There is a truly mystical and mysterious place on the Kola Peninsula. Every year, from all over Russia, hundreds of tourists are drawn to this mysterious place.
The sacred Sami Seydozero, located in the very center of the Kola Peninsula, in an area traditionally called Russian Lapland, at the very end of the 20th century became the focus of attention of many researchers of the ancient history of our fatherland. It was here that the remains of the oldest civilization in the history of mankind were discovered, which the ancient authors called Hyperborean.
Lake Seydozero is located in a mountain range among the Lovozero tundra, not far from the settlements of Lovozero and Revda. You can get to the lake on foot, through a mountain pass, from the village of Revda. Or crossing Lake Lovozero by boat from the village of Lovozero (sorry for the tautology), and crossing the famous ford Seyyavryoka between the lakes to the east of Seydozero. The route can be easily plotted on the map or use the services of a guide in one of the villages.
The absolute height of the lake at sea level is fixed at 189 m. The surface area is about 20 square kilometers, the width in the narrowest part is 1.5 km and reaches 2.5 km in the widest, while the lake has an elongated shape and the maximum length is 8 km. From the western side of the lake, the Elmorayok River flows into it, in the east it connects Seyyavryok with Lovozero. The Seydozero Valley is located between the mountains in such a way that northern winds and cyclones rarely break through here, due to which there is a special microclimate here. This affects both weather conditions and living vegetation. For example, in the valley of the Seydozero one can find plants that are not typical for the Kola north.
The very name of the lake in most dictionaries is translated as "Lake of the spirit" (Seid - spirit).
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This spirit is sometimes evil, sometimes kind. Seidozero has an enduring reputation as an anomalous place. Indeed, people died here under mysterious circumstances. When the Sami come to the lake, the first thing they do is to placate the spirit so that the fishing will be and everyone will stay healthy. The lake should be treated as a conscious entity and only come here with pure thoughts.
Many legends are associated with this lake. For example, about the villain Kuivu, whose image can be seen on the rock near Seydozero. The image is gigantic - about 70 meters high and 30 meters wide. And the Lapps (indigenous people) tell the legend like this:
“It was a long, long time ago, when I was not there yet. Strangers found on our land, they said - Shvets, and we were a lop, like a lop - naked, without weapons, even without shotguns, and not everyone had knives. And we didn't want to fight. But the Shvets began to take away the bulls and vazhenki, took our fish places, built corrals and lemmas - there was nowhere to go. And so the old people gathered and began to think about how to drive out the Shvet, and he is so strong - big, with firearms. They consulted, argued and decided to go all together against him, take our reindeer and again sit down on Seydyavr and Umbozero.
And they went to a real war - some with a shot-cutter, some just with a knife, they all went to the shvet, and the shvet was strong and was not afraid of the shovel. First, he cunningly lured our lump to Seytyavr and began to crumble it there. He hits to the right - there weren't ten of ours, and all the mountains, tundra and khibiny are splashed with drops of blood; hit to the left - so again there were no ten of ours, and again drops of Lop's blood splashed across the tundra.
But our old men were angry when they saw that the shvet began to crumble them, hid in the willow, gathered their strength and all at once surrounded the shvet on all sides; he is there, here - he has no way anywhere: neither to go down to Seityavr, nor to climb out to the tundra; so he froze on the rock that hangs over the lake. When you are on Seytyavr, you yourself will see the giant Kuiva - this is the shvet that our Sami laid flat on the stone, our old men, when they went to war against him.
So he stayed there, damned Kuiva, and our old people again took possession of the bulls and dummies, again sat down on fish places and began to hunt …
Only now the petrified drops of Sami blood remained in the tundra, a lot of them were shed by our old people while Kuiva was mastered. Now they often find a red stone in the mountains - eudialyte, this is Sami blood."
Even in modern times, Seidozero continues to present surprises. So, a few years ago, a scientific expedition discovered traces of ancient buildings at the bottom of the lake. Presumably these are buildings from the times of the Hyperborean civilization. An ancient Stonehenge-type observatory was discovered at Seydozero, oriented by the stars. Also on the rocks were discovered meter hieroglyphs, which were partially translated using the ancient Indian language (Sanskrit).
