Nota Bene

In my previous post, I left you with us in the middle of nowhere on the Yana Highway (on our Yakutsk-Tiksi-Yakutsk expedition)…

So why did we stop here? Because we wanted another look at a place we’d seen here back in 2021 – among the last few remains of what was once a Gulag forced-labor camp – a barrack surrounded by two barbed-wire fences, plus a watchtower. It’s a symbol of a dark chapter of history of the country – one that needs to be known and remembered. I think the place should be preserved and protected until one day it becomes a valuable artifact of history and a museum of the Gulag.

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Hi folks,

I was back home from my extended summer vacation in my favorite location on the planet for just days before I was jetting off once again – this time on an extended business trip, and in the opposite direction to my vacation: southwest to South America. And here I am already – in the Colombian city of Cartagena (officially Cartagena de Indias) ->

I think some of you, dear readers, may be wondering where Cartagena is – hearing of it for the first time just now. It’s here, in northern Colombia, northern South America – near the border with Panama and by the Caribbean Sea.

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Ahead of us – taking the incredibly picturesque (permanent, but not asphalted) road from the village of Topolinoye roughly south all the way to the Kolyma Highway, and then hanging a right (westward) and back to Yakutsk. That was the plan, anyway…

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After Verkhoyansk and then the Batagaika crater, we continued on our way on our Yakutsk-Tiksi-Yakutsk expedition southward…

Next up was probably the trickiest – and certainly the most tedious – segment of the expedition. You’ll probably be able to guess the reasons by now: yep – bumpy road, and later on – bad weather…

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Not far (20 minutes on snowmobiles) from the 70-kilometer road between Verkhoyansk and Batagay, there’s a unique natural phenomenon that goes by the name of the Batagaika crater ->

Apparently it formed as a result of a combination of global warming and certain actions of Soviet Homo sapiens – those certain actions being cutting down the trees in the surrounding area, plus the making of ruts by heavy all-terrain vehicles (used during the deforestation). This eventually led to the permafrost thawing, becoming a ravine, and then spreading out, giving us today this here bizarre massive tadpole-shaped depressed formation on the Siberian plains:

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The town of Verkhoyansk is one of extremes. First and foremost, it’s considered to be one of the coldest places on the planet – a Pole of Cold. It also happens to be the northernmost town in Yakutia (so – not including villages), and it’s also the town (again – not village) with the smallest population in Russia. Wait – there’s more: back to the climate theme, it’s in the Guinness Book of Records for having the greatest range of temperatures – a whopping 105.8°C between the coldest and warmest!

Here’s the sign at the village’s town’s gates as you enter it ->

The town of Verkhoyansk – the Pole of Cold

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In the previous post, I left you with us leaving Tiksi earlier than planned. We left earlier to avoid the coming storm, which could have seen us stranded in Tiksi for more than a week. Now, Tiksi is a wonderful place, but staying there for a week+ sure wasn’t in our plans. We all agreed: “Let’s get the hell out of here!” And that’s just what we did – on the winter road back the way we came…

We left at 4pm – just in time for the sunset:

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Hi folks!

I left you last time with our leaving Nayba on the final stretch toward Tiksi (in case you’re new here – on our Yakutsk-Tiksi-Yakutsk expedition). There were just ~three kilometers of land-based winter road out of Nayba – then it snaked back onto the frozen-over Laptev Sea, with us heading northwest ->

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Last week, I left you with us in a schotel in Khayyr. Today…

…Things were getting decidedly more polar – no vegetation whatsoever, and flat white expanses all around as far as the eye could see – much like up around the North Pole! ->

Read on…