Rusakovsky Thermal Springs

The Rusakovsky thermal springs are a group of mineral springs in the north of Kamchatka Krai, in the Karaginsky district. They emerge in the deep valley of the Levaya Rusakova River (Sanovayam), hemmed in by the steep, high slopes of the spurs of the Sredinny Range; upstream the valley runs up against the Tylele hill, 2253 metres high. The nearest settlement, the village of Ivashka, lies some 60-80 km away across untouched Kamchatka taiga and tundra, which keeps the springs hard to reach and largely empty of visitors.

The springs

The Rusakovsky springs fall into two groups. The southern group sits on a flat rocky platform roughly 50 by 150 metres at the foot of the valley's left slope. It holds up to 15 griffons, individual hot-water vents reaching 75 °C, with noticeably strong gas release. About 25 metres above this platform another jet emerges, at around 43 °C.

The northern group stretches along both banks of the Khukhlotvayam River: over a 4 km stretch it counts five separate vents. A further group, known as "Goryachy Log" (Hot Ravine), lies 4 km downstream on the opposite bank and yields about 8 litres of water per second.

The combined discharge of all the vents is around 35 litres per second. The water's mineralisation is 0.91 g/l, with a silicic acid content of 0.044 g/l, typical of thermal springs in volcanic Kamchatka.

Getting there

A dirt track leads to the springs, but the hiking route is complicated by the need to cross the Vtoraya Poperechnaya River. To see all the vents of the Rusakovsky springs in one trip, visitors usually skirt the ridge around its tip and then walk 4 km back down the Levaya Rusakova. An alternative route crosses the low Kayuritan ridge to the neighbouring Khukhlotvayam springs, a few kilometres away.

Given the remoteness and the lack of roads, reaching the springs on one's own is difficult: the way runs through taiga and mountain passes, and the nearest inhabited villages on Kamchatka's coast are tens of kilometres off.