People who have once visited here come back here many times … Despite the difficult 5-hour crossing over the pass, annoying insects and … the need to quickly part with this amazing place.
From the notes of hikers
The road along which we walked from the Motovsky Bay of Lovozero turned out to be extremely good, where it crosses the swamp, there is an old, but still preserved, log boardwalk. A stormy river is rustling somewhere nearby. A few kilometers to the left and to the right of the road, the slopes of the Ninchurt and Kuamdespakhk mountains run into low clouds, resembling a giant gate. The taiga is good here, luxurious dense spruces with a rare birch undergrowth, which is practically absent in some places. We quickly crossed a narrow isthmus separating two reservoirs, and found ourselves in front of the surface of a lake of extraordinary beauty. Here it is - Seydozero!
I have visited the water and hiking routes of the Kola Peninsula more than once. While still at the university, I discovered the wonderful world of the Lovozero Seydozero, surrounded by a horseshoe of low mesas with steep cliffs, with which many legends, tales and mysterious stories are associated. And since then I dreamed of coming back here again.
For a long time, the indigenous inhabitants of the Sami or Lapps peninsula distinguished such secluded and closed bodies of water in a special way. Hundreds of years ago, they played a significant role in the pre-Christian pagan beliefs of the Sami. The name itself comes from the word "seid" - that is how the sacred stones were called, in which, according to Sami beliefs, the spirits or souls of the dead Noids or shamans live. As a rule, such stones were endowed with witchcraft power, they were worshiped, sacrificed, and used in fortune-telling. It should be noted here that not the stone itself was endowed with magical power, but the spirit that lives in it. With insufficient veneration, the spirit could leave the stone and then it remained forever empty. The largest seid in Lapland is the Flying Stone on the Ponoi River, known from the books of the ethnographer V. V. Charnolussky, who studied the pre-Christian beliefs of the Sami in the 1920s and 1930s.
Flying stone "Old woman". Ponoi river:
So the word "seid" can be translated as "saint", "sacred" or even "sorcerer." Consequently, Seydozero is the "Holy Lake". There are several of them on the Kola Peninsula. And, undoubtedly, the most famous Lovozero Seidozero.
The picturesque lake hidden in the mountains is so closely connected with the culture, history and beliefs of the Sami that it is time to create a Lappish reserve here, which, by the way, is what the inhabitants of the village of Lovozero are talking about next to the mountain range of the same name. The most famous legend of Seydozero is the legend about the death of Chude-Chuervya. We heard it even during our first visit to Lovozero from the local hunter and fisherman Ivan Shitov, who sheltered us in his fishing hut on the bank of Lovozero. During the day's march, we got caught in a prolonged rain, the weather did not spoil us then. On a bright polar night, we warmed up and dried ourselves for a long time by the hot stove, and Vanya, seeing fresh interlocutors in us, told his hunting tales and various stories without counting. Among them, I was especially interested in the legend about the attack of foreigners on the Lovozero Lapps. Wanting to visually illustrate this story, Ivan ran his fingernail along our topographic map and, calling the foreigners Norwegians, showed the places where the events took place.
“The Chud chief Chude-Chueriv came to Lovozero with his retinue, they were all unbaptized, and they began to rob the Lapps. The Lopari fled from them to one island on Lovozero, where the "Old Woman" stands, to whom they bring gifts when they go hunting. Chud noticed where the Lapps were running, sat on the karbas and set off in pursuit of them. Then one Lapp began to beat the "korvi-kart" (tambourine - author's note) and asked the "Old Woman" to make the weather. The "old woman" heard him and made the weather great, so that all the chud, chasing the Lapps on the karbas, drowned in the lake. Only Chude-Chueriv and his cook survived. They managed to get to Motka-lip, where the cook began to cook dinner. And the cook was a sorcerer. He cooks, mixes with a spoon in the cauldron and says: "I wish I could shake Lop's heads like that." At this time the Lapps approached and, seeing the Chud chief,wounded him in the leg with a crossbow. He was wounded in the leg in order to take him alive.
