Previously, I had remotely heard and knew that there is such a place for tourists - the Soksky quarry. Dozens of times he passed by and glanced at him furtively. There was never a desire to visit it, all because of the same everyday words - "Soksky quarry".
-What, they say, there to watch? Except for the sad traces of human activity to change nature. This is definitely not a place for walking, I thought.
Everything unusual and interesting often comes spontaneously. On Saturday night, I knew we couldn't change our rule and find a new route for our next weekend trip. He thought feverishly, rummaged through the map of the outskirts of Samara in search of something tonal and attractive. I remembered about the empty five-liter bottles dangling in the car for trips to get spring water, I also remembered about the usual place for these purposes - the Spring near the Church on the Tsarev Kurgan, in the village of Volzhsky.
Here a passing thought flashed about "Soksky quarry". Why not visit it on the way for the spring water? No wonder they talk so much about him. The route was "drawn" by itself - Samara-Quarry-Tsarev Kurgan-Samara. On the Internet, I quickly found the exact location of the quarry, how best to drive up and we were ready to hit the road.
I will not tell you how we drove and how we got to the location of the quarry, in details, who needs it - it is easy to find on the Internet. The main thing is that we got there quickly enough and without any problems. I would like to tell you about my impressions and what they found there.
The color that suppresses the human ego
Promotional video:
Which of you, friends, will tell me what color is the most widespread in nature? I'm afraid you won't guess if you say it is "green." You will not believe, but "the most-most …" is "brown". I don’t want to tell you why. I will leave this question for your curiosity.
Fascinates, delights and suppresses the human ego on a subconscious level. This is the main color of powerful Nature. Such sensations and thoughts I caught in myself, looking at the splendor I saw. To induce some semblance of emerging emotions, I suggest looking at the photo, but this will not convey the fullness of emotional colors. Almost monochrome colors of classic beauty for a subtle aesthetic perception. It's like in the art of photography, when a black and white photo is sometimes more interesting than a color one.
But in this place it also happens that it is not at all up to aesthetics and not up to delight.
Where does this anxiety come from
It arises "from nowhere", emanates "from you", from the depths of your insides. Starting from the first steps into this desolate, gloomy and snowy area. It would seem that there is no reason for concern. Nearby is a civilization of dwelling houses of local residents - former quarry workers.
But, the gray and overwhelming colors of the abandoned and dilapidated production and administrative buildings of the "Career Management", these ghosts from the asleep history of our country in the 30-80s of the last century, apparently dispose to the corresponding inner mood. Completely deserted and quiet. From a distance, one can hear the rare sounds of an operating quarry located 300-400 meters away.
The cracked mighty concrete bridge, which previously withstood tens of tons of powerful MAZs and KRAZs with rocks, makes us look with apprehension at its arches. This overpass leads straight into the mouth of the quarry, but the bridge is closed, as is the passage to the abandoned quarry. We secretly make our way along the abandoned railway to the bridge, dive under the bridge along a steep, liquefied, bad-weather path.
And here we are on a serpentine dirt road to the quarry. Legs are drowning in a mush of melting snow. A well-thought-out equipment strategy helps out - strong boots were not superfluous. Thank you, the snow has already stopped, but the weather is damp, cold with low clouds hanging overhead.
Cheerfully, in a squelching slurry of snow porridge, we climb up the slope. In my head, a descendant of a Donbass miner, at the subconscious level, a desire knocks to quickly find the entrance to the "adits" drawn on the map - mine workings. I constantly look around in search of an entrance. In vain. The gaze opens a gallery of mining, outwardly as if large, stern, but the expectation is disappointing - for a real quarry it is small, by my standards. I wanted to shout: "Is that all? !!"
The hidden left turn uphill, along the serpentine, caused joy. So that's not all! We walk more briskly. The landscape is enlivened by overhanging rocks of amazingly beautiful brown color. I want to stop and film it.
In the footsteps of the Yeti?
