Kholodnaya Shchel (Goryachy Klyuch)

Kholodnaya Shchel, the Cold Gorge (also known as Kholodnaya Rasshchelina), is a forested gorge of the Kholodny stream in Krasnodar Krai, a few kilometres from the spa town of Goryachy Klyuch and close to the Krasnodar–Dzhubga highway. A forest road follows the stream, and higher up it gives way to a path along the floor of the gorge, past springs, small waterfalls and old beech forest.

Name and history

The gorge is named after its icy water: the stream is fed by many springs in its upper reaches, and even in the summer heat the water stays cold.

Until the mid-1970s the gorge was home to the main tourist camp of the regional council for tourism and excursions. The camp was later closed, and the hiking route with it. The gorge's popularity still shows in the campsites along its lower reaches, with old fire pits and level spots for tents.

What to see

The lower reaches of the stream are full of tree-like black elder, a large shrub of the honeysuckle family that grows up to 10 metres tall. It flowers in May, and its berries ripen in August and September.

In its middle course the stream meanders strongly, and the path crosses it again and again. There are springs here; one of them flows from beneath a 10-metre rock outcrop and gives cold, good-tasting water. On the opposite slope, flysch beds of sandstone, marl and clay shale come to the surface.

The floor of the gorge is covered with beech forest, and some of the beeches measure three metres around the trunk. The steep slopes hold European yew, a relic of the Tertiary flora: five trees have been recorded here, the largest about two metres in girth. The gorge is listed as a yew site in the book by M. D. Altukhov and S. A. Litvinskaya on plant conservation in the North-Western Caucasus.

Further upstream there is a waterfall about 2 metres high and another small one on a right-hand tributary. Beyond that the gorge forks, the valley narrows and turns dark and damp, and there is no real path any more.

Getting to Kholodnaya Shchel

The classic route starts at Goryachy Klyuch railway station and follows the railway line, which runs parallel to the Dzhubga highway. After about 4.5 km, at the edge of the forest, you pass the Lesnoy children's summer camp. From the mouth of the Kholodny stream a forest road leads upstream; it takes 1.5–2 hours on foot to reach the wider part of the valley.

Good to know

The out-and-back hike from the station to the gorge is about 18 km and takes 6–7 hours. The middle section has many stream crossings, and in the upper gorge there is no path and it is dark and damp. There are plenty of springs with drinking water along the stream.