“Everybody was Katun rafting” – day one.

So, why the Katun? Why do I raft down it so often?…

Well, it’s simply the most interesting river you can raft down as a non-professional – as long as you’re guided by experienced pros (and ours weren’t just pros – they were Russian rafting champions: how about that?!). But, what do I mean by “interesting”?…

First, the sheer force of the water here is unusual, the rapids and riffles are fantastic, and the flow-waves you encounter here sometimes reach what seemed to us like 2–3 meters high!

Second, the river is relatively safe. There are no whirlpools where you can get spun around forever and all the rapids are passable. There aren’t any dangerous rocks you could get pinned against forever, and no other surprises either. Well, unless you’re in the very upper reaches, where you might end up under a tree hanging over the water; and one of the lower rapids in high water becomes a pretty scary – and dangerous – obstacle. But we’ll get to that…

Third, it’s one of the longest rivers there is for truly active whitewater rafting: from the upper reaches of the Katun all the way down to its lowest rapids you can paddle unhindered (without having to portage around dams or weirs) for more than 500 kilometers. Five hundred-plus kilometers of fast-flowing water – woah! And the total drop in elevation is over a kilometer. Oh my gradient!

So, for me, the Katun is the most… luxurious river I’ve ever rafted. Some real experts even told us that the best rivers for commercial rafting are the Katun, the Zambezi (I can confirm that: it looked real fierce from above), the Colorado, and Chile’s BioBio.

Let’s be off!…

The starting point is where the Upper Kuragan river meets the Katun  at – 1550 meters above sea-level.

The expedition “convoy” was made up of:

(i) two cargo rafts…

(ii) a back-up two-rower catamaran:

(iii) A large dinghy-raft, which most of us were on (though some traveled on the cargo rafts).

Btw: in all our group was made up of five guides and 10 tourists.

And we’re off! And right from the get-go: lively water and occasional slaloming around rocks:

We had to back-paddle away from a few obstacles, but overall, the going rafting was relaxed and comfortable. And it was a perfect day for remembering how to paddle –  like where and how you’re supposed to row. Three of us were completely new to rafting – so their basic training started today!

The first tricky bend:

Yep, the one we’d seen from the helicopter just the day before:

After that, gorgeous scenery, kindly water, and no obstacles – just some easy riffles and mild ripples to navigate:

What beautiful sights! Someone noticed a particularly photogenic tree growing on a rock…

…While someone else reminded us we’d seen it before – way back in 2016; curiously, it seems it hasn’t grown much at all in nine years! ->

And here it is this year – in late July 2025:

Lunchtime!

Then off we go again. Oh what a great day!

And just around this bend to the left – a perfect little meadow for camping ->

According to our GPS we covered 20km on the upper Katun on this day, paddling for a total of four hours, and descending 90 meters in elevation (camping at 1460 meters above sea-level).

Our favorite camping spot! We’ll be sleeping here for the third time ->

Unloading the dinghies ->

You perhaps noticed already something particularly awesome around here but which I’ve been silent on so far (since I’m so used to it). I’m talking about the fact that there’s never anyone else about here anywhere whatsoever! Yes – that is one of the many plusses of vacationing in these parts. But when I say ‘no one’ around here, I really mean it: see these rocks? We placed them there and lit fires inside them in both 2016 and 2020; and no one’s touched or used the installation since! ->

Camp duly pitched ->

I hope I’m not overloading you with details! But maybe this will come in handy for some of you, dear readers, in the future?…

Gathering firewood. “Hey – enough already with the photos and get back to the front of this log: it’s heavy!”

This is how to do it! ->

Btw…

Banya! ->

Oh my gorgeous!

A perfect day!

Tomorrow we’ll be continuing down the Katun and hitting our first real rapids, called Shyokki (“Cheeks”).

Oh, and I almost forgot: I started this post listing three reasons why the Katun is the single most interesting river for this kind of trip. But I left out the fourth: the water in the Katun is delicious! Up in the upper river it’s a bit murky (from “glacial milk” – there’s a lot of rock dust from the glaciers), but a bit downstream, lots of crystal-clear tributaries flow in, the river turns azure blue, and the taste of the water is just amazing. So you’ll almost always find a mug tied to the side of the raft: anyone can scoop up water when they feel thirsty and enjoy the incredible taste:

Back tomorrow folks!…