Summary of end of trip

It has been close to a month since we wrapped up our time in Russia. The last few days of our trip we found we were running low on energy, time, and, at times, a reliable internet connection. We decided to focus on the trip itself rather than working on the blog. This post will just summarize the last few days of our incredible trip.

Day 9: village of Varzuga, the northernmost desert in the world, and amethyst hunting

Immediately following our adventures on the island of Ryashkov, part of the Kandalaksha Reserve, we drove east on a lonely highway along the Tersky coast toward Varzuga. After several hours of driving, we arrived late at night in the small rural fishing village of Varzuga. Our kind and gracious hosts for this night had prepared a wonderful meal for us. After our noshing, we promptly went to bed.

The next morning we were able to get a proper look at our surroundings and the way of life for the villagers. We found another example of the phenomena of northern gigantism in a patch of cultivated strawberry plants. We also noticed a number of small fish strung up on the side of the house to dry in the sun. We recognized this from our own experience with what we termed "fish jerky" earlier in the week. I believe it is actually called vobla. It is typically made from a small fish such as roach, which is soaked in brine and then hung to sun-dry by passing twine through the eyes. It is fairly salty and somewhat fishy in flavor. We also discovered a cache of amethyst collected from the coast. This was an exciting find, as we were looking forward to looking for our own amethyst after hearing about the opportunity earlier in the week. The last thing I'll note here is the large amount of cloud berries in various stages of cleaning and ripening. This was yet another example of just how important foraging for wild edibles is to Russians, especially the inhabitants of the north.

Amethyst collected by our hosts

Vobla

Before setting off to explore the northernmost desert in the world, we took a brief tour of the village. Varzuga was founded in the 1400s as a fishing village. It is situated along the Varzuga River, not too far from the mouth of the river where it flows into the White Sea; the river offers the most prolific salmon fishing in the entire peninsula, and these fishing opportunities are exactly why this village (and many others nearby) was founded.

View of the village. The tallest building is one of the churches.

Next up: the Kuzomen Sands, a small desert-like area at the mouth of the Varzuga River. This area of ever-shifting sands is theorized to have developed in the 19th century due to human impacts on the environment. Sometime in the 20th century, the government began funding efforts to reverse the spread of the desert and even return it to its natural vegetation. The way they have gone about this was to first mix peat in with the sand to create a more suitable soil, then introduce small plants and ground cover, then finally seedlings of trees. It is not a quick process. We found plenty of examples of areas where this has seemed to be successful.

Vegetation and sand intersect

Life... finds a way.

However, in the early 21st century the government ceased funding or these restorative efforts, so the restoration is more or less on hold. As a GIS professional, when I returned home I was interested in trying to find satellite imagery of the area to see if I could find evidence of success/failure. As it is such a remote area north of the Arctic Circle, imagery is not exactly in abundance. However, I was able to find imagery dating back to the 1980s. In my preliminary analysis, I did find evidence of success over the years! It seemed as though the vegetation was, albeit slowly, starting to fill in some areas of desert. However, this encroachment of vegetation into the sands does seem to have stopped since the turn of the century, which would indeed align with what we were told of the cessation of funding. What this means for the future of the area I cannot venture a guess, as I really don't have enough data.

We also found some instances of very old pine trees in the area that have somehow survived the onslaught of sands. Here is one such example, roots and all:

You can clearly see just how much the sand has shifted.

General landscape

After learning about and touring the Kozumen sands, we began the journey back toward Kandalaksha. We made a few stops along the way, including a stop at the amethyst-rich part of the coast. Here we had a bit of fun looking for "cool rocks" and pretty pieces of amethyst.

Along the coast near the amethyst-rich rocks and sandstone

An example of our findings, even though we were lacking in proper mining equipment

Our destination for the night was a beautiful lodge overlooking the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea, not too far from Kandalaksha. Vladimir, the director of the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden in Apatity joined us for the night, along with his good friend Ludmila who knows English quite well. I believe the lodge was owned by friends of Vladimir. We enjoyed a wonderful feast prepared by our gracious hosts. I'll wrap up this day with one more example of the phenomena of northern gigantism:

Green onions (yes, for real)

Day 10: Back to Apatity

We made our way back to Apatity on this day. We made a few stops along the way to admire the landscape, explore local forests, and to experience a local market in Kandalaksha. 

One of our stops: a labyrinth, which was constructed to serve as a sort of trap for fish during low tide when the sea and the land intersected here many centuries ago.

Back in Apatity, we toured the Arboretum portion of the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden. This could otherwise be called Mosquito Land. Here we got to finally sample the berries of the Lonicera caerulea, which were oblong in shape, blue in color, and wonderfully delicious in flavor. This plant can be found natively throughout the cool temperate part of the Northern Hemisphere. This is a good kind of Lonicera! Not like that nasty invasive honeysuckle that is so prevalent in the US.

