The Urals are simply dotted with numerous and beautiful rivers with clear cold water and picturesque rocky shores, and the most interesting rapids and rifts make them extremely attractive for outdoor activities. Mysterious rocks, keeping many legends and legends, are surrounded by endless taiga. More than once they found bones of unprecedented animals, precious stones, gold, unknown rock paintings ... Mysterious and attractive waterways of the Urals, we will talk about several of them.
Ural mountains
First of all, we should talk about these mysterious mountains. The Ural Ridge extends over two and a half thousand kilometers, from the icy shores of the northernmost ocean to the hot semi-deserts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, being a watershed of many rivers of the eastern and western slopes, the real border of the worlds of Asia and Europe. The ridge also divides the Russian and West Siberian plains. The rivers and lakes of the Urals are very numerous and have their own interesting features. There are more than five thousand rivers belonging to the basins: the Kara Sea, the Barents Sea, the Caspian Sea.
An interesting feature of this region is the large number of artificial reservoirs - reservoirs, as well as ponds (more than three hundred with a total area of about 4.2 thousand square kilometers). Together with numerous hydroelectric power stations, artificial reservoirs are in the main part the hydrotechnical part of the Ural factory network.
Natural and climatic features
The huge length of the mountain range creates extremely diverse natural and climatic conditions for the rivers and lakes of the Urals, which inevitably affects their features.
The climate of the region is continental, with cold snowy winters and warm summers. The northern part of the Urals experiences a strong climatic influence of the northern seas and the Arctic Ocean, while the middle part of the mountain range is in the zone of influence of the Atlantic (especially the western part, where the highest rainfall is recorded). Insufficient moisture is characteristic of the steppe and forest-steppe zones of the Ural Mountains, which directly affects the water abundance of the rivers flowing here, while for the taiga and tundra zones, on the contrary, excessive moisture is characteristic.
Features of rivers in different parts of the Urals
In the Polar Urals, a small number of high-water rivers, such as the Khara-Matalou, Sobi, Yelets and others, begin to run.
Rapid, fast, and large rivers of the Urals, such as the Pechora and its many tributaries (Sugor, Ilych, Kosyu, Podchemer, etc.) flow in the northern and subpolar parts of the mountains. They replenish the Barents Sea with their waters. On the eastern slopes, the mountain rivers of the Northern Urals and the Subpolar Region are rocky, shallow, and fast. They are rich in rapids and rifts. These rivers flow into Malaya Ob, Northern Sosva and then carry their waters to the Kara Sea. Navigable rivers in the north of the mountains for 5-6 months.
Middle Urals, Western Urals, Eastern Trans-Urals - here numerous rivers take their sources. Here the streams that make up the Kama water system begin to run. This is the most powerful and full-flowing river in the region.
The rivers of the South Urals, as well as the North, have a very high flow rate. Their channels are characterized by a large number of rapids, rifts, waterfalls. The course of the rivers of the Middle Urals is much calmer and slower.
Features of rivers of different slopes of the ridge
The rivers of different slopes of the Ural Range also differ from each other. More precipitation falls on the western slope due to the influence of the Atlantic, thanks to the western transport of air masses. Therefore, the rivers here are more full-flowing than on the eastern slope, where humidification is less. Among the rivers of the western slopes, such large rivers of the Urals as Vishera, Belaya, Kama, Ufa, Sylva stand out. And on the eastern slopes, the largest are Sosva, Tavda, Iset, Lozva, Tura, Pyshma. The valleys of these rivers extend, as a rule, in the latitudinal direction. The Chusovaya River is unique, which in its channel (the only one of all!) Captures both the western and eastern slopes of the mountain range.
Description p. Ural
The Ural River flows through Eastern Europe in the territory of countries - Russia and Kazakhstan. This river carries its waters from Bashkiria to the Caspian Sea. Belongs to the rivers of the Southern Urals. Length - 2428 kilometers. It ranks third in length in Europe after such waterways as the Volga and Danube. It is even longer than the Dnieper. The Ural River originates at an altitude of 637 meters on the slopes of the Round Hill (Uraltau Ridge) in Bashkortostan.
Then it flows along the edge of the Chelyabinsk region from north to south. Passes the cities of Verkhneuralsk and Magnitogorsk. At the same time, it receives tributaries of Gumbeyka and B.Kizil. Encountering the plateau of the Kazakh steppe on its way, the Ural River sharply changes its direction to the northwest. Further deviating either west or east, it reaches the Caspian Sea. The Ural River flows into the sea, breaking up into many branches.
