A family trip to Baikal

Once staying home for quite a while and then going away from the city I found a great burst of enjoyment in everything that happens beyond the usual routine life. Even the smallest things like funny shaped old toilets along the road on our way to Baikal and the simple food in the road cafe which tasted deliciously ever!So there we started to the Maloye more on Saturday morning eager to catch still frozen Baikal lake. It was me who passionately wanted to touch its ice shield most of all. For those who don’t know, Baikal Lake freezes over in mid January and remains frozen until mid May usually. Usually, not always.

The lake is especially beautiful in winter time! 

The clear water of the lake makes the ice transparent as well, and the nature grants it with cracks, air bubbles and complicated patterns. Such familiar sound of his “breath” reminds me that he is alive. He is there resting safely under a thick well-protected coat, and just in 1 month (in May) he’ll awake from it’s winter sleep.  

Sometimes “alive” cracks with unfrozen water can be met and this is a trap for the cars. Thus it is not always safe to travel over the ice so one must be very careful, especially novices. Lots of fishermen have accidents on the ice while driving at this part of Baikal is very popular for ice-fishing.

The way to MRS (Mekhanizirovannaya ribolovetskaya stantsiya) took us about 4 hours with 2 stops on the way at the gas station and road café for the lunch break. It is about 280 km ride. The road goes along the forest, fields with the grazing cattle and small wooden villages.  My camera was almost always on as so many things got me excited! In spite of all the numerous trips to Baikal which I’ve already made before, each of them was a discovery, and each of them got me excited and inspired.

We arrived to the very nice tourist base “Veter stranstviy” which stands at the rocky shore of the lake and has a nice panorama from the windows to the lake itself.  We couldn’t wait to go on the ice and left all the things in the room and rushed to the cars to take a ride to the ice. We had a nice jeep ride to find the cozy bay where we can be protected from the wind, but it seemed to follow us everywhere we arrived. Children ran to try the ice surface and make the first falls while their parents started arranging the place for barbecues. Kristina (my daughter) didn’t like the wind as it prevented her from breathing well (she is 5 months and isn’t adjusted to the wind yet) so we drove back to the base and there I enjoyed the nice view  from the terrace while Kristy was asleep.

The evening granted us with warm weather and a snowfall. The snowflakes seemed unusually huge and easy to catch with the tongue. Each frozen flake reflected the light thus being transformed into the falling stars and I felt like a little girl dancing under this star-fall! We had a very peaceful sleep and I woke up early being afraid to miss the sunrise. 
I love meeting Baikal sunrises and seeing how the sun awakens the nature around and fills the lake with colors and life. The whole tourist base was asleep and I got all the performance of the sun just for myself. It was awesome.

After breakfast I took Kristy for a ride in a baby-carriage, hoping to climb the nearest hill and see the view from up there. I wondered what was behind there and it was my greatest wish to walk with Kristina along the shore as it was her first trip to the lake. But after a way up she woke up and made the rest of the way in my arms watching the sun lit the sea.

Later that day we went on the ice by car. In the bay there were lots of fishermen trying their luck in catching the fish. I gotta say that the ones which we stopped by were lucky as the whole bucket with already frozen fish was standing by. I am not into fishing at all, so I put on my skates and headed to discover the ice-grottos of the near-by cape with my friend. We were pleasantly surprised of the weather change once we arrived there, it seemed no wind and grey clouds at all, just like we turned over another book page.  The rocks near-by unfolded their sparkling white sides and small grottoes with icicles as we skated along them. First fall and huge bright sky is there all yours, telling: “Hey! How come you didn’t notice me before?!”.

It’s time to go back.  We lay on the ice to take a sip of Baikal water from the crack on the way back  and skated hurriedly to the cars. Kristy was driving!!! It was the only way my husband could stop her crying while I was away.)

We smoked some Omul fish after returning to the base and had Baikal lunch before packing and going back to Irkutsk. A very familiar taste reminded me of the summer time. It’s coming!!!

Overall I can say that it was very nice family weekend as everyone found some way to relax and enjoy: children playground is right at the base, barbeque place is there as well, skating and just walking on the ice and near-by shores, ice-fishing and ice-rides and a very good sleep at the fresh air gave all of us a portion of healthy, strong and positive emotions till the next visit to our Baikal.