing water. Soon after this, the old, southern channel was completely swept away by the waves. Through a new channel, artificially made much more to the north, then, in the first time of Russian rule - the time of prosperity of Bolsheretsk - ships entered the bay as if into a calm, deep harbor. Opposite the mouth of this bay in the sea, on the side of the mainland, at the very confluence of the river. Bolshoi Bay (Povorot), a small village of Chekavka arose, where goods destined for Bolsheretsk were unloaded. There were several residential buildings, many shops and a lighthouse with mica glass to indicate the mouth of the Bolshaya to ships. Chekavka was, in fact, the harbor of Bolsheretsk, located 20 versts above, and served for Kamchatka for many years as the only point through which the peninsula was in communication with Russia through Okhotsk.”
It was from Chekavinskaya harbor that the rebel Kamchatka exiled settlers, led by the Polish confederate Mauritsy Benevsky (Benevsky), captured the galliot “St. Peter,” fled to the south, eventually reaching China and then France.
Naval historian A. Sgibnev in his work “Historical Sketch” major events in Kamchatka from 1650 to 1856." writes:
“On April 30 (1771 - author's note) Benyevsky and his accomplices moved onto rafts and went down the river. Bystry to Chekavka (that was the name of the wintering place for ships near the mouth of the Bolshaya River, where two huts and a barn were built for storing goods delivered from Okhotsk - author), taking with him all the people he arrested. Having taken possession of ships and a barn with government supplies on Chekavka, he ordered the ship “St. Peter" as more reliable."
In the gulf, ships that came from the Aleutian and Kuril Islands and Okhotsk or were heading there from Kamchatka defended against Chekavka. The calm Chekavinskaya harbor was essentially a maritime suburb of the Bolsheretsky fort. But already at the end of the 1850s. The channel leading to the sea was covered with sand, the river began to make its way into the ocean to the south and formed a new mouth there.
The German scientist and traveler Georg Adolf Ehrmann, who was in Kamchatka 24 years earlier than K. Ditmar, put a slightly different configuration of the river mouth on his map. Large (Fig. 3). The names of the Bolshaya, Bystraya, Utka, Kikhchik, Amchigacha, Nachilova, Goltsovka, Baanyu (once it was called Bannaya, and now Plotnikova) and others mapped by A. Erman have survived to this day. But R. Chekavina at the mouth of the Bolshaya disappeared from the maps. We can safely assume that Chekavinskaya harbor became the first seaport of Kamchatka.
Mouth of the Bolshoy River
Entering the mouths of Kamchatka rivers has always been unsafe for sailors. On the so-called “bars” (emphasis on the second letter “a”), where rapidly flowing fresh waters and sea swells, there are always crowds of water, ripples, chaotic whirlpools, high waves, swells and unpredictable current directions. Our rivers can suddenly change their fairway, and the sea can wash sand where yesterday there was a deep channel.
Let us turn once again to the book by V. Martynenko:
“In the Russian history of Kamchatka, the overwhelming number of shipwrecks and emergency situations. The first in this tragic series is the boat of the Second Kamchatka Expedition “Fortune”. Having set out in 1737 on the instructions of V. Bering from Okhotsk to explore the Avachinskaya Bay, the ship under the command of navigator E. Rodichev crashed when entering the mouth of the Bolshaya. Among the survivors was student S. Krasheninnikov, a researcher of Kamchatka.
Seven years later, the fate of the Fortuna was shared by the sloop Bolsheretsk, a small vessel built in Kamchatka from birch forest and therefore called “beryozovka”. Launched in 1739 and assigned to the expedition of M. Shpanberg, the ship in the same year sailed to the shores of unknown Japan, and in 1742 repeated this voyage. Upon returning from the Japanese campaign, the Bolsheretsk crashed at the mouth of the Bolshaya River.
In 1748, a similar tragedy happened to the galliot Okhotsk under the command of navigator Bakhmetyev. The galliot, anchored opposite the Bolsheretsk mouth, was thrown ashore by an autumn storm and broken. Most of the crew, including the commander, died.
In October 1753, misfortune befell three ships of the detachment of Lieutenant V. Khmetevsky, sailing from Okhotsk to Bolsheretsk. Waiting for a favorable situation to enter the mouth of the packet boat “St. John", gukor "St. Peter" and the double-sloop "Nadezhda" were thrown ashore by a storm in various areas of the west coast. It was possible to fix and launch only one of the ships - the gukor "St. Peter". This was the same ship that the sailors who survived the tragic winter built from the remains of V. Bering’s packet boat of the same name. But the saved namesake of the famous ship, the captain-commander, was destined to have a short life. Two years later, while sailing from Yamsk to Okhotsk, the gukor was thrown by a storm to the western coast of Kamchatka and was finally defeated near the mouth of the Vorovskaya River.
In the forty years that have passed since the opening of the sea route from Okhotsk to Kamchatka, the Ust-Bolsheretsk coast has turned into a real graveyard of ships. In 1766, the largest disaster occurred, which essentially doomed the large naval expedition under the command of P. Krenitsyn and M. Levashov to failure. The expedition began sailing from the port of Okhotsk on four ships on October 10, 1766.
Crash
Documents from those years provide a clear picture of the outcome of this expedition.
"Brigantine "St. Catherine". Commander Captain 2nd Rank P. Krenitsyn. Leaving Okhotsk in mid-October along with three ships equipped for discoveries on the Eastern Ocean, they were separated and were all thrown ashore in different places. "St. Catherine", which had a strong leak throughout the entire journey, upon arriving at the Kamchatka coast, already standing opposite the Bolsheretsk mouth with only one remaining anchor and two rivers, with lowered yards and topmasts, on the night of October 25, it was thrown ashore on its left side near the Utka River, two miles from it to the south... and was defeated. With great difficulty, the team moved to the shore when the water had already subsided, the commander being the last.