The ancient name of the river. Ural
This river also has an ancient name. Until 1775, the Ural River was called the Yaik. This name is official in Kazakhstan. In the Bashkir language, the river also has this name. It was first mentioned in the annals of the Russian people in 1140. It was renamed to the Urals on January 15, 1775 by order of Catherine II. At that time, many geographical objects were renamed in order to erase from the memory of people the Pugachev uprising that flared from 73 to 75 years.
Pechora River
It is one of the rivers of the Northern Urals. Its name means - cave, is popular with fishermen and rafters. Its length is 1.809 thousand kilometers, Pechora flows through the territory of two constituent entities of the Russian Federation - the Komi Republic and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, has a total catchment area of 0.322 million square kilometers. It flows into the Barents Sea, the annual runoff is approximately 0.13 million cubic kilometers of water. Pechora has a huge number of tributaries, about 35 thousand. In the river basin Pechora has 60 thousand lakes! Its main nutrition is snowy in nature.
The largest tributary of the Pechora is the Usa River, 500 kilometers long. Other major tributaries of Pechora include North Mylva, Unya, Lemu, Velho, Kozhva, Izhma, Ski, Neritsa, Tsilma, Tansy, Sula, Ilych, Borovaya, Podcherie, Usa, Sugor, Laya, Sozva, Kuya, Ersa, Shapkin. The most interesting of them for tourism are Unya (excellent fishing) and Usa (excellent rafting).
The largest marinas are Ust-Tsilma, Naryan-Mar, and Pechora.
To the place where the Uni Pechora River flows into it, it has a typically mountainous character. Its shores on this site are formed by pebble, in the channel there are many rapids, rocky ledges, rifts. And in the middle and lower parts of the river, the character of the river changes to plain. Clay or sandy shores. The waters of Pechora spread in breadth, reaching a width of two kilometers. In this part you can see the sleeves, ducts, islands of Pechora.
The Pechora River area is difficult to access; the automobile network is extremely poorly developed here. For this reason, the region has preserved a lot of untouched natural corners, and between the tributary of Pechora Ilych and Pechora itself one of the largest biosphere reserves of Russia has been organized.
Kara
Another of the most interesting rivers in the mountains of the Urals is the Kara River, which flows in the Polar part of the ridge. Its length is 0.257 thousand kilometers with a basin area of 13.4 thousand square kilometers. The river flows through the regions of Russia: the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Komi Republic.
It takes its beginning at the confluence of two rivers - Malaya and Bolshaya Kara. It flows parallel to the Pai-Hoi ridge. Throughout its length, the river flows mainly uninhabited and extremely picturesque places. Here you can observe several beautiful canyons, many rapids and waterfalls, the most famous of which, of course, is Buredan (9 kilometers below the confluence of the Neruseyevyakhi river).
The only one throughout the river. Kara settlement - pos. Ust-Kara - located near the mouth of the river. On its shores you can find, perhaps, temporary dwellings of local nationalities - the plague, and even then it is extremely rare.
It is interesting that the Kara Sea got its name from the Kara River, where in the eighteenth century one of the so-called Great Northern Expedition detachments led by S. Malygin and A. Skuratov took up wintering.
Rafting on the rivers of the Urals
This is a very popular type of outdoor activity in the Urals. Rafting is carried out on the rivers: Ufa, Belaya, Ai, Chusovaya, Serge, Sosva, Yuryuzan, Dir, Usva, Neiva. They can last from 1 day to a week. Rafting along the rivers of the Urals allows you to visit many attractions, not breaking the distance on foot, but on a catamaran, trimaran or raft. Passing along the Serebryanka River, which then flows into Chusovaya, water tourists follow the path of Yermak. Also on Chusova its rocky shores are noteworthy. The Belaya or Agidel River, flowing through the Republic of Bashkortostan, also attracts rafters. Here combined trips with visiting caves are possible. The Kapova cave or Shulgan-Tash is widely known.
Rafting on Vishera, which is considered one of the most picturesque rivers of the Urals. It begins in the Vishersky reserve. It contains grayling, taimen, burbot, char, spike. The Pyshma River is notable for its cliffs; the Kuryi resort and the Pripyshmensky Bor forests national park are located on the river. The Kara River in the Subpolar Urals also has its interesting sights. This harsh northern river passes through several canyons and sometimes forms waterfalls, the largest is called Boredan. It is also very interesting for rafters. To the west of the river there is a meteorite crater with a diameter of 65 kilometers.