There are many interesting and beautiful places in Karelia, but none of them is surrounded by so many mysteries, myths, secrets and mystical stories as Mount Vottovaara - the highest point of the West Karelian Upland - 417.1 m. Vottovaara is located 350 kilometers from Petrozavodsk in Muezersky district. These places are deaf, sparsely populated, teeming with wild animals, it is not easy to get there. Vottovaara is famous for the abundance of various single stones (including those standing on smaller stones), which are called seids, as well as clusters of boulders, stone stairs and a peculiar form of vegetation: the trees here are twisted around their axis and stretch to the ground. Researchers and scientists have been breaking spears around the mysteries of Vottovaara for years, some are inclined to believe that everything that we see on the mountain is a play of nature, others,that it is an ancient cult complex and a "place of power". There are also those who consider Vottovaara a “portal to other worlds”. Ufologists talk about UFO squadrons allegedly visiting the mountain.
The discovery of unusual objects on Vottovaar took place in 1978 by Sergei Simonyan, a resident of the village of Sukkozero located 20 kilometers from the mountain. At that time, he was searching for the dead partisans from the brigade of I. A. Grigoriev. As S. Simonyan writes in his memoirs, “we began our first campaigns to search for traces of the brigade from lakes Ekonlampi and Kei-Votto”, located five kilometers north of Vottovaara. According to him, the "meeting" with the first seid was completely random and happened as follows, "not far from the lambins, we encountered the first seid." Naturally, then we did not know anything about the "seids", especially since it was small, and on its top was a pyramid of small flat stones. At first I thought it was a partisan "lighthouse", all the more, as we soon learned, it really was not far from the partisan path. But a little further we found another such stone, then a third, and it became clear that this was something else, but definitely related to human activity. " That year S. Simonyan and his associates examined Vottovaara until late autumn in search of traces of the brigade, but to no avail. “But with each campaign the search area expanded, - S. Simonyan writes. - The place, vegetation, rocks, the most beautiful view from the mountain and more and more new“seids”were striking: some were huge“giants”, others were flat“frogs”,“bear ", etc. Then they found a "ladder". Having been in Karelia more than once, I, one way or another, heard about Vottovaara: these stories contained a huge number of facts and fables that were woven into legends. Every year in me the desire to visit this unusual place grew stronger, in order to see everything with my own eyes and experience the personal sensations of being on a mysterious mountain.
Since last year, the "discoverer" of Vottovaara S. Simonyan began to make excursions up the mountain, although it would be more correct to say "author's tours". It was a sin not to take advantage of this - to visit the mountain in the company of a person who knows the area like the back of his hand and has been exploring the mountain for almost as long as I have lived in this world. It took us more than ten hours to get to Vottovaara by minibus, the asphalt ended at the 150-kilometer mark, then the primer began, dissolving in the forest whiskers, dotted with deep puddles and streams, over which half-rotted wooden bridges were thrown. Of course we were tired. However, the mood immediately improved when we met Sergei, he turned out to be a smiling, energetic and active person, by the time of our arrival a camp had already been set up - tents, and something aromatic and tasty was bubbling over the fire in the pot. Anticipating tomorrow's meeting with the mountain, we bombarded the guide with questions about Vottovaar.
Sergei himself began to study Vottovaara, having experienced disappointment from communicating with scientists who occasionally visited the mountain, even conducted a kind of toponymic research. The name of the mountain, in his opinion, can be translated as “the mountain of meetings, expectations”. It is logical to suggest that the tribes who once inhabited the vicinity of the mountain used Vottovaara as a place of general meetings, as for the second meaning, with his awareness, Sergei suggested not to rush and wait before meeting the mountain. Of course we were intrigued.
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The next day, early in the morning, we went up the mountain. The day was warm, fine, the sun was shining brightly. Sergey chose a comfortable pace of movement, after each small ascent he made stops so that the group would not stretch through the forest. During one of these breaks, Sergei, leaning back against a large stone, suddenly asked us: "Do you notice anything?" Looking around, we saw nothing suspicious. Sergei even laughed. “I have a seid behind me, next to me there is another altar fenced with stones between them, go around the stones on the other side…”. The boulders standing on the rock slab turned out to have a "secret": as if someone had placed small stones under them for stability, thus slightly raising them.
Traditionally, it is believed that seids had a cult significance, sacrifices were made to them. They are often credited with dowsing and magnetic anomalies. Not to mention the Sami legends, according to which seids are not just sacred stones, they are stones that "can fly." There is another hypothesis, according to which seids are a kind of "technical devices" that intensify and direct the flows of earthly energy to a certain place, being in which a person is able to recover from a disease. Scientists, however, adhere to the version that the cause of the origin of seids is the glacier, which, when melting, gently and deftly put boulders on "stone legs".
However, when looking at the entire composition, the idea that such a successful coincidence fits into the theory of probability, for some reason did not come. Puzzled, we continued on our way. After a short time, we approached a staircase that outwardly resembles a fragment of a Roman amphitheater: upward-going steps ending in a four-meter precipice. Sergey Simonyan believes that the origin of the stairs is natural: the steps were formed by weathering and the action of atmospheric precipitation. However, the steps are fairly flat and of about the same height. Truly a miracle of nature … or is it the result of the work of ancient builders?
Thinking about the purpose of the stairs, we did not even notice how we came out to a magnificent observation point. I must say that Vottovaara has several peaks and various interesting objects are located on an area of about 6 square kilometers. From the place from where we admired the surroundings, the "bald" (after the fire) height with a scattering of stones and a huge stone towering over all this was clearly visible. We went to him, going down from the observation deck. For some time something squelched under our feet, gurgled and gurgled, then a long climb began, finally, we came to the "dead forest". The burnt trees looked odd to say the least. In old Soviet fairy-tale films, such a forest is characteristic of the place of residence of Baba Yaga. Sergey explained what was happening with strong winds and an abundance of heavy snow cover, which cripple the trees. According to him,when he first came here many years ago, a ring of smaller stones with radially diverging rays was laid around the stone. Now in the surrounding landscape, whatever, geometry is not observed. Sergey blames the "wild" vacation in Karelia for this.
We went up the mountain for several days, at different times. In the evening in the camp, around the fire, they shared their impressions. It is absolutely amazing, but a person experiences on Vottovaar exactly those sensations that he intended to experience when meeting the mountain, someone feels a charge of vigor, and someone even fear. Truly a mountain of expectations. Come and check it out!
Returning home from Karelia, I specially looked at how many people visit the megaliths of Stonehenge. According to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions in 2008, this number was 883 thousand. Vottovaaru, which is often called the Karelian Stonehenge, is at most several hundred. The Karelian authorities do not see any prospects in the development of tourism on Vottovaar. But they see prospects in the development of stone. How long the mountain will last in its current state is difficult to say. A quarry is already dusty nearby, and Vottovaara still has no security status. And yet I want to believe that the Vottovaara phenomenon will continue to attract people seeking discoveries for a long time to come.
I want to finish my story about the trip to Vottovaar again with the words of Sergey Simonyan: “It's certainly worth visiting Vottovaar. I am sure most of you will experience what I do … The best time to visit the mountain is during the white nights. From the western slope of the mountain, you will have a wonderful view of the surrounding area. When you look at this action of nature, you involuntarily think how little a person needs. Centuries ago, at the cost of great efforts, our ancestors created this unique cult monument. Will we keep it? And what will we leave behind for future generations?"