Tourist Routes of Ust-Tsylma area

Ust-Tsilemsky Gorka on Peter's day»

The event ethnographic tour- once a year. Season: from July, 10th till July, 14^th
Accommodation: local resident's houses. They say in Ust-Tsilma: «The hill is red because of sarafans when there are hundred in a circle and hundred out of a circle». And it this is not surprising, after more than five hundred years the «Krasnaya Gorka» remains the main ceremonial holiday of Ust-Tsilma inhabitants. According to Russian specialists in folklore, this is a place where the unique holiday of the prehaying round dances has remained up to our time. In the Soviet power days the Old Believer of Ust-Tsilma had to sustain many things: church books burning, icons requisitioning and they transformed church into cinema. But despite everything, the centuries-old traditions of ancestors remained, and today Ust-Tsilma became a new source of spiritual values for whole Russia where the unique old believe Russian culture has remained.

Fishing and Hunting

Fishing has been common on the Pechora since before recorded history. There are different species of whitefish (one of them retaining its old-Russian name "zeld" in Ust-Tsilma), peled, omul, white salmon, and the queen of the river — red salmon. There are also gray fish: ide, pike, bass, roach and crucian. Gray fish in Ust-Tsilma are not looked upon seriously, and fishing for them is considered to be some kind of a joke. Nowadays, the Pechora fish require protection. That is why fishing for commercial purposes must be licensed. Sport fishing is permitted on the Pechora and its tributaries and on floodplain lakes, but using only allowed types of fishing tackle and only during definite seasons. An angler can fully enjoy himself. Spinning and fishing rods and other equipment ensure not only fishing for "fish-soup", but also a good trophy - a pike or a bass. The recent years, a hybrid of the white sturgeon and the sterlet has appeared in the Pechora. It is quite comfortable in the Polar Region. Besides, the hunchback salmon now comes more and more often to the Pechora for spawning. The ichthyologists decided to breed it in the rivers of the Kola Peninsula in the 1970 s.

Hunting for waterfowl, other game, and large, fur-bearing animals has been traditionally popular in the region. Elk and bear hunting must be licensed here, as well as on the other territory of the republic. No license is required for wolf hunting. Game hunting can only be done through a hunting club, with licenses and an agreed-upon timeframe. Many good hunting trophies can be obtained here — a large black grouse, a wood grouse, a lynx, a wolverine, a bear, and even one of the large polar wolves that follow reindeer herds from the tundra along the river valley.

Yamozero

Natural places of interest include Yamozero, which is located in the upper-reaches of the Northern Timan (Chetlassky Kamen), which unfortunately (maybe fortunately for those loving wild nature) is not very accessible. Helicopters with groups of fishermen used to fly to Yamozero. But now there are no much such flights, since they are not profitable.

One can get to Yamozero only by making arrangements with fishermen who can go to the upper-reaches of the Neritsa river or the Pizhma river in motor boats. Then there is a 2 to 3-day hike through a completely uninhabited area. The trip back is by rafting on canoes, inflatable boats or catamarans along the Neritsa and Pizhma, shallow rivers rich in rifts.

Rafting Aling the Shapkina River

Rafters will find rafting along the Shapkina river to be quite interesting. This tributary of the Pechora does not have a lot of visitors. It used to be possible to get there by helicopter or some other transport to its upper-reaches, where there was a difficult to access meteorological station. But nowadays transportation is rather difficult to arrange. One can go there by an incidental helicopter, but only from the Nenets Autonomous Region - from Naryan-Mar. Otherwise, a helicopter charter flight can be ordered from the Ust-Tsilma airport by a group of travelers. Canoeing along the Shapkina River takes 2-3 weeks.

Along the Ancient Route

A hiking trip proceeds along the ancient route - from Leshukonye to Ust-Tsilma - which connected Pripechorye and Belomorye from the 15th century up until the 1940 s. Changes in the administrative divisions of Russia deprived it of its economic significance, and it is not now accessible to any kind of transportation. Those who love hiking will find this to be a two-week trip through the taiga, crossing Chetlassky Kamen, the northern-part of the Timan Ridge. The route starts in Ust-Tsilma. One gets to Zamezhnoye Village by bus or by airplane, and then the trip through the wilderness begins. Camps are made at small rivers crossed by the route. Former way
stations on the route have not survived or are partly destroyed. One can hardly hope to spend a night there. It is most convenient to use the cartographic materials of the forest protection department, which are verified and up to date. You must take with you everything to meet your needs along the way, as there is no place to buy anything en route This trip is rated as a category 3 sport hike. Upon completion of the trip, it is most convenient to get back through the village of Leshukonye in the Arkhangelsk Region.

Where to apply:

Republican Center for Children’s Tourism

Tel.: (8212) 44-29-35

Website: komiturcenter.ru

Tourist Agency «Vertas Tour»

Tel.: (8212) 280-444

Website: vertastour.ru

Resource:

Республика Коми: путеводитель / [cост. С. Журавлев]. - Изд. первое. - М. : Авангард, 2004. – С. 107-108.

http://www.ust-cilma.ru/tur-gorka7.html