Gukor "Saint Paul". Commander Lieutenant Commander M. Levashov. Upon arriving at Bolsheretsk, he stood at the mouth of the Bolshaya River, waiting for full water, and on the night of October 25, having both ropes burst, “in common with the servants of the consultation,” he threw himself ashore at Amshigachevsky Yar to the north, seven miles from the mouth of the Bolshaya River.
Bot "Saint Gabriel". Commander - navigator Dudin 1st. Upon arrival at Bolsheretsk, he managed to enter the mouth of the Bolshoy River, but for further passage he expected full water and on the night of October 25 he was thrown ashore. Galiot "St. Paul". Commander - navigator Dudin 2nd. Having been separated from three ships, he passed or was carried into the Eastern Ocean by the first Kuril Strait and on November 21 reached Avachinskaya Bay, but, met here by ice, he was again carried out to sea, wandered for a whole month, lost his bowsprit, yardarm, all sails and ropes and, already having neither water nor firewood, he set off straight to the shore and jumped out on the seventh Kuril Island. In a quarter of an hour the ship was completely wrecked. 30 people were killed, and 13 were saved, including the commander. Kindly received by the residents, the unfortunate sufferers spent the winter on the island, eating whale oil, roots and shells, and the next year they moved to Bolsheretsk.”
LIGHTHOUSE
Nowadays, the only Bolsheretsky lighthouse in this area, which is a tall white tower with 5 black stripes, stands on the site of the former village of Zuikovo on the left bank of the river. Large near its mouth (see Fig. 1). Igor Maltsev writes about life at this lighthouse (http://ruspioner.ru/university/m/single/2732).
A little personal
I have a lot of memories associated with the Bolshoi River and its mouth. For example, from July to the end of October 1972, I worked on the sea tug “Captain Zagorsky” of Kamchatrybflot. By order of Kamchatrybprom, we were then engaged in towing dinghies with dismantled fish factory equipment from the disbanded Kikhchinsky fish processing plant in the village. October. Once a week, the Zagorsky (draft 2.5 m) entered the mouth of the river. Large with two heavily loaded 100-ton dinghies dangling from the back on the “brangs”. To the captain’s credit, there were no incidents when entering the bars during the three months of these “cruises.” Leaving the river into the sea with empty boats was also always a gamble.
I remember seals filling the bars with black dots of their heads. Apparently, it was there that they were guaranteed a hearty lunch. In the 1980s, I was tasked with transporting the Ufa tanker from Oktyabrsky to Petropavlovsk, which had stood for many years in the river near the village on “dead” anchors as a transshipment tank for fuel oil bunkering for the village’s boiler house. Once upon a time, “Ufa” was “buried” here by captain Radmir Aleksandrovich Korenev, a famous Kamchatka writer.
Having difficulty tearing the tanker away from the shore, we lowered it downstream to the mouth, where we stood near the shore for three weeks to wait for the next double tide (simple tides in this area are small - up to a meter). The withdrawal of "Ufa" from the river. The big and further towing of the ship to Petropavlovsk, and then to Thailand, where it was sold for scrap metal (“for nails,” as sailors usually say), is worth a separate adventure story.
Another memory of the mouth of this river is associated with the work on compiling “Information on Stability” for the modernized vessels of the MRS-80 and MRS-225 types, which belonged to the collective farm named after. October Revolution. It was in the winter of 1977. A caravan of small fishing seiners was anchored at the mouth of the Bolshaya in the fall, before the freeze-up. Then they froze into the ice. We, two designers of the Kamchatka branch of the Central Design Bureau of the VRPO Dalryba (there was such a powerful design bureau in Petropavlovsk at that time), had to carry out the inclination of the ships, that is, record the curves of their restoration to an even keel after an artificially created list using a special device - an inclinograph , and then, based on the obtained sinusoids, calculate the behavior of the vessel at various options its downloads. It was possible to carry out the heeling experiment only on calm water, that is, during the “stopper”, when the tide “squeezes out” and stops the flow of the river. We cut ice-holes in the ice, used nets to get ice out of them... In general, this was another job that the crews of the ships and A. Avdashkin and I successfully coped with.
The languid wait for the “stoppers” was brightened up by fun fishing for the abundant smelt there (the lures were soldered themselves from brass hunting cartridges) and trips with shovels and sleds to the “burial sites” of canned fish from the Oktyabr fish processing plant. In those days, any “substandard” can of canned food (with a dent, scratch, and sometimes even with a crooked label or fuzzy lithograph) was classified as “unliquid”. These completely edible canned goods were taken to a spit closer to the mouth of the Bolshaya and buried in the sand with bulldozers. Here they are (flounder in oil or in tomato sauce, natural canned salmon, etc.) and ate fried smelt. Once a week, a tractor with drags brought bread. This epic was especially memorable for my close acquaintance with the noble fisherman of Kamchatka, holder of many orders, the famous captain of MRS-433 and simply good person Grigory Samsonovich Krikorian.
Catfish
In the 1980-90s, many times in winter my friend and I traveled from Petropavlovsk to the river. The big one is behind the smelt. The more than 200-kilometer journey to the village of Oktyabrsky was brightened up by the stories of the then most popular G. Khazanov, recorded on a tape recorder in an old Muscovite. In the Oktyabrsky area there are very large smelt- catfish. On successful trips we brought home several hundred of this “cucumber” fish. The Bolshaya River is still a tasty place for lovers of winter fishing.

