11. Bystrinsky Park: Day 2
"Kamchatka Peninsula" by Bike and Kayak
Sun 29 Jul 2012 06:52
I woke up all fired up to enjoy another day of pure adventure fun, continuing the trend from yesterday, but this Kamchatka peninsula morning ritual is very challenging: I peer out of the tent flysheet flap, and all around is the familiar thick fog, and it's quite cool. It's a very snug feeling from the warmth of my tent and sleeping bag, but not the sort of open, vista viewing weather that makes one want to rush, pack up and get going on the bike. This is where having a clear endpoint goal would have created an urgency to move, and the live in the moment approach says, get out the Kindle, relax and enjoy reading in the coziness of the closed in, wilderness fog, and the sound of the babbling stream nearby.... Heaven! One would think it quite a dilemma for a focused, ' South Pole solo, necessarily, mission orientated, boy? No, the goal was clear, it was just unusually, 'soft', so staying in bed till things looked more 'open' fitted in with the goal....
By 11am the fog was lifting, and after a hearty breakfast, packed up, I was on my way... Not sure what lay ahead, how far I'd be able to go on the bike, but that was all part of the exploring goal.
The quality of the path deteriorated, with increasingly more muddy patches, longer grass, but other than the odd wobble and abrupt stop with some walking the going was still good on the bike. I was against the one side of a big river valley, so there were few route choices and lots of minor streams / trickles to cross. With the rifer way over on the other side of thee flat valley floor, I did ask myself where all this water drains, but soon my question was answered: It doesn't flow out, just leads into a huge swamp land with above head height grass, mulchy underfoot, and the path just loses its way. Now this was challenging with the bike, and I did wonder if this was now the point of changing to walking, after all I was reduced to marsh bashing, pushing and dragging the bike. It did look like there was maybe an eventual end to the marsh insight, and my determination to push to the limits of cycling pushed me on, bike in tow. The going was tough, and I thought of those locals yesterday on their horses: Now that's the way to do this section...From the saddle, still have a wonderful dry view above the grass! I wouldn't like to be the dog though!
Blazing my own path through long grass, that was increasingly water logged underfoot, was hot, tiring work, making me more attractive for the increasing mozzie fleet as I became more committed to get through to the other side. A few times I lost balance, falling over landing on the bike and making a big flattened grass bed for the next following adventurer, or maybe a opportunistic bear. I must say walking in this stuff with grass above my head, no view ahead, made me wonder if I was being 'bear stupid'. Maybe I'd even stand on a sleeping bear...the imagination runs wild to irrational places. I did rationalised that with the amount of noise I was making through the long grass, the bear risk was low, but I had to admit that I wasn't an experienced bookmaker, and definitely not the casino owner! After nearly two hours of struggle, the swamp started feeling better underfoot, the grass shorter and I could see the start of a proper track again up ahead.
It wasn't long before I was back on the bike, making good progress again, happy with my determination to force through with the bike. The terrain had changed though and I wondered how long I still had on the bike. I was approaching a large branch off, river valley that would lead to Mt Ichinsky, and the surrounding peaks were impressive in their size and feeling of enclosure. To my left was a significant volcano crater, the truncated pinnacle of a sterile black lava mound, at some stage dumped on the flat earth, now forming a substantial side to the river valley, and catchment area. Quite dramatic in its stark contrast to the tundra, clearly formed by two quite different earth events.
After days in the tundra, its all to easy to take its specialness for granted, but often I'd stop and just marvel at the beauty of the pink, white and yellow flower filled plains contrasted with the lush green grass, and the stark, volcano shaped black lava mountain silhouettes. It was late July, just off mid summer, yet often I was deep crimson foliage that was into full autumn livery... The summers are very short here in this harsh, high latitude, environment. All very special, when one stops to take it all in.
Twice in the mud of the track soon after the marsh I saw relatively recent, adult grizzly bear tracks, that reminded me of exactly where I was and thee constant need for vigilance. But still no wildlife sightings....This was disappointing as for me, the bird and animal life makes up a significant part of the 'now' experience of this type of wilderness environment, and makes the forgoing of the conquest end point a time driven conflict, and a no brainer. The lack of wildlife did take me back to questioning the validity of not having a firm 'conquer Mt Ichinsky', goal.
Around 6pm I crossed a sizeable river and decided to make this area my overnight camp spot. I wondered about the need for the electric fence, but then thought, it's probably when you don't think you need it that you need it the most!
On exploring the surrounding area a bit I discovered this recently abandoned shack. The owner had started a project of bolstering the wall insulation, so it had clearly been someone's year round home, but simple and not capable of accommodating more than two. With a padlock on the front door, I did wonder whether it hadn't been abandoned, but was upgrade project in progress?
Well it was day two and I was still on the bike....way beyond my wildest dreams, and Mt Ichinsky was still, albeit remote possibility, all depends on the terrain tomorrow.
It was time to curl up in my sleeping bag, tuck into my book, passively teasing the hungry fleet of mozzies on the other side of my inner tent shell net. Bliss after another personally challenging, but rewarding day.