Mechta Well (Belaya Gora)

Mechta Well ("Dream Well") is a karst shaft cave on the watershed of Belaya Gora (White Mountain), 1.1 kilometres south-southwest of the Gavrilova Polyana pier, near the village of Podgory in the Volzhsky District of Samara Oblast. One of the caves of the Samara Bend, it is a vertical passage about 15 metres deep, discovered by cavers from Kuibyshev in 1970. It is also referred to as Gnilaya ("Rotten") Cave.

History and search

Cavers from Kuibyshev found the shaft in 1970; when exactly it came to be called "Mechta" is unknown. Later its very existence was questioned: some researchers doubted the description, while others reported a similar feature on the Belaya Gora watershed about a kilometre from Gavrilova Polyana.

That narrowed the search, and cavers went to Belaya Gora to look for the "Dream". In the dense forest they came across pits that mushroom pickers took for the well, but most turned out to be abandoned sulphur workings, which are common here. The cave was eventually found and located, and its natural origin is not in doubt.

The shaft

The entrance lies at about 244 metres above sea level. The opening, roughly 3.5 by 4 metres, has a complex cross-section shaped like a rosette of petals. The walls carry longitudinal ribs, and between them one can climb down and up by bridging.

The cave has been explored to a depth of 15 metres; below that the passage narrows into an impassable crack. Its origin is linked to so-called armoured karst, where soluble rock is capped by a harder layer. The Belaya Gora massif is made of gypsum and dolomite.

Caves of Belaya Gora

Mechta Well is not the only cave on the mountain. Its slopes hold other cold caves, Beryozovaya, Sosna and Manumbo, and the best known of them is the Ice Cave near Podgory, about 55 metres long, where frost and ice stay on the walls even in summer. It too is sometimes called Gnilaya, so guidebooks often mix the two places up.

Getting there and practical notes

In summer, boats run from Samara to Gavrilova Polyana, and forest paths lead from Podgory to Belaya Gora. The well itself is in the forest on the watershed, unsignposted and easily lost among the old sulphur workings, so it is best found by coordinates. Descending requires caving gear and experience; without a belay, look in only from the edge. The area belongs to the Samara Bend, where national park rules apply.