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About Kamchatka

Rivers and lakes of Kamchatka

Rivers

A large amount of precipitation, the presence of permafrost, long-melting snow in the mountains, low evaporation, and mountainous terrain are the reasons for the development of an exceptionally dense hydraulic network within the Kamchatka Territory.
In Kamchatka there are 140,100 rivers and streams, but only 105 of them have a length of over 100 km. Despite their insignificant depth, the rivers are extremely deep.
The Kamchatka River (length 758 km) and the Penzhina River (713 km) stand out sharply in size. Most Kamchatka rivers flow in a latitudinal direction, which is due to the meridional nature of the main watersheds: Sredinny and Eastern ranges.

Kamchatka rivers They have a mountainous character in the upper reaches and a calm character within the plains. When they flow into the sea, many of them usually form spits, and at their mouths there are underwater shafts and bars.
Within the mountains, rivers flow in relatively narrow V-shaped valleys with steep slopes and have a fast, often rapids flow. The bottom and slopes of the valleys are composed of large coarse clastic material (boulders, pebbles, gravel). As rivers approach the plains, the size of the material composing the valleys and river beds decreases; The flow of rivers slows down and becomes calmer. IN general outline coastal lowlands are a combination of flat marshy areas concentrated mainly near the coast, undulating, hilly interfluve areas and wide river valleys. Within the hilly plains, river channels branch into channels and branches, and on the coastal lowlands they form many bends and old rivers.

