Katun-rafting – day two: the “Cheeks” rapids of the Katun.

And here we are again – back in the Altai Mountains for our second day of rafting down the Katun.

While the first day was pretty calm (therefore an excellent warm-up day for the rafting-newbies among us), on this day we hit the Katun’s first real rapids. They’re called Shyokki – the “Cheeks” because… apparently the “river is squeezed here by sheer cliffs”. I never fully understood that, but whatever; the main thing – they’re rapids (several of them), and look good ) ->

These are still the very upper reaches of the Katun, but the river’s already quite fast-flowing (and still milky) ->

In the Cheeks, the river’s compressed by steep banks that create a narrow canyon:

The Cheeks are actually a cascade of rapids (I think five in number), spread along a ~3.5kilometer stretch of the river:

The Katun just before the rapids…

And here are the Cheeks:

The action begins!…

And here’s a video of the Cheeky action:

In-between Cheeks – time to catch our breath:

…and a look back:

The rafts take it in turns. Can’t be having traffic raft jams in the Cheeks!…

Waiting for the others…

And that was that: the Katun’s first big attraction – done (there’ll be more)…

The river spreads out again – wide, calm, peaceful, meditative:

Stats for the day: we covered 19km in four hours on the water, and dropped 160 meters in elevation (the elevation of our second campsite: 1300m). And I think this is the nicest camping spot of the whole trip:

Camp all set up:

Note to self: don’t leave your camera lying about here; someone will come along, take it, and take a photo of… ->

Pre-dinner chilled vibes:

The clearing’s flat and soft: you can walk barefoot over the moss. As always – absolutely no one else around! At this point I decided to see if I could find our campsite from 2016…

Yep, here it is ->

Here’s what nine years does to a campfire spot:

And back then we parked up right here:

The river has shifted its course quite significantly down the years. Here’s the former riverbed with stones scattered across it (also the remains of the old bridge that was in use back in Soviet times) ->

And then just endless meditations…

The Katun: such a mighty river! The river itself, the views, and the mentioned special energy…

A few more photos from the Cheeks. Getting closer…

The first Cheek – where we had to climb the riverbanks and scout it out:

The exit from another (the fourth?) Cheek ->

If you look closely, you can just about make out a log wedged between the rocks blocking the exit out of this Cheek. We had to jump over it – kind of like a hurdle race ->

Fifth and final Cheek:

This is where our drone… crashed into a birch hanging low over the water and heroically met its end. But we found it, fished it out, and managed to save the footage!

And some more shots from the Cheeks ->

A special toast! To one’s first rafting down real rapids! From the paddle – of course! // Tee-totalers are allowed to drink water from the Katun :-)

And that was that Cheeky Cheeks – done.

TBC!…