Stolby

Being from the Pacific Northwest I’m rather spoiled when it comes to nature! With two mountain ranges, an inland sea, two beautiful giant lakes, countless alpine lakes and the Pacific Ocean all within two hours who wouldn’t be? And that does not even include the nature just north of us in Canada. So you can understand why when I booked a tour to the mountains outside of Krasnoyarsk my expectations were pretty high. But they were soon to be exceeded.

My day would encompass a half-day trip out to the Russian national park, Stolby. Unlike a lot of cities I’ve been to where you have to devote a half-day just to getting there and back, this beautiful park was only 30 minutes from town! And what a difference that half an hour made!! It was amazing how clean and crisp the air was and how you felt as though you had entered a whole another world, a world where suddenly all the stresses of the city just were lifted from you and you felt like you were walking on air!

As we were driving out of town I noticed a huge shuttered, burnt out factory. This was nothing new, as it seemed the entire Russian/Siberian landscape was littered with old burnt out factories just like this one. My guide, Tolya, told me this particular factory used to be one of the largest suppliers of penicillin during World War II, but shut down around the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. This subsequently led to a loss of many jobs. But on the upside the air around Krasnoyarsk has become more breathable. A friend of mine in Moscow told me this was the case around most of Russia where other factories had shuttered and led to a drastic improvement of air quality.

Tolya, my guide

Tolya was a young dude who I would describe as a deep thinker and was only weeks away from finishing his college studies. As we were going up on the ski lift he told me about how the usual life routine of car, house or apartment, marriage and kids bored him and desired something different like extensive world travel. Since I have adopted that path as my own, I basically told him he was talking to the right person!

As our ski lift ascended higher the scenery kept getting more spectacular with lush green trees dominating the scenery. It was amazing how we were just 30 minutes removed from the big city and it was as if you had entered an entirely different world. When we arrived at the summit the temperature difference was pretty noticeable. Up at this elevation the snow had not completely melted. It was that springtime thaw out mix of dirty snow and mud. This was no big deal as I’d walked on this type of terrain many times before and never really had much trouble except for a few slips here and there.

Krasnoyarsk from above

But just as I was feeling pretty good, getting a bit cocky I suddenly felt my feet slipping and then before I knew it my ass met the hard snow/mud packed ground!! Tolya looked pretty shocked and was rightfully pretty concerned! He really didn’t know what to do! Luckily he didn’t need to anything except give me a hand to get up and help me wipe off my clothes, which were absolutely saturated in mud. He was pretty amazed that within a minute of falling hard on my ass I was able to get up off the ground, wipe myself off as if somehow meant to do that! It reminded me of the scene from the great 1980s cult film, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, where he tries all these crazy bike tricks only to fly off his bike in front of all the cool kids brushing himself off and saying very smugly “I meant to do that”. To say the least my sudden fall and ability to get right back up and keep hiking really elevated me in his book!

I was feeling pretty good that I had dodged a bullet in terms of falling until I saw the point we were aiming to reach. He pointed out to me these large boulders that sat there hovering above the horizon like giant mountains!! It appeared like it was at least a million kilometers away. But to use an oversimplified term, slowly but surely, step by step, inch-by-inch we made it! And, was it ever worth every single scurry, every last step forward, and every last breath!!!! The view was incredible, you could see the city way, way below as if it was a tiny ant farm and just below us was a valley of endless beautiful trees and boulders.

Just as I had arrived at what I thought was our destination I took a deep sigh of relief as if I had just accomplished an awesome feat! Just as I was about to take another deep breath of fresh Stolby air, Tolya pointed out we had some more hiking to do. We were at a bit of a crossroads! I was like, “wait, what, haven’t we reached our goal”?? Nope! We would need to get around to the other side of the boulders to get an even more incredible view! This would encompass scurrying down some slippery boulders. Seeing the blue sky quickly turn to dark gray and black clouds, having survived one slip and carefully examining the terrain, I figured I best not tempt fate and told Tolya I thought it'd be better to head back.

Before we turned back we stood there looking in awe over the beautiful tree lined valley. Tolya told me all sorts of stories about the myths and legends of Stolby and how these giant boulders that surrounded us in all directions got here. All the stories were fascinating and followed the general pattern of other folktales around the world that try to explain their general surroundings. Eventually after standing there in awe it was time to head back to the ski lift and back down the mountain. As we headed back the weather started to really turn and temps started to drop making me feel even better about our decision not to proceed further.

As we were hiking back Tolya was pleasantly surprised to learn that his hiking partner/client was an English as a Second Language teacher. He thus asked if he could practice his English with me. He had studied English in school and some in university but was still shy about speaking. He gave it a good try and did a great job. I tried my best to listen carefully and not use too many American slang words. Being a foreign language speaker myself I know the pain and suffering when you can’t understand someone or they don’t understand what you’re saying. I am my own worst enemy when it comes to criticizing my own language skills. If someone is speaking to me in Russian and I have to ask them to repeat and then they switch to English, it feels as if the phrase “GAME OVER” in big letters may as well be written across me!! I realize it’s just the give and take of foreign language, but I prefer perfection!

As we were descending down to the car park, I got the sense Tolya saw me as a big brother of sorts, a person he could turn to for advice and questions about life. Half way down he asked me the deep philosophical question, “what do you think Steve, is the world generally full of good people or bad people”? I said that was a good question, but that I didn’t really know. I hoped there were more good people than bad, but said my opinion depended upon the day and how I was feeling.

After thinking over my answer, he launched into another question. This time he was wondering whether he should stay with his girlfriend of several years or breakup with her and travel the world. I told him that’s a tough question and that maybe he should wait and see whether his girlfriend either gets a job that allows her the time to travel with him or simply quits her job to travel with him. I told him I even struggle with that question. Often I debate whether I want to settle down a bit and actively pursue a relationship or continue my crazy world travels. I guess only time will tell! 

Pointing to where I hiked in Stolby National Park