Mountain rivers are distributed exclusively within mountainous regions. Basically, they correspond to the upper sections of rivers, but on large rivers this pattern is violated. Often, when crossing the spurs of ridges, rivers in the middle and even lower reaches acquire a mountainous flow due to the large slopes of the valley.
Rivers within mountainous regions with maximum elevation differences have rapids-waterfall channels. They are characterized by alternating rapids and waterfalls with segments of stagnant zones. Such rivers are usually small in size and flow along the bottom of valleys with steep slopes. The length of such sections ranges from a few percent of the entire length of the river (if the river downstream flows into the foothills and plains) to 100% (small rivers and streams flowing throughout their entire length within mountainous regions).
As the relief gradually flattens out, the rapids and waterfalls disappear, but the nature of the flow still remains turbulent. In addition, as tributaries flow in, the size and water content of rivers (i.e., the amount of water flowing through a cross-section of a river in a certain period of time) increase. Such rivers are most characterized by a rectilinear channel shape with separate single islands and forced bends (bends in the river bed). The formation of such bends is due to the fact that the river flow tends to go around rocky ledges, composed of strong, indestructible rocks. rocks, and thereby acquires a tortuous shape.
In some areas, mountain rivers form large erosion holes, the depth of which is tens of times greater than the average depth of the river. Such holes are good refuges for fish, since the current speeds in them are sharply reduced.

On the large rivers of Kamchatka you can also observe areas with rapid flow. Narrow valleys with steep slopes, high speeds currents (> 1 m/s) can be caused by the restriction of rivers by spurs of mountain ranges. On rivers that, in general, do not have a deep and flat channel, there are always sections with a significant slope, leading to a sharp increase in flow speeds, which, due to the shallow depth and rockiness of the channels, makes the flow turbulent. Such rivers, as a rule, flow in a single channel and only a few islands divide the flow into branches. The islands here are high and represent clusters of large pebbles, overgrown with birch and alder bushes. Open pebble banks form above and below the islands.
Attract attention beautiful shores mountain rivers. When approaching the ridges they take on the appearance of high rocky ledges. The mosses and lichens growing on them give the rocks a red-brown or green color.
When moving from mountain conditions Towards the plains, the steepness of river valleys and the flow speed sharply decrease. For these reasons, the flow power becomes insufficient to move river sediments (boulders, pebbles). This material is deposited directly in the river bed, forming peculiar islands called sedges. The result is a bizarre and very dynamic pattern of many ducts separated by islands. These types of channels are most common in the lower reaches of small rivers.
One more distinctive feature of these rivers is the presence large quantity driftwood (various sizes of logs and branches) in the riverbed, which is associated with the exit of rivers into the forest area. During periods of spring snowmelt, as well as after heavy rains, the water level in rivers and flow speeds increase, and the flow of water intensively erodes the banks. As a result, a huge amount of woody material enters the river and is deposited downstream on the shallows - near islands or coastal spits. That is why the largest creases (accumulations of branches, cramps, as well as entire tree trunks) lead to the breaking of the river into channels, some of which have the opposite direction to the main flow of the river. As a result, the use of rivers for rafting purposes along almost their entire length turns out to be impossible.

Distribution of rivers by basin. All rivers of the Kamchatka Territory belong to the basins of the Okhotsk and Bering Seas and the Pacific Ocean.
The rivers of western Kamchatka flow into Sea of ​​Okhotsk. Most originate in Sredinny ridge. A smaller part originates in its foothills or peat bogs. In the upper reaches they flow in narrow gorges with numerous rapids and waterfalls; on the plain, their valleys become wide (up to 5-6 km), the banks are low, and the flow is slow. The rivers form channels and are replete with sandbanks.
Swamp rivers represent a sharp contrast to clear, rapid mountain streams. Their bed is mostly narrow and deeply cut into the peat. The water, as always in swamp streams, is dark brown in color and the flow is slow. After rains they swell greatly. They usually start in small oval or round lakes.
The largest of the rivers flowing into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk is Penzhina river(713 km). The river originates in Kolyma ridge and flows into Penzhinskaya Bay. The largest tributaries of the Penzhina are the Oklan and Chernaya rivers. Other rivers in the western part of Kamchatka include: Bolshaya, Tigil, Icha, Vorovskaya, Krutogorova.
The rivers flowing into the Bering Sea are even shorter than the rivers of western Kamchatka. Most of them have a pronounced mountain character all the way to the mouth. The largest rivers originate in the Sredinny Range: Ozernaya(length 199 km), Ivashka, Karaga, Anapka, Valovayam. WITH Koryak Highlands flow into the Bering Sea Vivenka, Pakhacha, Apuka.
Directly to Pacific Ocean The rivers of south-eastern Kamchatka flow into them. Of these, the largest are Zhupanova, Avacha And Kamchatka.
The most big river edges, Kamchatka(length 758 km, drainage area 55.9 thousand sq. km), unlike other Kamchatka rivers, it flows along a large part of its length Central Kamchatka plain and has a mountainous character only in the upper reaches. The river has many tributaries. Of these, the largest: left - Kozyrevka, Fast, Elovka; right - Shchapina And Big Khapitsa.

