In 2018, one of my friends and I embarked on a 42 days backpacking adventure that
brought us across Thailand, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and London. In the first
leg of
our time in Russia, we stopped by the magnificent and mighty Lake Baikal.
Baikal is the largest freshwater lake (by volume) in the world and also the deepest, with a surface area of 31,722 kilometer square, it is almost 44 times the size of Singapore, the small country I live in. In order to get to Lake Baikal, we flew in to Irkutsk from Bangkok and took a bus down to Listvyanka, a small town at the corner of the Lake Baikal.
We had initially read online that a permit was required to hike from Listvyanka to Bolshire Koty, a small secluded village where we had booked our accommodations for the night. However, after hours of walking up and down the town searching for the permit office, we gave up and ended up taking an extremely pricey private boat ride in to the village. The ride was not as short as we had anticipated (it’s always easy to misgauge distances on a map) and when we arrived, it felt like we had been transported into an entirely different world. It was quiet, serene, picturesque, and a much welcoming sight for two city dwellers.
With only our pre-saved booking confirmation and no map data, we set about looking for our accommodation in this tiny village. We had no way of confirming if we were even in the right place as we had no reception in this area but we eventually found the place through a small sign hung outside. We were greeted by a friendly and welcoming babushka who spoke simple English and she led us to our room on the second floor. She offered to cook our meals (dinner and breakfast) for a small additional fee which we agreed to as there seemed to be nowhere else selling food.
The room next to ours was later occupied by a small Russian family who were hiking through the area, and they were most definitely surprised to see two foreigners in this quaint little part of Russia.
The view from our room (with Lake Baikal in the background)
While dinner was being prepared, we unloaded our backpacks and went for a stroll through the village to watch the sunset by the lake. The feeling of being lost in such a huge enormous country is both worrying but also humbling and exciting. In this tiny corner of the earth, we had found our little hideaway, disconnected from the internet and away from the stress of our routinely fast-paced life.
After a really foreign Russian homecooked meal, we settled in for the night and got ready for our hike back.
We set off early the next day after our breakfast, completely unprepared and foolishly underestimating how long our (approximately 25km) hike would take us. With only a small amount of water with us, our heavy backpacks, and some light snacks, we set off into the Great Baikal Trail back towards Listvyanka where we planned to catch the afternoon bus back to Irkutskt.
The trail was absolutely breathtaking, and was pretty well maintained. Along the way, we only ran into a few odd groups of hikers and the path was otherwise relatively clear and straightforward. There were plenty of designated resting/camping stops along the way which we often stopped in to take in the fresh air and simply enjoy the moment.
The first half of the hike went smoothly but we quickly finished up our only source of food and water. From our estimates, it seemed like we would still be able to catch our bus back but we would have to quicken our pace. However, disaster soon struck - my legs began cramping up (probably from the lack of stretching and also it is something that often happens to me during strenuous exercise) which made it almost impossible for me to keep up the pace as I had to frequently stop and rest.
To complicate things further, we missed a crucial right turn (the red arrow) and continued on straight through a slightly more perilous path which led us into a dead end.
After losing our way for about an hour or more, we started feeling both hungry and thirsty. It was
nearing 4pm and it seemed all but likely that we would miss our bus. We decided then, to catch the
next bus the following day but we still had to make our way back before the sun went down (which
fortunately was around 7 to 8pm at that time). We eventually discovered the path which we had missed
but our problems were only getting worse, my cramps were becoming more frequent, fatigue was slowly
kicking in, and we were both dehydrated and hungry with no one to help us in sight.
Furthermore, near the final stretch, there is this long and windy section which you can see on the
map above, which is basically a nonstop ascend across a hilly terrain. I barely pulled myself up,
choosing to slowly climb straight across rather than following the path, while my friend made a mad
dash up.
The steep climb took the heaviest toll on my legs and at the top, they completely gave in.
Meanwhile, my friend had underestimated the physicality of the terrain and soon found himself out of
breath and close to fainting after rushing up. We were both handicapped and trapped in the
wilderness, uncertain if either of us would be able to pull through.
After a long rest, and some searching on my blurry unloaded map, I discovered a small stream of
water from uphill which fed into the lake. Seeing that renewed our hopes, and when we eventually
reached the source, we had the best tasting water I have ever had in my life - it was cool, fresh
and as we termed it, life-saving water from Baikal.
The water gave us enough strength to push through the final kilometer back into Listvyanka where we
quickly made our lodging accommodations and feasted on a sumptuous Russian dinner consisting of hot
dumplings and stew. It was a crazy adventure, one we will most definitely learn from and never
forget, but despite our troubles, we hope to return sometime in the winter to see the entire lake
frozen, and to travel further up the lake than we did this time (more prepared of course).
The next day, after a good long rest, we headed back to Irkutsk where we would continue our adventure across Russia with a 53 hours train ride to Yekaterinburg.