Fruit of Lonicera caerulea

That evening we had our final dinner with Oksana in her office, where we got to see her large literary collection and discuss many interesting topics.

Day 11: Travel back to Moscow, another visit to Moscow Main Botanical Garden

Again, this will be short and sweet. A good portion of the early part of the day was taken up by travel from Apatity to Moscow. Some funny highlights from this include our (okay, okay, MY) overweight baggage (those darn rocks) and our cloudberries being classified as "checked luggage." 

Yep.

After we moved our stuff back into the hotel we stayed at in the beginning of our trip in Moscow (the Maxima Zarya if you're wondering), we visited the Moscow Main Botanical Garden one last time to see a few things we weren't able to see before, including the rose garden, micropropagation, and the arboretum's nursery. 

Rose Garden of course

I want to climb it. So does everyone else. That's why there's a fence around it.

Mad sciencey things. Not really, actually micropropagation of various plants.

After our tours, it was time for some much needed food. One of the new things we tried this time included soda made from tarragon syrup:

Day 12: Cultural tours of Moscow

Our time in Russia was capped off with sight-seeing with some of Julia's lovely family (remember, we met Julia's family on Day 2 of our trip). We visited the Moscow Kremlin, Red Square, and a delicious Ukrainian restaurant, and we did plenty of walking, sightseeing, and souvenir-shopping along the way. One of the special things we witnessed was a display of national and military pride with the change of guard ceremony at the Cathedral Square, held every Saturday at noon.

Kayla, Julia, Brian, Boris (Julia's grandson), Sophia (Julia's granddaughter), Travis (not pictured: Irina, Julia's daughter)

Tsar Cannon, very big and very old artillery piece

Tsar Bell, which has never been in working order due to a giant chunk of broken bell. Whoops. Then again, it's not like we're experts with fancy bells.

Changing of the Guard Ceremony

Example of inside the beautiful old cathedrals

The staff at the Ukrainian restaurant were so excited that we from the US visited them that they wanted to take our photo with examples of traditional headdresses or hats with their logo on them.

In brief summary, we are so grateful for our time in Russia and the opportunity to really learn about and interact with the regular people and the landscape of Russia. I'll be honest: relations may presently be strained between the governments of our two countries. However, the people we have interacted with have shown us incredible hospitality and generosity. We've had the unique privilege of getting a peek into their beautiful, indomitable spirits, and in the process we've been shown the beauty and wonder of an enchanting land. 

Igor has been the most amazing guide. He knows so much about so many things (seriously, he's like a walking plant encyclopedia), and the trip wouldn't have been nearly as educational or fun without him. Thank you, Igor!

One last fun group photo

Day 8: Kandalaksha Nature Reserve

We covered a lot of ground on day 8. Rather, ground and water.

Mikael, a biologist at Moscow State University, led our excursion into the White Sea archipelago at Kandalaksha Nature Reserve. We boarded a boat that took us to Ryashkov Island research station to observe a tremendous amount of migratory birds and coastal vegetation. The archipelago experiences approximately two tidal regimes per day, and we learned about four separate tidal zone vegetation types:

1. Low tide briefly reveals macrophyte algae. Weird stuff.

2. The mid tidal zone sustains Triglochin maritima, Aster trifolium, Plantago maritima. (All of which are edible. Salty and crisp. Tasty!)

3. The dominant high tide "splash zone" species include Leymus arenarius and Lysimachia maritima.

4. Rocky areas where sand doesn't occur have a totally different association of plants that was described by Mikael as coastal tundra. Viola rupestris, a rare species of Cotoneaster, Sagina procumbens, Thymus serpyllum, and Botrychium boreale, to name a few.

*Still no photos. Sorry.

Some photos:

Boarding the беркут (berkoot), the Golden Eagle in English, our boat to Ryashkov.

Ryashkov Island scientific station

Botanizing with Mikhail, learning about the tide zones.

Leymus arenarius with its edible seeds

The encroaching tide into the mid tidal zone

Coastal exploration

Post written by Travis, photos added later by Kayla

Day 7: Lapland Nature Reserve

Today we explored Lapland Nature Reserve. We spent the morning learning about the history of the Reserve. Since the 1930's the Reserve has been dedicated to conserving wild reindeer populations. For centuries reindeer have served an important resource for indigenous Saam people. The Russian naturalist, Oleg Semyonov Tian Shansky championed scientific research on the Reserve. From the time of the Lapland's establishment, Reindeer populations have recovered from fewer than 70 individuals to over a thousand, ranging in multiple herds that live in the upper elevation areas of the Reserve.

Museum display of various birds with camera equipment hidden in the way early scientists would hide it in order to monitor the birds.

Reindeer skulls with antlers locked in battle.

