Vottovaara. The highest mountain in the West Karelian Upland. The strangest mountain, shrouded in swamp fog and secrets. Vottovaara attracts tourists, esotericists, sorcerers and lovers of silence. Getting to it is difficult, climbing to the top is even more difficult. The correspondent of the portal "Petrozavodsk speaks" shares his experience and talks about the miracles he saw with his own eyes.
There is no road, but there is a direction
There are several ways to get to the mountain located in the Muezersky district. You can, for example, take a train to Kostomuksha in Petrozavodsk and get off at the Gimolskaya station. And then - either hire a guide with a car, or walk with your feet. About 25 kilometers along roads winding through swamps and forests, studying bear tracks and periodically meeting vipers and other passportless inhabitants of Karelian forests.
And you can get there by car directly from the Karelian capital. The distance is less than 300 kilometers. But if you have now figured in your mind that you can get there in three or four hours with stops, then you do not know the Karelian roads well. The primer, which the navigator will optimistically declare "a road with improved coverage", may turn into a series of pits and bumps, which is missing the sign "Carpet Bombing - the next 120 kilometers."
In addition, already at the entrances to the mountain, after heavy rains, such puddles are poured out, which is already time to assign names and put on a map. The depth of some "reservoirs", which can neither be bypassed nor bypassed, for an adult man is above the knee. And in the muddy waters, stones and even stumps are hiding. Therefore, it is better to drive by several cars. And do not forget the wading boots to walk in the puddle and feel the relief.
It is quite possible to stop and set up camp near the mountain itself. To the credit of the travelers, who have trodden paths and equipped fire places, the Vottovaar forests are quite clean. And vacationers take away garbage with them.
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On the side of the road there are several places where you can get clean spring water, wash in a microscopic waterfall. You can meet other tourists at the watering holes - exchange impressions, find out the route to a specific attraction.
There are several ways to climb the mountain. One leads to the top from the side of Sukkozero. The second ascent is from the Gimol side. Choosing the first option means additional kilometers on a broken, terrible dirt road, exhausting the nerves of drivers. The choice of the second assumes strong feet, lightweight and good shoes with non-slip soles. Because at times the path to the mountain leads through stone rubble, fallen trees and swamps. And in some places it is almost a steep slope. The 400 meters to climb seem like a small problem only at first glance.
When we approach the mountain, a raven soars into the sky from a tree, swinging a branch heavily. Ahead is a long way to the top, and you simply won't be able to stop in the middle. Either upward, overcoming oneself, or downward. Which is a little easier.
Through hardships to seids
However, after the second or third ascent, each stone on the way turns into an old friend. This is what you can trust. But this is not worth it, it staggers at hand. It is worth noting small ledges on which you can take a breath and admire the opening panorama - the blue threads of the rivers, lamb mirrors, velvet green of the forests.
But this climb is worth it. At the top of Vottovaara, there is such an atmosphere that worn legs and clothes stuck to the back become trifles. I would like to freeze, arms outstretched, and grasp as much as possible - with a glance, with my hands, everything that I can reach: seids, dancing trees, deceptively reliable mosses of swamps, thickets of blueberries.
If you don't want to get lost or you are climbing the mountain for the first time, it is better to follow the paths and memorize the return route. Because, of course, you can go down the mountain at any point. But only in theory. If the prospect of jumping a mountain goat from bump to bump, getting your feet into holes hidden by grass, falling into swamps, trying to grab the tree trunks, going down a steep cliff, does not seem tempting, return the same way that you came.
Because even if the path along which you climbed the mountain seems difficult, remember that it is. And at least a couple of steps you can see what lies ahead. Keep in mind that in August it gets dark in the Muezersky district before you can go around the entire mountain. And in a deep forest, darkness comes suddenly.
There is a chance to take a walk and miss the moment when it is time to return. Every stone, every turn of the trail opens Vottovaara from a new side. It is very difficult to give up the pleasure of learning another secret, to see a little more. Therefore, bring water and a light snack with you. We do not recommend drinking water from lakes or swamps. You can, however, soak yourself with a handful or two of berries.
Vottovvar grows delicious, large blueberries and blueberries. True, you should be careful when picking berries from bushes. Guides for several years have been telling about an unlucky tourist who put his hand into a blueberry bush and “greeted” a viper who had settled there. The acquaintance was short but unforgettable. A man was evacuated from the mountain in an Emergencies Ministry helicopter.
But they go up the mountain mostly not for berries and snake venom. They go - to the seids and to the burnt, or dancing, forest, the two main wonders of Vottovaara. Seids are such special stones. The Sami believed either that a spirit lives in a boulder on its "legs", or that souls of the departed live in these stones, with whom one can consult and communicate.
Gift for the Master
The forest is called burnt because some time ago there was a fire on the top of the mountain. The foliage on the trees burned down, the trunks themselves were charred in places, and in some places remained intact. Why the forest is also called dancing becomes clear after the first glance at the tree skeletons twisted, as if frozen in a strange shamanic dance.
Why birches and pines dance at the top of the mountain, but not a little lower, is unknown. Someone talks about strong winds, someone - about the anomalous zone.
There are enough anomalies at the top. Compasses desperately lie and even navigators get confused. Cameras and smartphones stop working. The silence, which at times is replaced by a strange low rumble, makes your ears stick. You can walk for hours around one stone, not knowing where you are. As I kneel in the crisp white moss, picking berries in a handful, a pair of ravens whirls silently in the bright summer sky. It's very hard not to say hello to them just in case.
You also need to say hello to the Master of the Mountain, as the highest seid is called, located above a kind of amphitheater.
Vottovaara generally consists of several concentric ridges, the lower reaches between them are filled with dense moss, hiding swamps. The same moss is in the very center of the mountain, in a depression where amazing stone blocks, as if sawn off on purpose, are located. They are known to tourists as the "altar".
Above this natural altar, where, according to legends, the ancient Sami left gifts to their spirits and gods, the Master is located. He looks somewhat intimidating - huge, split in half, grinning. At the foot of the seid - offerings. Someone left a handful of caramel, someone put money, someone left jewelry, knives. Taking something given away to grief is a sign of extreme badness.
Seids are mysterious constructions. When and how huge boulders acquired stone legs, who put a stone on a stone contrary to the laws of physics, we can only guess.
Keep climbing
Vottovaara, in general, is an insidious hill with character. She can "punish" for a quarrel with a sudden downpour, whirl the company, quarreling faithful friends, frighten with a stone that pretends to be a bear. Feeling, to put it mildly, so-so. And, of course, no one canceled the test of fatigue and silence.
Which, as it turned out, for a modern person, accustomed to a constant background noise, may seem oppressive, painful, lifeless - without rustling leaves, without chirping birds. However, if you overpower yourself and stop talking, the mysterious pre-stormy calm will turn into something completely different - wise and soothing reticence.
Having brought our modest gifts to the Master, we sit down on warm stones near another miracle - the Vottovaar well, a break in the stones, as if specially made up in a rectangle. Its depth is unknown, but there is no desire to check it. If only because, without outside help, it will be impossible for someone who dares to climb into such a font, filled with impenetrable black water.
Allowing the paths to guide you along the mountain, you are imbued with the realization that you are right now in the center of a miracle. Wild, scary, wary, but a miracle. It has not yet been finally tamed and "tweaked" by tourists, erecting their stone pyramids, disturbing the peace of the seids with bonfires and trampling down blueberries and heather wastelands.
And standing on a piece of stone, rising above the tops of the tallest pine trees, watching the shadows of the clouds at the foot of Vottovaara, you understand that the ascent to the top, your personal one, has just begun …