The cook, when he saw this, took the treasury and, so that the Lapps would not get it, threw it into the water, then he himself rushed into the lake and, like a pike, swam down Seydyavryok to Seydozero. Where Chivruai ("chivr" - crushed stone, "wai" - stream) flows into Seidozero, he got out on the shore, but here it turned to stone. That is why the mountain that stands in that place is called Pavratchorr. Chude-Chueriv was forced to surrender. He accepted the baptized faith and, as a sign of this, put on his left leg a canga (Lappish shoes), which is visible on him even now. He lived among the Lapps for some time, and when he grew old, he went to the tundra, and remained there as a stone. since then it stands in the same place, therefore the tundra is called Kuyvchorr."
Philip Sorvanov conveyed the end of the legend a little differently. According to him, when the Lapps wounded the Chud chief, he did not surrender, but fled to the tundra, where he turned to stone. In the same place where he fled, a trail of blood is still visible.
Kuiva on Seydozero enjoys special respect from the Seydozero Lapps (in winter they live in the Lovozero churchyard). Passing Kuivchorr on karbas, the Lapps are afraid to shout loudly and swear out of fear that the "Old Man" will get angry. They turned to us with a request that we also observe the possible silence near Kuiva. Lopari avoid contaminating the water in Seydozero, as the "Old Man" does not like it, and otherwise will not give fish. When there is a need to collect a boiler of water, the lappet will never scoop up water with a sooty boiler directly from the lake, as is usual, but scoop it up with a clean ladle and then pour the water into the boiler. If the weather is bad for a long time, the Lapps say: "The old man is not angry." About Pavr (cooks - author's note) Lapps only declare that he is worth to himself, does no harm, but he himself does not like to be disturbed. On the Seydozero there is also a tundra called Nepeslogchorr. According to the Lappish legend, three sorceresses, a mother with two daughters, were once petrified in this place.
From the legend it becomes clear that the "Old Woman" is a seid, standing on one of the islands of Lovozero, apparently on the island of Koldun in the southern part of the lake. Kuiva is a dark silhouette on a steep cliff. The bloody footprint of the Chud chief is a well-known ornamental mineral eudialyte, red in color. Many names of mountains and rivers can still be found on a topographic map. In general, it turns out that the legend of the death of Chude-Chuervya is well tied to the area. While planning my itinerary before going to Lapland, I decided that it would be interesting to try to follow the “traces” of this legend, which, perhaps, conveys some real events. In the Middle Ages, there were indeed clashes between the Kola Lapps and the invaders from Scandinavia. And the Lovozero tundra mountain range itself and, of course, Seydozero have long attracted me as a photographer,the amazing colors of the untouched nature of the North. And finally, the long-awaited vacation.
It took us three days by boat to reach the mouth of the Seyyavryoka, a short but very turbulent river that starts at Seydozero and flows into Lovozero. Stormy weather and high waves forced us to move along the rugged coastline and take cover behind rare islands, but this did not always help. Many times on the open headlands of the lake, where it was difficult to resist even on our feet from the wind, it was necessary to wait for a long time for a calm in order to continue the journey. The wind did not subside and on short, still light nights did not change its direction, periodically bringing charges of fine rain, and then everything around was hidden in a leaden haze. But over Motka, as the Sami called the isthmus between the two reservoirs, a gap with a clear blue sky constantly hung, and a hurricane wind blew from the Seydozero basin, like from a giant pipe. High waves roamed the bays of Lovozero. Here,then there the wind blew away water dust from their foamy ridges, twisting it into spiral vortices that rushed over the raging lake.
Here and there, the wind blew away the water dust from their foamy ridges, twisting it into spiral vortices that rushed over the raging lake. It seemed that we had angered some evil spirits who did not want to let us into the sacred lake.
The way to the Koldun Island in such weather is closed. We will not be able to examine the seid, which saved the Lapps from the invasion of foreigners. At the Motka River at the mouth of the Seydyavryok, we hid the boat and part of the food for the return journey. Then you need to walk.