The rivers of Kamchatka are surrounded by a landscape that is completely unique in terms of vegetation. In conditions of high humidity, which is typical of flooded river floodplains, truly monstrous grass grows, in which an adult person disappears headlong. They are accompanied by bushes, all together creating a truly impassable thicket.
One more characteristic feature floodplain landscape - animal trails. Even in the wildest regions along water bodies there are trodden paths along which you can move freely (unless you meet a four-legged club-footed friend on it).

Lakes

In Kamchatka from above 100 thousand large and small lakes. By nature they can be divided into six types. Each type is confined to a specific region of the region.
1. Numerous crater and dammed lakes are common in areas of ancient and modern volcanism. Crater (sometimes with hot water) lakes are small in size and located at a considerable altitude. Dammed lakes were formed as a result of the damming of rivers lava flows(Lake Palanskoe).
Small pools often form where hot springs emerge hot water. Lakes associated with volcanism also include large caldera lakes (Lake Kurilskoye).
2. Oxbow lakes form the second large group. They are located mainly in the valley of the Kamchatka River.
3. On the coasts, mainly in the estuarine parts of rivers, there are lagoon lakes, separated from the sea by spits. They are of considerable size. Lake Nerpichye, for example, is the largest lake in Kamchatka. Its area is 448 square meters. km, depths range from 4 to 13 m.
4. Discharge lakes were formed as a result of the splitting and subsidence of individual sections earth's crust. They are characterized by the simplicity of the outline of the banks. (Lake Dalnee near the village of Paratunki).
5. Another type is formed by glacial lakes located at the foot of the ridges, where they sometimes form a typical landscape.
6. Peat lakes are widespread within the region.

Many lakes were formed under the influence of several factors and cannot be classified into any specific type.
Small, well-warmed lakes are home to silver crucian carp and pike. In some lakes there is Amur carp.
At the same time, the lakes are wonderful spawning grounds for salmon, and Lake Kurilskoye And Nerpichye are among the best spawning grounds in the world.
Some lakes are an exceptional phenomenon. An example is Lake Kurilskoye, an ancient caldera filled with water. Among the volcanic lakes of Russia there is not a single one that is anything close to it in structure. With a relatively small size (77.1 sq. km), the lake has great depths (306 m) and belongs to the deepest lakes in Eurasia. The panorama of the lake is unique. It is surrounded on all sides by majestic volcanic cones. The shores and underwater slopes are steep and rocky. Ancient lake terraces are visible on the slopes of the volcanoes.
Islands rise from the bottom in the form of peaks, one of the islands, a triangular Alaid rock.
The lake is fed by numerous mountain streams mixed with the waters of hot springs. One weakly freezing river, Ozernaya, flows out of it. The lake is one of the most important spawning grounds for sockeye salmon.
In the craters or calderas of many volcanoes there are lakes that do not freeze all winter, so ducks and swans often spend the winter on them.

Palana is a small picturesque river flowing in the north of the Kamchatka Territory. In its upper reaches, the river forms many beautiful rapids, which attract the bulk of tourists.

The name "palana" comes from an old Koryak word that means "threshold". And the river fully lives up to its name - originating from Lake Palansky, it forms a long chain of rapids and waterfalls at its source. Many of these waterfalls are very picturesque and beautiful.

Apart from the rapids, Palana has nothing else to boast of. The river is about 140 kilometers long and is used mainly to satisfy the various economic needs of the region. In addition, its waters are home to many species commercial fish, so Palana is also popular among local fishermen.

Zhupanova River

The Zhupanova River is located on the Kamchatka Peninsula, its length is about 240 km. Flowing into the Kronotsky Bay, the river forms a vast estuary, which bears the same name. The Zhupanova River has a typical mountain character and is considered a corner of virgin nature untouched by civilization. Five species of salmon spawn here. In addition, the river basin has become a habitat for many animals, such as the brown bear, reindeer, fox, sable and many others.

Sport fishing is practiced on the river.

In the next five years, it is planned to build small hydroelectric power stations on the river; unfortunately, this will lead to flooding of part of the valley, which could have a detrimental effect on the inhabitants of this ecosystem.