The place that will be discussed in this article, like the other intermountain basins of the Altai Territory, is the territory of the valleys of the Koksa and Katun rivers. Over many centuries, they covered and smoothed the gorges with a powerful fertile soil layer.
The Altai Mountains are magnificent and rich. Uimon Valley is one of the most attractive natural attractions with magnificent landscapes. There are three similar intermountain valleys in Altai: Kanskaya, Kurai and Chuiskaya.
Uimon Valley in Altai: location
The Uimon Valley is located in Central Altai, in the Ust-Koksinsky District (Altai Republic), at an altitude of almost 1000 m above sea level. 35 km or more is its length, and its width varies from 8 to 13 km.
It is located between the Terektinsky and Katensky mountain ranges. At its very beginning is located with. Ust-Koksa (the center of the region in the administrative plan).
From the eastern slopes in fine weather you can see all the peaks of the magnificent and main Altai mountain - Belukha.
sights
The Uimon Valley in Altai is beautiful and unique. Reviews about her of people who have visited these amazingly beautiful places are the most enthusiastic.
Uimonskaya Valley is far removed from civilizations. All of its impressive appeal is in landscapes created by nature. Its main attraction is Belukha Mountain, rightfully considered the highest peak in Siberia and the Altai region. It rises to 4506 meters. This mountain is not only admired and admired, but also revered. Another amazing place of these parts is a magnificent fifty-meter waterfall on the Tekele River.
Due to the remoteness from civilization, the infrastructure here is rather poorly developed.
Description of the Territory
In the southern part of the valley is the highest Altai ridge - Katunsky, whose icy peaks rise 4000 meters. On the north side, the valley is enclosed by the slopes of another, the Terektinsky ridge. Between these mountains, the river calmly carries its powerful strong waters - the queen of Altai, Katun.
The Uimon valley stretches along the river for 35 km (almost the entire length of the valley) from west to east, from the village of Ust-Koks to Lower Uymon.
The valley also includes the smaller Katandinsky steppe, stretching along the Katun valley, but separated by a wooded spur of the Terektinsky ridge from the main massif.
Numerous mountain rivers cross the northern direction to the southern Uimon Valley: Margala, Okol, Uimon, Multa, Koksa. They all flow into the largest waterway - Katun, which spreads widely into numerous channels and cuts the valley into two halves.
Strongly streaked with riverbeds flowing from the mountains, the Uimon Valley. Cox is a beautiful turquoise river, located in the west of the valley. Translated, its name means "blue (or green) water."
Due to the peculiar climate conditions and the variety of magnificent landscapes, the Uimon Valley stands out for its rich and beautiful natural world. The Katunsky Nature Reserve, located on its territory, is nature conservation. Here in vivo bred maral.
Geology
Once upon a time, the Uimon Valley represented the bottom of a huge ancient sea, of which only coastal water lines at the very slopes of the mountains resemble today. They are perfectly visible even from the distance of many settlements in the area.
About 15 million years ago, the Terektinsky and Katunsky ridges gradually formed as a result of not the first tectonic activity, and the future Uimon Valley appeared between them. Then a general uplift (approximately 0.7 million years ago) led to intense glaciation. Moreover, the ice went down to the valleys and melted when warming, gradually turning into a large mountain lake.
It turns out that in ancient times (about 80 thousand or less years ago), according to many scientists, the Uimon Valley in Altai was under water, as evidenced by the discovered lake sediments.
Population
The area is populated by a multinational population. The main inhabitants are Altai. There are Russians and Ukrainians, etc.
The Uimon Valley was originally inhabited by residents from the Kypchag and Todosh tribes. From the end of the 17th century, Russians began to settle here: peasants fleeing overwork, refugees from the former "cabinet" Kuzbass lands. The “Cabinet” lands are the lands of the Altai and Kuznetsk districts belonging to the “Cabinet of Her Majesty Catherine II”.
The main and peculiar population of the valley are schismatics. These are Russian Old Believers who fled from the reforms of Peter and Metropolitan Nikon (300 years ago) to preserve their faith and the old Russian way of life. They live today in traditional old Russian five-wall huts. Each house has an icon, a lamp of fire, and traditional Uimon clothing.
Legend
The Uimon Valley is magnificent, and its history is full of various curious legends. One of them tells about a sleeping dragon.
There is talk that in ancient times an evil and terrible monster crawled from China to Altai, all devouring and destroying in its path. No one was able to defeat this beast, and therefore people suffered a lot of grief because of him.
Once the great river Katun regretted them . And when the dragon, saturated with the flesh and blood of people, crawled out of clean water to drink before bedtime, the river mixed in its strong waters all the anger and rage that had accumulated over many years. After the monster drank this water, it fell asleep forever. And to this day the dragon is sleeping.
People, as a token of their gratitude to the river, began to build large villages, such as Kaitanak, off the coast of Katun.
Since ancient times, the dragon’s body has been overgrown with forest and moss, but people remember everything and honor the Katun River for the good that it did for them.