Earlier, at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, there was a Lappish churchyard on Motka, consisting of several vezh. Lopari were engaged in fishing in the southern part of Lovozero and on Seydozero. Already in the pre-war period, the churchyard disappeared and until the beginning of the 80s there was only a telephone operator's house who served the line along the eastern part of the Lovozero tundra. From the house in a wide clearing, overgrown with tall grass and willow-herb, only the overgrown foundation and telephone poles with rusty wires hanging from them remained. On the road leading from the former churchyard across the isthmus, we went to Seydozero.
The mountains surrounding the ring did not shelter the lake from the wind; a large swell was walking along the water surface. The summits of the mountain ledges disappeared into low clouds, and the western side of the lake basin was barely visible in the haze of rain. The road led us to a small house and a trailer next to the shore. Both the house and the trailer have long been used by rare tourists and local fishermen for an overnight stay. In such inclement weather, it is pleasant to spend the night next to a low stove, feel how warmth spreads from it around the room, and listen to the sound of rain outside the window. At night the rain stopped, but the wind blew out so that the whole hut shook under his blows, and in the morning it became cold even in the sleeping bag. The old walls could not withstand the pressure of the air, and the wind blew across the room.
The morning brought some improvement in the weather. The sun began to peep through the low clouds. After a short breakfast, taking our camera with us, we went to the nearest hill to explore the surroundings. At its top, local missionaries installed a two-meter Orthodox cross, apparently to drive out the dark forces from the lake. On both sides of the cross, prayer tablets are attached. On the east it is written: "May God rise, and open up to antagonize Him." And on the western side - "We worship your Cross, Master, we sing and glorify Your Holy Resurrection." Later we learned that in 1998 an earthquake of about 4 magnitude occurred in the Lovozero tundra, this happened almost immediately after the installation of the cross on Seydozero. This is how you will begin to believe in the Holy Spirit and in unclean power. Around the cross, on damp cushions of lush reindeer lichen, were several boletus boletus, and clusters of lingonberries were red on the mossy bumps. From the slopes of the hill overgrown with spruce forest, a view of the western part of the lake opened up, where on a massive rock guarding the entrance to the Elmarayok gorge, a dark spot of Kuiva was guessed.
Kuiva is an old man, a giant, a sorcerer. His figure has been preserved at Seydozero. It stands out in a hundred-meter silhouette on the sheer cliff of Mount Kuivchorr. Now it is a place of pilgrimage for tourists, as well as various seekers of disappeared civilizations, inclined to see in Kuiva and the giant Atlantean, and a self-portrait of a Hyperborean, and a "Bigfoot". In pursuit of turning the desired into reality, many people take various natural and geological formations for man-made monuments of disappeared civilizations and even traces of alien aliens. Several publications on this topic began to attract a large number of tourists to the Lovozero tundra. Along the shores of the once reserved lake, mountains of cans and bottles began to grow. And the centuries-old silence, guarded by Kuiva, was increasingly disturbed by the sound of an ax and even the crackle of a chainsaw. Tourists are different.
A few hours of walking along a winding path in the taiga along the northern shore of a beautiful lake - and we are standing in front of a high rock. Wraps of clouds creep down from the shallow summit.
Wraps of clouds creep down from the shallow summit. From a steep wall several hundred meters high, a figure of undoubtedly a man looks at us, easily guessed in the outlines of dark spots and streaks of either rocks or lichen growths. It looks like she froze in a fit of some kind of dance or anger. Of course, it takes a little imagination to distinguish the head, the right arm raised up, taking a step foot. You can even see on the left foot the "kangu" mentioned in the legend - traditional Sámi shoes with raised toes. The height of the figure is about one hundred meters.
Many believe in the artificial origin of Kuiva, but unfortunately we were disappointed in this, probably expecting to see something similar to giant images on the slopes of the Andes in the Nazca Valley. The plumb line of the wall is uneven. Weathering processes gradually destroy it, splitting it into pieces. At the foot of the cliff there is a huge talus from the products of destruction. We can say with a great deal of confidence that hundreds of years ago the wall with Kuiva looked different.
