My Metal Detecting Trip to Siberia - Asian Russia
by Sergei UpstateNY, last time modified:
Every time I mention the name Siberia to anyone in the states or Western Europe, I hear the same question, "Is that really cold out there?!" In response, I usually give an example about people growing oranges in the southern Far East (eastern end of Siberia). Nobody believes me but it is true. That is the only part of Siberia that has a mild, almost sub-tropic climate.
The rest of region has a harsh climate: winters are long and bitter, and snow covers most of the area for almost half a year. The temperature might go below -90F (-68C). Because of such a tough climate, the region's development and population growth have been limited. Siberia's population density is only 3 persons per square kilometer, and the abundant natural resources are still to be extracted.
With an area of over 9,653,000 square kilometers (4,950,000 square miles) and population of about 35,090,000, Siberia is the region of Russia in the northern Asia, extending eastward from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific, and southward from the Arctic Ocean to north-central Kazakhstan and the borders of both Mongolia and China. Being an Asian part of Russia, Siberia makes up over two thirds of the total area of the country.
In May of 2006, I took a train from Albany, NY, to New York City and began my long journey to the opposite side of the world, south-eastern Siberia. On the map above, I outlined the route that I traveled to get to the city of Irkutsk, the oldest Siberian city, which is situated near the Wonder of The World - Lake Baikal. First, I flew from Newark, New Jersey, to Tallinn, Estonia, where I visited my mother for two weeks.
Then I took a bus from Estonia to St. Petersburg, Russia, where I met with my old metal detecting buddy nicknamed "Forrest" (I called him "Gump" all the time of course) and other friends. After we did a few treasure hunts in the St. Petersburg region, I took a two-day train ride to the city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains, where I visited my father and met my old friends from my childhood in my home town Snezhinsk (meaning "Snow Town").
A week later, I took a train to Irkutsk. It was a three-day ride and I finally had an opportunity to see what Siberia was all about. The train crossed the West Siberian Plain, and then climbed onto the Central Siberian Plateau. The route ran through a few major Siberian cities: Tyumen', Omsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, and Krasnoyarsk. It was one of the most exciting train rides I had ever taken! I tried to photograph as many interesting scenes as possible at any time that I was not asleep, but, of course, I missed a lot.
In a table above are the links to my treasure hunting stories with pictures that cover a few metal detecting trips I made to the northern Irkutsk region in 2006. Prior to my arrival to Irkutsk, I contacted Rudolf, a Minelab representative and metal detector dealer in Russia, who happened to reside in Irkutsk back then. Rudolf invited me to participate in a few treasure hunts and introduced me to some local detectorists, members of a regional Metal Detecting Club, who were happy to show me around.
In return, I shared my metal detecting skills and my Minelab Explorer search programs with them. Even though they took me to their "hammered-out" sites, I indeed had a blast. They did not believe that I could recover a few more coins at the "exhausted locations". Well, I made them believe!
Peculiarities of metal detecting in Siberia are briefly described in my article - Metal Detecting in Russia
My Photo Galleries of Pictures Taken in Siberia
Pictures in photo gallery below cover the entire journey from Albany, NY, to Irkutsk, Siberia. The total distance I traveled one way was 9,000 miles (including the flight over Atlantic ocean). Now, without leaving the comfort of your house, you can see what I saw traveling half-way around the globe.
The digital images in a photo gallery below depict places in the city of Irkutsk, which I came across while taking a walking one-day tour around the city. That was a spontaneous event so I did not have a list of interesting sites to visit. Irkutsk had been known for preservation of numerous old wood houses that were built in the 19th century. So I captured the images of the beautiful woodcarving and lacy designs that skillfully decorate the ridge-roofed houses, window frames and door jambs in the Kirovsky Historical District. It felt like being in the "museum under the sky"! Here is my short article - More About the City Of Irkutsk: History and Economy
Next photo gallery below contains pictures that I took while staying at my friend's summer house in Port Baikal which is located on the north-western shore of the lake Baikal, west of the Angara river mouth. Three days of my staying there were not enough time to capture all beautiful scenes that the lake Baikal could offer. Most of the time, I was in a state of awe observing picturesque "lakescapes" and surrounding landscapes that were changing their colors as the weather or daylight changed. The most challenging task was to capture snow peaks of the Hamar-Daban Mountain Range on another side of the lake, some 50 miles away.
Because of the incredible 1.5-mile (!) depth of the Lake Baikal, its water temperature remains cold (39.2°F or 4°C) all summer long. In fact, the water was ice cold in hot July! Three seconds was the maximum time I could keep my hand in water. At any time during the hot summer day, one could see the cold mist layer, up to 30 feet in the air, above the lake surface. The cold layer keeps the air temperature down; thus, making the lake the best place to be during the sultry summer.
Another impressive feature of the lake Baikal was its crystal clear water. While I was taking a ferry to Port Baikal, I kept observing the lake bottom. As the ferry was sailing away from the shore, the lake depth was increasing, but I could still see every pebble on the bottom! I was truly fascinated seeing the lake bottom when the depth reached about forty feet. Suddenly the water changed its color from aquamarine to pitch black when the ferry was passing over the chasm. More information about this fascinating lake is given in my short article - Lake Baikal in Siberia
In the following photo galleries, you will see the images of everything what I came across during my short stay and exploration in the Port Baikal area. You will also see how a typical Baikalian fish delicacy, 'Split Fish', is usually prepared. The recipe is simple and the fish titbit is yummy! The second photo gallery depicts incredible images of the Lake Baikal scenic views which were captured by a well-known photographer Boris Dmitriev.
