Altai is such an amazing region that no matter how many times you come here, it will surely find something to surprise its guests. For example, there was such a beautiful meadow, on which the men mowed hay for cattle, and time passed - there is no meadow, but there is a reservoir rich in fish. Time passes again - and instead Gorky Lake. The Novichikhinsky district of the Altai Territory, where these amazing transformations took place, is interesting in itself, but even more amazing in it are people who retell the stories and legends of these places.
Novice
In 1862, there were practically no people in these parts, and they could safely be called wild, but after the agrarian reform of 1861, when serfdom was abolished, landless peasants had to go somewhere. So the whole family and convoys began to look for a better life in foreign lands.
And since the places in Altai are beautiful, the land is fertile, the air is entrancing, the forests are rich in game, berries and mushrooms, the carts reached these lands.
It is not known for certain who and when first settled in Novichikha, but in 1885 there were already strong peasant households and a church.
It is possible to trace the places from which the “serfdom” of serfs was, by nationality, the descendants of the first settlers. It can be seen that the memory of the times when people still remembered corvee, and then gained freedom and helped each other to build huts, was passed down from generation to generation, because the Germans and Ukrainians, Russians and Kazakhs, Belarusians and Chuvashs, Altai and Tatars get along well here.
Gorky Lake (Novichikhinsky district of the Altai Territory) has become a place near which former serfs settled, and earlier a small village today is the administrative center in which 4140 people live.
Novichikhinsky district
No wonder the wise peasants chose these places for settlement. The climate here is just unique. Pleasant heat in summer, moderately wet autumn and relatively frosty winter, which is usually not very snowy, although real snowstorms occur - all this creates optimal conditions for living and farming. Located in the central part, Gorkoye Lake (photo below) is surrounded by a pine forest, which passes through most of the area and retains cold winds, contributing to the accumulation of snow in the fields.
In Novichikhinsky district there are 5 lakes, many small rivers and small ponds. The largest and salty of them is Gorky Lake. The reviews of those who rested here are the most enthusiastic, especially about the effect of its healing mud.
In the forests of the region there are foxes, wolves and moose, hares and squirrels, lynxes and columns. The hilly area of the district has the opportunity to arrange walking, horse riding and cycling, which are so popular today among lovers of an active lifestyle.
Guests of the region can stop at one of the camp sites near the lake or put up a tent on its shore.
Salt Lake
Gorky Lake (Novichikhinsky district of the Altai Territory) has an amazing history of occurrence. If nature worked on other sources for millions of years, creating and destroying glaciers, forming karst funnels and raising groundwater, then the rain became the cause of this reservoir.
As one of the inhabitants of the village conveyed the memories of his grandmother, earlier it was a very small lake. His grandmother moved to Novichikha to live in 1876, when she had only 4 five-story huts. Through the pine forest, which we can enjoy today, the Barnaulka River flows, in the floodplain of which there were flood meadows rich in herbs. One summer, at the beginning of the 20th century, grass was mowed there and already put in stacks when heavy rains began.
The peasants saved the hay, but in 2 weeks of rainfall Barnaulka forever overflowed, forming a real large fresh lake. How it got into the fish, it’s not known for sure, scientists believe that along with the streams of water from the Irtysh. Only since then, in the place of meadows is a lake, and enterprising peasants cut down trees sticking out of the water, sailing to them in boats. Big stumps stuck out of the water for a long time, but they were also gone during World War II, when each log was counted.
Once upon a time there were so many fish that a fishing artel was organized, and the catch was transported by convoys to Moscow.
Legends of the lake
Why was such a rich freshwater reservoir given the name "Gorky Lake"? Novichikhinsky district of the Altai Territory is rich in salt bodies of water. Of course, scientists who know about everything in the world have their own answer, why lakes far from the sea suddenly began to change the composition of the water.
But any smart answers fade next to the legends that people make up. So about Lake Gorky. All legends about him come down to human greed and envy.