In general, it has been known for a long time that Kuiva is of natural origin. In 1923, Academician A. E. Fersman examined the image of Kuiva, and in his book "Memories of a Stone" he wrote about this: "As we saw during our expedition, a dark figure is formed by a combination of lichens, moss and wet streaks on the rocks." Moisture on the steep cliffs, most likely, is taken from the snowfields melting from above, seeping along the crevices.
But when, remembering the old legend, you look from the bottom up at the huge figure of Kuiva, you feel the surrounding taiga silence, somewhere in the depths of your soul faith awakens in the power of a giant sorcerer who protects the purity and tranquility of the mountain lake. We left in silence, talking almost in a whisper, paying tribute to old traditions, or secretly afraid to anger the giant.
During our excursion the wind died down a little. In the afternoon we were going to move to the southern shore of the lake, to the place where the Chivruay gorge opens with a wide gate into the Seydozero hollow. After having a snack in the hut that sheltered us, we packed up our backpacks and set off along the trail, now along the eastern shore of the lake. Here is the bay, closed by a long spit, overgrown with taiga. It is called Malaya Seyda and is connected to Seydozero (Bolshoy Seyda) by a short, fast-flowing channel. We walked around the bay and ended up at the source of the Seidyavryok river, mentioned in the legend. Chef Chude-Chuervya, turning into a pike, fled from the Lapps along this river to Seidozero. The river at its source is about 15-20 meters wide, in this place a hinged bridge on cables is thrown from one bank to the other. He was in a very bad shape. Partially preserved wooden flooring,and even then it is completely rotten. From the right bank, someone supplemented it with a log, but still crossing the bridge turned out to be a rather risky undertaking.
From the mouth of the river there was a good path along the entire southern shore of the lake. In places it overlooked long rocky beaches. Here there was a real surf, waves shining with azure purity, rustling with fine gravel, measuredly rolled onto the shore. The purity of the water of the mountain lake was amazing.
When we walked about two kilometers along the shore of the lake, we came across a stream flowing from the plateau along a steep canyon. We began to climb along its right bank. It was the northern slope of Mount Ninchurt. Five hundred meters from the mouth of the stream, we came across another hut, we decided to spend the night here, since it is quite windy on the lake shore. The impression was that the taiga vegetation is more lush here than on the opposite shore of the lake. Bilberry thickets reach their knees, and on the banks of the river - dense herbs. Apparently due to the northern exposure of the slopes it is more humid here.
The next day we examined the mouth of the Chivruay River. According to the Sami legend, there was supposed to be a seid, into which the sorcerer - the chef Chude-Chuervya - turned, when he ran away from the Lapps who were pursuing him. But we never found any seid. Tourists often stayed in this place; a bathhouse of large boulders was built on the shore. It is possible that the seid suffered the fate of being invested in the sauna stove.
But, examining the surrounding mountain slopes with binoculars, I found several stone structures at an altitude of about 400 meters in the place where the steep rise smoothly turns into a plateau. An hour later, leaving our backpacks below, we climbed the slope of Ninchurt. They took with them only a camera, a tripod and, just in case, a rope. From the mouth of the stream we began to climb up the gorge along a winding path among the trees. Bilberries and blueberries in the mountainous crooked forest are so abundant that in some places the shrubs were completely covered with large berries. It seemed that there were more berries than leaves.
The stream forms a canyon with low rock ledges, from which it flows with small waterfalls. Walking along the bottom of the gorge is harder and longer, so we began to climb straight along the mountainside, leaving the gorge with a stream to our left. We quickly passed the border of the forest and ended up on a plateau that slopes gently towards the top of Ninchurt. The higher we climbed, the wider opened up an amazing view of the huge bowl of Seydozero, bordered by mountain ledges. The stream, in front of the source of which we found ourselves, collects water from small swampy areas on the gentle slope of the mountain. Apparently, there was a snowfield here for a long time, which provided the stream with the main nourishment, but in this hot summer it melted, exposing a couloir strewn with boulders and stone blocks, passing into a gorge by a step discharge. On the vertical walls of the steps, strange signs immediately attracted attention,carved in stone. At first glance, the impression was that someone was trying to chop the monoliths into stone blocks at an altitude of 300 - 400 meters above the lake level. Most of the signs were straightforward, starting right at the top of the stone. Moreover, at the top, they were slightly wider than at the bottom. We can say that they narrowed slightly from top to bottom. Some of the lines below curved smoothly. We found some more complex characters. They began not from the upper edge of the stone, but were entirely located on the wall, and asymmetrical, blindly ending branches were made from a straight vertical groove. The section of the potholes is trapezoidal, the depth reaches 1.5 cm, the width is from 5 to 10 cm. They were made, probably, with a tool similar to a chisel or something like a flat core. In some places, it seems, even traces left by the instrument are visible.
