First published: 19/08/20.

Alexander Barabanov 5.0

Lena Pillars

Lena Pillars (Inscribed)

Lena Pillars by Alexander Barabanov

Visited this remote site in August 2020. Yakutsk (population over 300 thousand) is one of the largest cities not accessible by road full year. It seems that Lena Bridge would finally be constructed by 2025, meaning that the city will be connected with federal roads. Current ferry system can only operate during summer time, requires up to 4-5 hours waiting during peak time, then it takes 1.5 hours for ferry transfer itself via 16-km fairway. During winter, the road goes on ice and becomes dangerous at border temperatures. Yakutsk is the mammoth and diamond capital of Russia with some dedicated museums and exhibitions. I also booked a small group full-day tour to Lena Pillars through Bolot (Visit Yakutia), the same provider as was used by Martina Ruckova You first drive 100km via deteriorating road to Bulgunnyakhtyakh, where you transfer into a speedboat and travel remaining 100km by boat along Lena. En route the captain shows petroglyphs of two big mooses at the cliffs near Elanka village and stops at huge 200-meter sand dunes of Tukulany. Lena Pillars represent a 35-40 km stretch of beautiful cliffs of 200-300 meters high along Lena River. The pillars are exposures of the Cambrian period (570 million years ago), when this region was the bottom of the sea. Many trilobite fossils were found here. There is a visitor center with entry price of 300 Roubles to the National Park. The wooden staircase (1.6 km long) leads to the top of the pillars, where it is possible to enjoy beautiful panorama of Lena (at some points its floodplain is 30 kilometers wide!).  

I liked the site, the photos don't fully reflect the beauty of the pillars, which sometime resemble ancient human-made reddish ruins set along enormous Siberian river. Upon return back to Yakutsk, I enjoyed the delicacies of the local kitchen, such as foal meet and local boil fish. 

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