In the afternoon we took a cold, rainy hike from the lush taiga forest to the lichen covered ridges. Along the way we saw several types of Cladonia:

In addition, our hike offered us our first opportunity to see (and taste) the exceptional cloudberry - Rubus chamaemorus:

The cloudberry ripens from pale red to amber. It occurs throughout the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far south as 55°N. They are often harvested from the wild and made into jams, juices, tarts, and liqueurs. The ripe ones were plump and juicy, only mildly sweet with a tart flavor, while unripened berries were firm and quite tart.

Travis and Igor trekking the path above the treeline

The weather of the day was more typical of the area than the nicer weather we have experienced so far on our trip. It certainly added to the ambiance of the environment! However, we were glad to warm up and take it easy in the evening after the wet, chilly day. Igor, Brian, and Kayla tried out Russian billiards in the hotel while Travis worked on cleaning seeds collected in the previous days.

Day 6: Shorter hiking around Khibiny Mountains

We spent another day with Katia. She is extremely knowledgeable about the area and is very passionate about the plants and mountains.

Instead of going on a really long hike like the day before, we took a short hike around a valley tundra to see more of the plants there, and afterward we took a ski lift to the top of a hill which we snaked back down in a roundabout way that took us through a small canyon and to an alpine lake. We saw a lot of the same plants but in some different environments.

Pinguicula vulgaris, a carnivorous plant. Coin for scale. If you zoom in on the leaves, you can see the small flies that are stuck there.

Dactylorhiza fuchsii, a gorgeous alpine orchid

A type of Dryas

Hybrid: betula pumila var pumila x betula nana

The two types of Betula are very common here and will sometimes hybridize. It is fairly easy to tell the difference between the two species and the hybrid (unfortunately I can't find the right pictures at the moment to demonstrate this... we have taken tons of photos).

Lunchtime view of the town of Kirovsk and the mountain we hiked a loop around via Geographers' Pass the previous day.

Still snow on the ground in some spots. It often melts out on the bottom due to trickling water, so it can be dangerous to walk on the snow since you can fall through.

Saxifraga aisoides

Participating in true Russian activities... swimming in an alpine lake in this case. Igor actually remarked that he is surprised (and proud!) of each of us and our willingness to try out as many local things as possible. I myself didn't actually go swimming, but I did roll up my pant legs and step into the lake for the experience.

Tomorrow is a trip to the Lapland Nature Reserve!

Days 4 and 5: Travel to Kola Peninsula, Hiking Geographers' Pass

Day 4 (Friday, August 4): Travel Day (travelling: Igor, Travis, Brian, Kayla)

This day was mostly taken up by travel from Moscow to Kirovsk, our destination for the next few days. The flight from Moscow to Apatity was on a very small plane (about 60 person capacity) and took approximately two hours. Once we arrived, we drove from Apatity to Kirovsk, which is located at the foot of the Khibiny Mountains. The Khibiny Mountains are remnants of an ancient mountain range that was once much taller. The area is extremely mineralogically rich, mainly with apatite ores (origin of the name of Apatity).

When we arrived at our hotel in Kirovsk, we had dinner with Oksana and Vladimir, both from the Polar Alpine Botanical Garden and Institute in the Murmansk region. Oksana is Head of Ecological Therapy and Educational Programs, and Vladimir is the Director of the Garden. We felt very welcome and experienced true northern hospitality.


Day 5: Visit to Polar Alpine Garden and Hiking Geographers' Pass

Today we visited the Polar Alpine Botanical Garden and Institute in the morning, and the rest of the day was a long, exhilarating mountain hike (estimated to be about 7 miles of mountainous terrain). We saw lots of cute little alpine plants and some pretty amazing views along the way of our hike.

The Polar Alpine Garden has quite a few trial beds and tests a lot of plants for suitability of growth in their alpine environment. These plants are often sold as ornamentals to residents of the Peninsula, and seeds are collected for sharing as part of their index seminum. Photos of their trial nurseries:

One of the interesting phenomena we were told about is that sometimes the cultivated exotics will grow abnormally large. This is simply called the phenomena of northern gigantism. Some people theorize it could be due to the polar day (i.e. lots more sunlight than normal during summer), but it hasn't been confirmed. It's a very local phenomenon and only appears in cultivated non-natives.

After our tour of a portion of the Garden, we had lunch and then set off on our hike up to Geographers' Pass of the Khibiny Mountains. Here are just some of the many plants and views from along the way:

Crossing an alpine river by foot (photo by Igor)

Botanizing with Igor and our guide, Katia.

The view we were greeted by just after conquering the pass. Great place to enjoy some hot tea or coffee!

The tiniest plant, which we found right after we conquered the pass. Uncertain on identification, but may be a type of Arabidopsis.

Sibbaldia procumens

Veronica alpina (very pretty in my opinion)

Salix polaris, just one of several types of Salix in the area

We were all pretty tired by the end of the day. Tomorrow we will do another shorter hike nearby.