It so happened that I ended up at the rear of our micro-expedition. Being in charge of the photography, I trudge in the end, I diligently shoot. The silence is almost perfect. From the distance, short and rare sounds of cars near the operating quarry can still be heard. The pit rocks are steeper and steeper. It excites and excites the mind. I want more. The color around the promised - brown-black. I often hear the sounds of falling stones, the feeling is “mountain rockfall”.
We saw traces of other visitors to the quarry. The tracks are fresh, they did not have time to melt on the recently fallen early snow. We begin to peer at them more closely. There are many traces. It looks like the same as we were well equipped - boots with large sole relief.
Maybe even "cats" were attached to the boots. Although why in this area, with a claim to mountains, to use climbing equipment? This remained a mystery to us. For some reason, the tracks are very large. We write off the size on the blurring of traces by melting snow and continue on our way.
But a closer examination of some of the tracks of the tracks causes confusion and even anxiety. In addition to their size, these tracks are extremely unusual in their shape and feature. We go along this chain of trail. And, oh horror! The tracks are very large, they are 2 times bigger than my rather big mountain boots and, it seems, even more! Even worse, the tracks are clearly showing signs of huge claws! The nails are long and curved.
It becomes uncomfortable. I stopped, I'm filming it all. The first crazy thought that arises is there are animals, bears? But from where in our area? Or maybe Yeti or Bigfoot ?! It even becomes fun from your thoughts. I regret not having thought of removing these marks next to my boot for comparison, it would be clear and contrasting.
Carried away by studying and photographing the tracks, my companion withdrew far ahead and now she is not visible at all. And you can't hear. I called out - silence. I called louder - again dull. There was a feeling that someone was watching me.
Bad thoughts ran through my head and pictures appeared. I can clearly imagine how a furry creature attacks a fragile woman. The hulk drags her into the adits to devour the prey there. But heart-rending screams are not heard, and thank God. Now it's funny, but at that moment there was no laughing matter. The companion slowly left the pine forest and appeared from above on the horizon of the road. He breathed a sigh of relief. Forgot about the tracks for a while, our way on and up. About the tracks below.
The scale of human activity is staggering
And so, we are at the top of the career. A magnificent sight opens up before us. The view is mesmerizing. Makes the heart beat faster. The wind hits in the face. We approach the edge of the abyss with caution. It is very damp, slippery, rubble of stones. The heart pounds more excitedly. The view is beautiful! The career turns out to be huge. Indescribably huge. It is simply impossible for a small person to create such a thing, but it is. The scale of human activity is simply amazing!
The view opens up multi-tiered galleries of mine workings. Heavy vehicles with the breed drove along them in a serpentine road. There are countless tiers, there can be 10-15 of them. It's like a multi-storey building. The depth of the career … I find it difficult to say. But the pines at its bottom are like scanty plants. The width of the quarry is perhaps 1-1.5 kilometers. Length is not amenable to counting, because it continues around the bend and the edge is not visible.
A plateau rises in the middle of the quarry. The feeling that you are in the American Grand Canyon, in the Cordillera mountains. Rockfall sometimes makes itself felt. You have to walk along the rocks, looking upwards. On the other side of the quarry you can see the highest mountain in the area, Tip-Tyav, and the hills adjacent to it.
A thick fog had accumulated in the hollow between them. Such a big white hat. There is no fog anywhere, but there is. Involuntarily, associations arise with the film about Godzila, there was also a cloud of fog over the mysterious island where the monster lived.
Feverishly, in order to be in time before dark, we take pictures. We are photographed at the huge boulders. Almost complete feeling that you are in the mountains.
You forget that there is a big city only 20 kilometers away. With your vanity. And then there is space, breadth of space for eyes and thoughts! Great feeling.
PS By the way, about the tracks. I rummaged on the Internet about the possibility of a Yeti living in the Samara region. And, to my surprise, it turned out that in fact the Yeti was seen in the Samara region! Now I am seriously thinking, but not the Yeti-footprints we saw? There is already a more question for specialists …