We looked at strange signs for a long time, passing from one to another. Could it be that geologists once sampled minerals? But the difference in the shapes of the signs, their number and location somehow do not fit with possible geological surveys, at least, this can be easily found out. Or maybe they were knocked out by shamans for ritual purposes? Already at home, looking at the pictures, I thought that these signs could be runes that are found in the Scandinavian countries.
The runes are known as a form of ancient writing of the northern peoples - expressive, separated from each other signs, - embossed or carved in wood, stone, metal products. They were believed to have magical properties, and therefore were highly prized for their ability to serve as amulets and as spells. Each rune has a name and its own symbolism that goes beyond its phonetics and literal meaning.
This is what Anna Kaya writes in her book Runes. “Since ancient times, each rune has had its own name and specific meaning. In other words, certain objects or concepts were used to describe an individual runic sign. The opposite is also true: each rune itself represents a certain concept or property, which manifests itself through certain specific processes. Here the dual nature of the runes is clearly traced: on the one hand, certain processes and concepts describe a given rune, on the other, with a deeper study of this rune, not only the essence of these objects or processes becomes clearer, but they themselves are or lie in the allotted place in the general the picture of being. Thus, each rune embodies a certain aspect, property or manifestation of existence, or, as the modern theory of runes considers it,one or another archetype of reality.
Each individual rune or combination of runic signs reflects some internal structure of reality. Each rune is a symbolic repository of certain knowledge and concepts. Since the internal structure of reality is in constant motion, the runes reflecting this internal structure are also capable of changing, acquiring new content and enriching themselves with new meaning.
The special connection of each rune with a specific object or property allows, by composing combinations of runic signs, to describe or explore each of the aspects of the universe. When composing such combinations, the rune acts as a tool of knowledge, and if we consider it as a symbol, then it is an analogue of reality. That is, a combination of runes as analogues of reality is capable of reflecting the totality of any events. (Runes. Compiled by Anna Kaya, M.: Lokid, 1998).
If these are really runes, then their huge size is surprising. Yes, and the signs themselves, except for straightforward ones, I could not in any way compare with those that are found and deciphered in the literature. A simple linear sign of the form "I" can be interpreted as the Is rune - translated into Russian as "ice". The Old English runic poem reports the following about this rune:
The Is rune symbolizes primordial ice and can be represented by the image of a glacier, embodying frozen motion. The very concept of ice contains the idea of melting and its new transformation into water. On the other hand, a slowly advancing glacier acts as an almost insurmountable force. Thus, this rune means stopping, "freezing" any process or movement. It is believed that by means of Is it is possible to suspend, but not eliminate at all, any negative processes or phenomena that somehow affect a person's life. For example, you can stop the progression of the disease. By visualizing the graphical form of the Is rune, you can buy time in order to find a way out of this situation. It is also believed that the Is rune can be used to complete the work begun, to restore harmony in the world and for protection. Anna Kaya in her book "Runes" writes that medieval legends of spiritual-knightly orders are associated with the Is rune, according to which it is in an ice cave, somewhere in the inaccessible mountains lying at the edge of the world, that there is a source of universal life force, "the elixir of immortality ". Is it not in this gorge that this source is born, and what did unknown authors try to preserve or "freeze" with such a combination of runes?
I have not found any interpretation options for the "branched" runes. Most of all, these signs are similar to "ogam" - one of the most ancient types of writing. The basis of the ogam is the vertical line - "druim". All written signs are attached to it from one side or the other, or crossing the line itself. Ogama signs were written from top to bottom vertically, rarely horizontally. Only now this type of writing was widespread in Ireland and in the west of ancient Britain.
