Deputatsky to Ust-Kuyga before lunch: arctic halos, photos – a bunch.

And so, it was farewell Deputatsky, and hello, once again, the long and winding road north. More of the same? Yes. We were ever bored? Yeah – right!…

But what made this day stand out from being “just another” day of wonderful whiteness were… the halos in the morning! ->

Get ready for lots of halo pics…

But before we get to them, our morning-assembly photo ->

Today’s route took the permanent, asphalted road from Deputatsky to the village of Ust-Kuyga (and beyond)…

р. ОБРАТНАЯ = r. OBRATNAYA = the REVERSE River!

…But, since we made Ust-Kuyga earlier than expected, we decided to carry on to the next village – Khayyr, and in doing so we covered a record 450 kilometers this day! ->

Deputatsky behind us, the weather was fine and the road was fully cleared: perfect ->

Up ahead and to the sides – views like in a photography exhibition:

The road’s a goodie, so the going was fast. Then, one time, I looked in the wing mirror, as I did often throughout any day on the road, but this time there was something unusual back there…

“Right – everyone: STOP! Cameras as the ready…” I wailed over the radio. For these were the first mega-halos I and most of the others had ever seen:

…For this wasn’t simply a “ring round the sun”, which I’d seen before; this had two levels and two “crowns” ->

Simply magical! Everyone agreed – snapping pics from all kinds of angles to get the best shots:

…And from the drone:

Halo + Tanks:

After our photographic interlude we were back on our way. The landscapes – light/low forest-tundra; on the horizon – mountains. Gorgeous! ->

After a while the forest-tundra peters out to become simply tundra: totally tree-less and bare. Totally white; totally wow:

Amid this bleached winter-wonderland we covered a full 90km in around two hours – including stops for photos and even one of the vehicles swerving off the road and into a ditch (which we had to hoist out)…

The group came over poetical all of a sudden…

“A perfectionists paradise: the purest white minimalism!”

“No matter where you look – (white) emptiness.”

“Who knew emptiness could be so magical?”

“Beautiful nothingness!”

The Tundra’s utterance in reply: “I dare you try resist taking photos!” :)

Up goes the drone once more – and the halo comes out to play again! ->

Halo-stop (one of many) ->

Wow:

Halo sapiens:

Onward, with the road starting to weave between the hills and mountains:

Half-way to Ust-Kuyga, with more and more hills added to the landscape:

Light tree cover again ->

A hazardous stretch up ahead – all warning signs together: convincing! ->

Such a meandering, up-and-down road must be tricky for heavily-loaded long-distance trucks with cheap, all-season tires on. For us – no bother! ->

Up atop the hills – more white and tree-less landscapes all around ->

39km to Ust-Kuyga…

The Yana river’s somewhere over there ->

Taller trees all of a sudden ->

Киска = Kiska = Pussy!

A radically beautiful road to drive upon; alas (!), we arrive! ->

A few pics taken from the road in Ust-Kuyga…

School:

You might not believe this, but they’re building a small atomic power plant here! ->

But, it turns out, it’s not just any old new nuclear power plant. It’s the world’s first small ground-based atomic power plant! (Btw: the first (and today only) floating nuclear power plant sits in Pevek Bay in the Chukotka region.)

The morning’s travel stats – up to Ust-Kuyga:

That afternoon there’d be another 200+ kilometers – via the Yana river and to the village of Khayyr. About all that – tomorrow…

The rest of the photos from our Yakutsk-Tiksi-Yakutsk (winter) road expedition are here.