The Urals are famous for unusually beautiful and picturesque places and the Ai River is one of the most amazing and wonderful places in the Southern Urals, which is certainly in great demand among tourists. The length of the river is more than 540 kilometers, it covers the territory of Bashkiria and the Chelyabinsk region. The Ai River flows through the plain and mountainous terrain. The flat part of the river does not particularly attract the attention of tourists, but the mountainous part, which flows between beautiful caves and rocks, arches and ridges of the mountains of the Southern Urals, will not leave indifferent not one, even the most fastidious, water tourist. According to one of the existing versions, translated from the Turkic dialects into Russian, the hydronym (the name of the river) will sound like "Moon", suggesting that the hydronym comes from the name of the ancient totem of the tribe. The moon for the Turkic-speaking indigenous tribes of the South Ural region was a deity almost until the 20s of the twentieth century. According to another proposed version, it is possible that the Aile tribal association was involved in the origin of the hydronym, which had a tamga in the form of a crescent (tamga is a generic sign of nomads). The moon was the main pagan deity of this indigenous group, the so-called. "Moon fans". However, there is still no consensus on the origin of the toponym. Perhaps the hydronym belongs to the dictionary of the more ancient inhabitants of our region, it is possible that the ancient Aryans who lived in the South Urals or the union of the Ura tribes, and possibly the ancient Ainu who passed through our places, left their “traces” in the form of toponyms. It is possible that the Aile tribal association was involved in the origin of the hydronym, which had a tamga in the form of a crescent (tamga is a generic sign of nomads). The moon was the main pagan deity of this indigenous group, the so-called. "Moon fans". However, there is still no consensus on the origin of the toponym. Perhaps the hydronym belongs to the dictionary of the more ancient inhabitants of our region, it is possible that the ancient Aryans who lived in the South Urals or the union of the Ura tribes, and possibly the ancient Ainu who passed through our places, left their “traces” in the form of toponyms. It is possible that the Aile tribal association was involved in the origin of the hydronym, which had a tamga in the form of a crescent (tamga is a generic sign of nomads). The moon was the main pagan deity of this indigenous group, the so-called. "Moon fans". However, there is still no consensus on the origin of the toponym. Perhaps the hydronym refers to the dictionary of the more ancient inhabitants of our land, it is possible that the ancient Aryans who lived in the Southern Urals or the union of the Ura tribes, and possibly the ancient Ainu who passed through our places, left their “traces” in the form of toponyms.hydronym refers to the dictionary of more ancient inhabitants of our land, it is not excluded that the ancient Aryans lived in the Southern Urals or the union of the Ura tribes, and possibly the ancient Ainu who passed through our places, left their “traces” in the form of toponyms.hydronym refers to the dictionary of more ancient inhabitants of our land, it is not excluded that the ancient Aryans lived in the Southern Urals or the union of the Ura tribes, and possibly the ancient Ainu who passed through our places, left their “traces” in the form of toponyms.
Below Novaya Pristan ', the village of Aisky and the mouth of the Kurgazaksky log, on the left bank of the Ai River, there are two huge limestone ridges - Small and Big rivers. The Aisky cliffs can rightfully be called a real miracle of nature. A ninety meter high wall, consisting of various forms of various rocks and arches. In the very middle of the cliff, at a height of about sixty meters, you can see the entrance to the Youth Grotto. But getting there is quite difficult - by rope with the help of climbing devices from the top of the mountain, of course, not every tourist can do it. They are also called the Yuldashkin crest and Sybar-kaya (Variegated rock). In the recent past, the old-timers of Alekseevka, Sikiyaz-Tamak, Kulmetovo, Pokrovka, Termeneva and other neighboring villages associated legends about Yuldash with the Small and Big oppression. Yuldash's personality is not fully determined,but it is connected exclusively with the criminal-criminal "component". Some considered him a horse thief, others a swindler. The main legends about the "hero" collected by researchers-folklorists:
Small cliffs (Yuldashkin crest)
That was a long time ago, even before the October 1917 coup. The Tatar Yuldash was appointed forester in Kulmetovo. He would have done things according to the law, but he turned out to be a swindler. I deceived all the men. In those days, everyone needed wood for houses, and for outbuildings, and for firewood. Yuldash, on the other hand, took the money, but did not write out the forest, he drank everything. The Alekseevskie men got mad with insults and decided to deal with him.