On a cursory examination, I counted seven linear signs, three branched ones. Moreover, there was one going into the ground. Knowing how slowly the soil cover forms in the conditions of mountain tundras and deserts, we can first say that they are not 10 years old. Tool marks and smooth pothole edges would not have survived like this. Moreover, the breed is not so hard. Most likely, they are no older than the petroglyphs that we saw three years ago in the abandoned village of Chalmny-Varre on the Ponoi River, and their age is 4000 years. Of course, for an accurate determination, they need to be examined by a specialist.
I wonder if these signs are in any way connected with the legend of the death of Chude-Chuervya? It is possible that indirectly - yes. The sorcerers who found death in these mountains were newcomers from Western countries. But to this day, in the vicinity of Lovozero there are rumors about the rituals that have long been celebrated on the mountain lake by local shamans.
It is surprising that archaeologists have not yet become interested in these signs.
Having finished inspection and shooting of signs, we walked along the mountainside in the direction of the Chivruay gorge. A steep ascent at an altitude of about four hundred meters above the level of the lake ended in a small gentle valley, similar to a huge terrace, which then again steeply went up to about 600 meters. Further, the slope gradually turned into a hilly plateau. At the edge of a gentle valley, from where a wonderful view of the western extremity of Seydozero and Lovozero opens, we found three seids - stone hurias, human height, built of flat stones and spaced about a kilometer from each other. When examining the surrounding slopes through binoculars, we found a similar hurias on the other side of the Chivruay gorge, again in a place where a steep slope begins to turn into a gentle plateau plain. Looks like,that similar hurias are installed around the entire Seydozero at approximately equal distance. Who and when and installed them here? Were not the same hands carved strange marks on the mountain ledges? For what purpose were these silent monuments created?
After examining the seids, we continued our ascent to Ninchurt and an hour later we were already on a gentle mountain top near the geodetic mark crowning it. From here you can look at all Lovozero at a glance, the Panskie tundra and the nearby spurs of the Cave are clearly visible.
Meanwhile, a strong and cold wind arose on the plateau, and we hurried down.
We began to descend directly along a small gorge, along which we climbed. In the place where until recently lay a snowfield that gave rise to a stream, all the stones were covered with pillows of emerald green moss. Water oozed among the stones, and a small stream with waterfalls was already flowing down the gorge. We passed through the stone gates of the gorge, a forest is already growing along the slopes, and soon we found ourselves near the place where we left our belongings. For the night we returned to the hut again.
Soon a fire crackled in the cast-iron stove, we cooked supper and laid our sleeping bags on plank bunks. Listening to the gusts of wind rushing over the tops of the fir trees and the sound of the surf coming from the Seydozero, it was surprisingly cozy and warm to fall asleep.
We spent several more days in the Lovozero tundra. Despite the windy and rainy weather, we climbed to the pass along the Chivruay gorge. We visited Lake Raiyavr, which lies in a beautiful "circus" with high rock ledges. But the short vacation was coming to an end. And the last day before leaving, we decided to spend on the bank of Lovozero.
In the morning we were pleasantly surprised by the good weather change. The sun shone brightly. The sky is clear. And the wind, this gusty wind, which never turned out to be a favorable one, which harassed us for almost two weeks, finally died down. It was calm. Only a slight ripple in places disturbed the calmness of the mirror-like surface of the lake, which now reflected both the clear blue sky and the shores with sharp-topped fir trees. Silence enveloped everything. It seemed that the ears were covered with cotton, and even his own voice sounded somehow muffled.
Throughout the day, the sky remained cloudlessly clear. Only in the late afternoon did rare cirrocumulus clouds form in the north and west. There was a beautiful sunset. The sky was colored in all shades of red, yellow, purple. In complete calm, the sky was reflected in the mirror-like surface of the bay, repeating the fantastic streaks of clouds painted in lilac and cream tones. The sun was gradually sinking over the jagged edge of the spruce forest. Every now and then I jumped ashore with a camera, and everything was shooting and filming the same landscape, with the sunset sky constantly changing its colors. When the sun finally disappeared and the bright colors began to gradually fade, giving way to the approaching twilight, for some reason I thought that after such a quiet day there should be the northern lights, and jokingly told Tanya that today we will see it.
