#3: [09-Aug-20]

#2: [28-Jul-16]

English narrative

Рассказ по-русски

19-Jun-2005 -- Точка 44°N 43°E находится рядом с поселком Юца недалеко от города Пятигорск. Поселок Юца образован объединением нескольких населенных пунктов, на месте его центра был хутор Водопад, родина моего отца.

Сюда из Пятигорска ходят маршрутки с Верхнего рынка.

Выехали вдвоем воскресным утром из Горячеводска на попутной машине, вышли в Юце, не доезжая метров 200 до моста и пошли по объездной дороге на Ессентуки. С дороги видно Эльбрус (фото 6) и основные вершины района Минеральных Вод. Через пару километров, когда направление к точке было перпендикулярно дороге, свернули направо в поле, поросшее невысоким злаком с сорняками. Это было явной ошибкой - следовало пройти дальше по дороге до лесополосы (точка с коорд. N43°59.570' E042°59.849'), свернуть перед ней направо на полевую дорогу, затем у конца лесополосы свернуть на развилке еще раз направо и не сходя с дороги дойти до места (можно даже доехать на машине).

Мы же через 300 м ходьбы по полю вышли на залитую водой дорогу, и хотя по прямой оставалось ок. 500 м, обходили болотце с высокой осокой (фото 7), до правильной дороги у лесополосы, откуда быстро добрались до точки пересечения.
Точка пересечения расположена буквально в двух шагах у дороги, у самого начала очередной лесополосы. На севере видна гора Бештау, лесополоса загораживает вид на г. Машук. Ближайшую вершину Джуца-1 не видно за перегибом, так же как и Эльбрус.

Сделав снимки всех сторон света (фото 1 - 4), выбрались на асфальтированную дорогу, и от центра поселка Юца продолжили экскурсию восхождением на гору Джуца-1 (другие названия вершины: Жучка и, возможно ошибочно, Юца). На вершине геодезический знак и памятные таблички погибшим планеристам. Отсняли панораму (фото 9), на ней путь от Пятигорска до точки пересечения просматривается почти полностью. Координаты вершины N43°58.156' E043°01.357', азимут с нее точки пересечения 327°, удаление 3,87 км.

Гора Джуца-1 - один из самых известных российских дельтадромов. Спускались с горы на восток, по дороге, немного ниже вершины обнаружили въехавшую сюда Ниву с тремя дельтапланами. Парапланеристы стартовали со склона не выше половины высоты горы (фото 8) и парили только над восточным склоном.

В Пятигорск вернулись на маршрутке №110.

English narrative

19-Jun-2005 -- The 44°N 43°E Confluence Point is located on the outskirts of a town called Yutca, a suburb of Pyatigorsk. Yutca was established a few dozen years ago by the merger of several villages. My father was born in one of these villages, khutor Vodopad.

On Sunday morning, we started hitchhiking from Goryachevodsk, another suburb of Pyatigorsk. We asked the driver to stop the car about 200 metres before a bridge and then we walked along a road in the direction of Essentuki (this road bypasses Yutca). Another option to get there was by taking a shuttle bus from "Verkhnii rynok" (Upper Market), Pyatigorsk. Mt. Elbrus, the highest point in Europe and a member of the famous "Seven Summit" program (highest points of all continents) can be seen from here (photo #6). After a couple of kilometers, when the bearing to the Confluence Point became perpendicular to the road, we started hiking through a field. In hindsight, this was an error. We should have continued over this road until an unpaved road running along the edge of a band of trees (N43°59.570' E042°59.849'), and then turned right. In this case, it would have been possible to drive up to the Confluence Point.

After about 300 metres, we hit a wet and muddy tractor road that meandered around a swamp covered with tall sedge (photo #7). Soon after, we reached a pretty dry unpaved road near the band of trees. Several minutes later, we reached the Confluence Point.

The Confluence Point is located several metres from this last road near the beginning of another band of trees. You can see a general view of this area on a photo #9. On a North view photo #1 from the Confluence Point, you can see a small mountain, Sheludivaya, on the left and a higher mountain, Beshtau, on the right. All other local mountains, as well as Mt. Elbrus, are hidden by trees and nearby hills, and can't be seen from the Confluence Point.

These local mountains are a relatively rare kind of volcano. They failed to erupt and were just able to lift the top sedimentary layers. They have cupola-like shapes (unlike the conical shape of typical volcanoes) and are called "laccolites". They can be found in only a few locations on Earth. The existence of all these volcanoes led to an abundance of cold and hot mineralized water springs in this place. This area has a name "Mineral'nye Vody" (mineral waters in Russian).

After taking all required photos from the Confluence Point (#1 through #4), we returned to the paved road and hiked to the town of Yutca.

Many years ago this place was famous for the outstanding quality and taste of its natural spring water. The existence of the biggest spring in the region was the main reason for the foundation of "Vodopad" - a word meaning waterfall in Russian. It was founded around 1915 by several families who moved here from Khakassiya. Among these families were also the parents of my father.

However, one can't see the waterfall anymore. The spring's waters were redirected to provide drinking water for the nearby city of Pyatigorsk. This spring is located at the foot of a nearby laccolite mountain, Jutca 1-st (a.k.a. Zhuchka and Yutca).

We finished our trip with an ascent to the summit of Jutca 1-st. The coordinates of the summit are N43°58.156' E043°01.357'. The distance from this point to the 44°N 43°E Confluence Point is 3.87 km and the bearing is 327°. Many laccolites could be seen on the panoramic photo #9 (left to right):

• A two humped mountain "Verblyud" ('camel' in Russian)
• "Sheludivaya" ('scabby' in Russian)
• "Byk" ('ox' in Russian)
• "Beshtau" ('mountain with five summits'), this is the biggest mountain in this area
• "Zmeika" ('small snake' in Russian)
• "Mashuk", a mountain with a radio transmission tower on the top

Jutca 1-st (Yutca) mountain is the birthplace of Russian competitive handgliding. Many Russian handgliding and paragliding competitions are held here. We descended over the East slope and met a group of paragliding enthusiasts (photo #8).

We returned to Pyatigorsk using shuttle bus route #110.