According to one version, the men from the neighboring village envied the rich catches of the Novichikhinsky fishermen and decided to also fish in these waters. The locals found out about this and drove out the uninvited guests, who dug up a big hole on the lake shore in revenge and left a dead ram in it, saying that when the bones of this animal completely become dust, then the lake will again be rich in fish, and until then him salty.
Whether it was a sheep or not is unknown, but once the locals saw that the whole coast was littered with fish, and that it was no longer found in the lake, no matter how many times they tried to run it there.
The version of scientists is that all the rivers flowing along the Kulundinskaya lowland flow exclusively into the lakes, therefore the salts that they should have delivered to the oceans settle here. Accumulating for centuries, in the end, they turned water into brine. Altai has more than 3,000 lakes, some of which are either salty or bitter.
Flora and fauna of the lake
No wonder family holidays are so developed here. Gorkoye Lake (Altai Territory) is surrounded by a pine forest, creating beneficial healing air, for which they like to bring children to gain strength after the school year.
People with problems in the cardiovascular system do not miss these places. Despite the proximity of the reservoir, the air here is dry, and the abundance of healthy forest berries makes the area even more attractive. In the pine forest around the lake, if you do not meet, then you can definitely hear wild boars, hares, moose and deer. The twitter of birds is especially intense here, and they don’t even get in the way of singing songs with the guitar, which they are already used to.
Fish does not live in the bitter water of the lake, but crustaceans and microorganisms, which tolerate the presence of salt, are abundant. Due to the large number of crustaceans, whose life cycle is quite short, their deposits layer by layer formed a unique healing mud, for the sake of which they travel here for 1000 km. The resort "Gorky Lake" just specializes in the use of its healing properties.
"Shikachi"
The real resort is called the recreation area "Shikachi" those who were here. The word "resort" usually presents multi-story buildings with numerous rooms and smiling medical staff. None of this is here, and the word is more likely to apply to the healing effect that everyone who bathes in the waters of this reservoir and who made applications on the joints from its mud receives.
Recently opened, the recreation center (Gorkoye Lake) "Sikachi" offers its guests comfortable houses in a pine forest, a real Russian bathhouse, from which it is so good to dive right into the healing waters of a reservoir. There is a playground for tents, tables with benches, places for bonfires and special programs for treating diseases of various kinds with mud.
For active people, scooters, catamarans and pleasure boats are ready to walk on the water.
The village of Melnikovo
"Forest Harbor" (Gorkoye Lake, Altai Territory) - recreation centers and tent areas located near the village of Melnikovo, Novichikhinsky district. This is another secluded place where you can not only relax perfectly, but also enjoy the healing procedures.
For those who are a doctor themselves, this place is suitable, since here secluded houses allow you to spend your time on your own.
The only inconvenience that may arise is a long flood, because of which sometimes the opening season of the bases is shifted by a week or two due to flooded roads. When buying a ticket here, you need to know in advance about the water level in the lake, and the rest is a cozy place with gazebos, barbecue facilities and a bathhouse on the lake.
"Expanse"
If the Gorkoye sanatorium had a sanatorium, then it would definitely be called "Expanse." Indeed, there are such picturesque places that the therapeutic effect of staying in them will remain until the next vacation. Guests can take walks or horseback rides in the surroundings, try their luck in a quiet mushroom "hunt", stock up on vitamins, picking wild berries, and no sanatorium with baths can give the same effect.
Well, but who still wants to take medical procedures, the salt-bitter natural water of the lake will have a better effect than any artificially prepared bath.
The greatest demand at all recreation centers by the lake is in Russian bathhouses, from which you can immediately dive into the healing waters. The effect, as those who have tested it, say two in one - cleansing and refreshment.
Gorky Lake today
The entire infrastructure developed at this reservoir is still at the "embryonic" level. Entrepreneurs who undertook this difficult and very responsible work should be given their due. They try, but such enterprises require huge investments, the return on which is a promising future.
There are really cozy and beautiful houses, but the entrances to the camp sites are constantly flooded with water in the flood, which does not improve their quality. While there is not a single playground, and the choice of cafes would be a good addition to the area.
Since these places have only just begun to be developed as tourist zones, they still have everything ahead.