Once in the summer before sunset, drunk Yuldash was returning home from Termenova to Kulmetovo. The men on horseback surrounded him, pressed him to the edge of the cliff and, together with the cart, threw him down from a 70-meter height. Since then, this rock has been called the Yuldashkin ridge.
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Big cliffs (Sybar-kaya)
This penalty happened before the revolution. They began to get lost in the village of Termenevoy horse. And not in units, but in whole herds. The Themenevites were alarmed and began to watch for the thief. And this thief turned out to be the Kulmetov Tatar Yuldash. Yuldash secretly drove horses from pastures and sold them to gypsies. In those days, horse stealing flourished in the Zlatoust district, and it was not easy to identify the true thief. But Yuldash left traces and paid for it.
Once, after another hijacking, he returned to his native village. An ambush was already waiting for him. The Termenevites on horses surrounded Yuldash and pushed him to the edge of the Ai rock. Seeing that he could not escape from the ring, Yuldash accelerated and, under the angry whistle of his pursuers, jumped off the cliff with his horse, where he found his death.
Legend claims that the place of Yuldash's death was a grandiose limestone rock 90-100 meters high, elongated in the shape of a giant stone horseshoe, not far from the current Alekseevskaya livestock farm. Now it is called the Great Harassment. But Yuldash, realizing the hopelessness of his position, was not afraid of this height and threw himself into the abyss.
Grotto Youth (Karagay)
That was a long time ago, even before the collective farms, when every owner kept horses, they could not do without horses on their personal farm. And then trouble struck. Horses began to get lost in Kulmetova and in neighboring Russian villages. Soon they realized that a horse thief had appeared. They tracked down that their own Kulmetovsky - Tatar Yuldash, a well-known swindler and rogue in the district, was engaged in this filthy craft. The Kulmetov's men did not think long about what to do with the horse thief and the robber. They watched Yuldash just at the time when he was returning to his village after another hijacking, but had not yet managed to cross Ai. The riders surrounded Yuldash and blocked the roads. The wide Alekseevskoe field began to the right - there was no way to hide. On the left a huge rock of Sybar-kai fell off - no move. The horse thief realized that there was no escape from the reprisal. Without hesitation, he quickly unharnessed the horse, jumped on top of it,dispersed and rushed headlong towards death.
The angry peasants did not spare the cart with Yuldashkin's good either. In it they found only one "shurum-burum" - all sorts of things, mostly second-hand clothes, bought at some bazaar. However, they were not seduced by the junk and overturned the cart in the same place where Yuldash had jumped. And then a paradox occurred, which had been talked about for many years and which was especially remembered by the old residents of Kulmetov.
Yuldash loved to drink tea and always carried a large copper samovar with him. In Yuldash's carriage, the same was a samovar, which also flew head over heels from the cliff, but … did not fall. A birch tree grew in the cleft of the rock, and with one of the ears the samovar caught on a twig, and hung on it. Years passed, decades dragged on, and the samovar kept dangling in the wind, causing either surprise or superstitious fear. According to it, the Kulmetovites accurately determined the place of Yuldash's death. And this place turned out to be a rock, which in our time is called the Great Cliffs. The Yuldashkin samovar hung in that part of the stone wall where, at a height of 60 meters, a dark entrance to the then unknown mysterious cave opens. The superstitious Kulmetovites, looking at the samovar and the dark, pensive eye of the cave against the background of the variegated-colored rock, saw this phenomenon as a bad omen. They said that the shaitan had settled in the black den, that is.an unclean spirit (devil) that whistled at night, frightened children, old people, old women and beautiful girls. Then they guessed that it was a Yuldashkin samovar whistling in the wind. The samovar, sagging and whistling for several decades, suddenly fell off a cliff and plunged into the waters of Aya forever. It happened in the mid-60s.
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As you can imagine, most likely the image of Yuldash is a kind of "collective character" used to intimidate people prone to crime, convincing that punishment will befall every villain …
Ancient history: secrets of shamanic shrines
Since ancient times, the banks of the Ai River attracted people, ancient priests performed rituals in the caves, about which the drawings of ancient people - writings tell us with silent evidence. People painted pictures on the rocks with ocher, which have survived to this day. The rock art was discovered recently, only in 1978, by the archaeologist V. T. Petrin. The discovery became extremely significant for historians and ethnographers, as well as a rather unusual attraction for curious tourists. It is worth noting that visiting the pisanitsa is an extremely responsible event and tourists should understand that in front of them is an image preserved from the "dawn of time" and it is necessary to refer to this monument accordingly: carefully and carefully.