Although at this time of year, the glow is extremely rare.
We sat by the fire for a long time, drank tea, constantly throwing dry spruce branches into the fire. Stars poured across the cloudless sky. It got very cold. The crackling fire was the only sound in the silence that enveloped us. Before going to bed, I finally went to the shore of the lake to inspect the sky. In the west, a strange formation immediately attracted attention, similar to a large transparent cloud, even rather a haze of silvery color with a subtle greenish tint. It was located on the sunset side of the sky, and at first it seemed that it was a cloud in the high layers of the atmosphere, on which the light from the setting sun fell. But it gradually changed its shape and grew as an expanding ribbon higher and higher, rising to the zenith. Flashes began to run over it, and it became clear that this was the northern lights. I immediately called Tanya,and he frantically began to set up a tripod with a camera on the sandy shore of the lake. Meanwhile, the ribbon of aurora, reaching its zenith, began to change its shape, in the north-western part of the light became brighter. Separate bright rays began to form from the ribbon, they quickly rose to the zenith, and after a while spread to the eastern part of the sky. After that, they blurred, turning into wide stripes, faded, and later became distinguishable only when flashes ran over them. Meanwhile, in the north, new rays appeared in the sky, from which a blurred air curtain was formed, slowly shimmering with a greenish-silver light. But these auroras were no longer so intense. Separate bright rays began to form from the ribbon, they quickly rose to the zenith, and after a while spread to the eastern part of the sky. After that, they blurred, turning into wide stripes, faded, and later became distinguishable only when flashes ran over them. Meanwhile, in the north, new rays appeared in the sky, from which a blurred air curtain was formed, slowly shimmering with a greenish-silver light. But these auroras were no longer so intense. Separate bright rays began to form from the ribbon, they quickly rose to the zenith, and after a while spread to the eastern part of the sky. After that, they blurred, turning into wide stripes, faded, and later became distinguishable only when flashes ran over them. Meanwhile, in the north, new rays appeared in the sky, from which a blurred air curtain was formed, slowly shimmering with a greenish-silver light. But these auroras were no longer so intense.from which a blurred air curtain was formed, slowly iridescent with a greenish-silvery light. But these auroras were no longer so intense.from which a blurred air curtain was formed, slowly iridescent with a greenish-silvery light. But these auroras were no longer so intense.
It seemed that some kind of thin ether spreads across the sky, running through the stars with a light silvery wind.
I took a few shots trying to capture the brightest auroras. When, already well after midnight, we climbed into our tent, rare flashes still ran across the sky.
Wrapped in a sleeping bag, I could not sleep for a long time. A dark silhouette of Kuiva, a high seid on the side of a mountain, strange signs on the rocks, flashes of the northern lights floated before my eyes. I thought how amazingly well preserved this corner surrounded by "civilization" has not yet lost its original purity.
A little more time will pass and a beautiful tourist center, built in the form of a fabulous wooden tower, will open in the regional center of the village of Lovozero. A fast boat in a couple of hours will take tourists not burdened with material problems to Motka-Guba. Guides-tour guides will take them along the paved paths to the once reserved lake, where, as museum exhibits, it will be possible to see the seids, Kuiva, ancient writings. Pleasure boats glide along the calm surface of the lake. And, of course, hunting and fishing. Oh, how delicious the Seidozero trout is …
Is this not what they are trying to suspend, "freeze" the mysterious spells on the rocks of Seydozero? Isn't this, like an irresistible force of a glacier, gradually advancing on a mountain lake?
Will the Seydozerskie secrets preserve the nature reserve created there?
Tomorrow we had a long way home, filled with a slight longing for the beautiful northern edge. Someday we will return here with a burning desire to once again breathe in ourselves the cold freshness of the northern taiga, but will we be able to touch the secrets of the mountain lake again?