In total, on the bank of Aya there are: Allaelginskaya Pisanitsa, Vanyashkinskaya I Pisanitsa, Verkhne-Lopasskaya II Pisanitsa, Kulbakovskaya Pisanitsa, Pisanitsa Aiskaya Group, Pisanitsa Vanyashkinskaya II, Pisanitsa Kulmetovskaya, Pisanitsa Metelkinskaya.
As a rule, the plot of the scribble is a scene from the life of the tribe, or some kind of cult ceremony (dance of shamans), or, as in the Upper Lopas scribble, an image of the "master spirit" of the cave (as some historians believe).
Caves and other sights of the Ay river
The Robber Stone is a rather insidious rock, which is located immediately after the village of Kulmetovo. In the spring, when the river overflows, you need a lot of strength and dexterity so as not to break on this stone. In the years when the Ai River was used to organize factory logistics, before the railway was launched here, many barges with metal crashed, crashing into smithereens on a steep rock, and people died. So this toponym fully justifies its name …
Kurgazak Cave, located on the left bank of the Ai River, is one of the most beautiful and famous caves in this area. The structure of the cave attracts great attention. Its length is more than 357 meters, the depth of the cave is about 18 meters. The composition is mainly composed of clay, so it is rather dirty and viscous, and it is advisable to have a change of clothes for visiting. It is also necessary to take a rope with you, as there is an ice inclined slide about five meters from the entrance. Various calcite accumulations, which until recently this cave was famous and proud of. Now she has changed quite a lot. This is due to the crowds of tourists who allow themselves to tear off a piece of the sights as a keepsake, or even arrange a "picnic" with a fire.
Sikiyaz-Tamak Caves Complex - Studies of the caves have shown that Sikiyaz-Tamak is a rare phenomenon that has no analogues in world practice. Here, nature has created a natural museum, in which the landscape, flora and fauna, traces of the presence of ancient people are closely intertwined. The local caves served not only as a place of residence for ancient people, but also as a place for performing cult rites. Here were found the bones of animals of all natural and climatic zones of the Urals from the tundra to the steppe, including fossils (mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, broad-horned deer, cave bear, lion, hyena). Further, there is a real mountain range of caves and arches. More than forty pieces, this, perhaps, cannot be found in any other corner of the earth.
One of these caves is called the Dance Grotto, which is famous for the fact that a fairly flat floor is an ideal place for dancing. Therefore, it received such an interesting name.
The second cave is called Skvoznaya and is famous for the ceramics, bones, various tools and decorations found there. The length of the cave is over 43 meters. It is located 70 meters above sea level. Two or three more rocks extend a little further down the river Ai.
The artesian fountain is another attraction of the area. It arose quite recently in the sixties, by mistake of geologists who were looking for minerals. Naturally, they did not find fossils, but a fountain appeared. Therefore, it is only half natural. Since then, there has been a fountain with artesian water, which is quite cold, and even in summer does not exceed +5 degrees. Similarly, another attraction of the South Urals appeared - a fountain on Lake. Zyuratkul.
The village of Lakly is the final point of the rafting, the river does not end there, but there is nothing interesting in front - the plain, therefore, water tourists here "dry their oars" and disassemble their catamarans. But even here, not far from the village, there is an interesting toponym - Laklinskaya Cave, with a rather steep and slippery descent. More than 20 meters high and about 200 meters long. The large size of this grotto makes an indescribable impression. The only negative is the smoky walls and a rather damp floor, consisting mainly of clay. It is also worth noting that in the eighteenth century, the scientist Palace P. S. visited this cave during his next expedition. Later he wrote in his diary that even with the strongest lighting it was impossible to see a single end of this cave, that if you put the largest pine tree in the world, then it will fit to its full height.
The Ai River is a wonderful tourist route that will acquaint you, dear tourists, not only with the beauty of the Urals, but also with the history, legends and myths of the gray-haired Urals. Travel, there are so many interesting and unusual things around!