Lovozery 2016

Some 6 years passed, and I again gathered in Lovozero (Lovozersky mountain range, Kola Peninsula). This time there are three of us: Amber, Mikhalych and me. The trip will consist of two parts. The first part: joint exploration. The second part is separate: Amber and Mikhalych will go their own route, and I will go mine. For I need to return to Moscow earlier. I planned to wander along the northern slope of Lovozero (Umbozersky mine, Northern Quarry, Karnasurt, Pegmatity 60,61,62, Flora) - I was finally going to decide on the spot.

So, the three of us on the Ambera SUV started in the morning. On the road, thank God, there were no adventures, and in the evening we, having crossed the White Sea Canal, reached Medvezhyegorsk, where we spent the night at a local hotel. A few words about Medvezhyegorsk: it is the capital of the construction of the White Sea Canal. A block from the hotel stands a large gloomy gray building of the original Stalinist architecture - the Office of the White Sea Canal of the NKVD of the USSR. And at the crossing over the canal, a memorial cross was erected in memory of those who died during the construction of the canal. According to official figures, 12,318 people died during its construction.

In the morning of the next day we leave towards Lovozero. We pass the Arctic Circle with a sign installed on it. Somewhere in the Arctic Circle, our car is attacked by a bird at a speed of 110 km/h. And aims right at my face - I'm sitting in the front seat. I seem to be able to turn my head to the side. Fortunately for me, the windshield is stronger than a bird ...

We pass Monchegorsk. A huge metallurgical plant smokes with its chimneys, on the horizon dumps are about the same height as those mountains that the three of us are going to storm in Lovozery. Poisonous emissions and precipitation have done their job: the surroundings of Monchegorsk look like a dried-up plate - almost everything green has been killed. But there are still people living there .... But the key word is "almost". A few years ago, cleaners were nevertheless installed on the pipes, and nature gradually began to recover. And before that it was "absolutely".

In the evening we arrive at the urban-type settlement of Revda, at the foot of the Lovozero Mountains. And first of all we go to visit Victor, who was waiting for us. Viktor, also known as Grigorich, also known as Viktor Grigorievich Grishin, is “amateur mineralogist, collector, connoisseur of the mineralogy of the Lovozero massif and other localities of the Kola Peninsula, which he has repeatedly visited. Lives in the village Revda. A new mineral vigrishinite is named in his honor., as the website druza.ru writes about him. This description, in my opinion, is very superficial. Among others, Viktor Grigorievich has about 40 samples in his collection, each of which is the best in the world in its miniature. Moreover, they were found personally by V.I. Grishin. Therefore, this person, I will not be afraid of this word, is world famous. Like every collector, Victor proudly displays his collection. And there is something to see ... Chess is an excellent thing! Boxes with minerals are wonderfully placed in boxes from under them. “Look, what a good sample of serandite!” - I show Amber an intergrowth of parallel translucent well-formed crystals with heads. “Good ... - Grigorich grins into his mustache, - the best!”. Now I know what the best serandite in the world looks like. Moreover, he held it in his hands. This is not the case in a museum...

The next day we were lucky: instead of throwing ourselves on reconnaissance, as we had originally planned, we went with Victor to the Northern Quarry. Viktor Grigoryevich and I are digging there, Amber and Mikhalych rushed somewhere up into the mountains. There can be no greater luck than to be in the Lovozero mountains with Viktor Grigorievich, because you can always get professional advice and tips. Grigorich is looking for point manifestations of systematics and any rarity that are noticeable only to him. My eyes just can't see it. Rather, he will see, but he will not notice and will not understand. Here you have to be a specialist. My theme is collectibles and things close to it. The weather is good - we are sitting in the sun together, sorting out and chopping stones. It's good that the two of us, without any bears there. Last year there were a lot of them at the Northern Quarry, judging by the litter. They even crossed the road. This year there are no traces. Last summer was cold, cropless for mushrooms, berries, cones. Didn't survive hibernation or what? ...

But closer to the stone theme! The northern quarry was created as a platform for the open-pit mining of loparite ore, a raw material for the production of rare and rare earth metals (tantalum, niobium, titanium, and some others). But it turned out that it was more efficient to mine loparite underground at the Karnosurt mine due to its higher concentration, and the quarry was closed. Viktor Grigoryevich showed me through a magnifying glass crystals of loparite shining in the rock. In one wall of the quarry, pegmatite, already fairly beaten by previous stone-lovers, containing eudialyte, microcline and other minerals, passes. It's very hard to break it down. Nevertheless, I manage to take a crystal of sodalite hidden there in the cavity, as well as a little greenish microcline. In addition, it is possible to detect and take small aegirine and lamprophyllite stars grown under conditions of constrained growth along the microcline plane. At two other points in the quarry, the expected murmanite is found. It is also possible to take a few crystals of nepheline. I don’t even speak about crystals of arfedsonite and aegirine - even row them with a shovel. But the heads are hard to keep. One interesting twisted aegirine crystal about 7 cm in size comes across. I also scored sodalite glowing in the UV rays. We spent half a day and when Amber and Mikhalych descended from the mountains, they returned back to Revda.

In general, for me, this was the end of the finds of this trip. And although a lot was still planned ahead, for those who are interested in the finds, you can not read further.

The next day, our first - exploration - part of the trip begins. There is information that there are powerful outcrops of murmanite in the mountains. We know only approximately the place of exits. In the literature, it is not mentioned, learned from the words. Therefore, we do not really hope for a successful result, but we want to work out the issue. In the morning, with all the belongings, we move to the village of Lovozero, which stands on a river that flows into the lake of the same name. This is a Saami village. To preserve the color, some houses, such as the city hall and Dixie, are made in the form of plagues. We drive into the courtyard of a local resident: Vladimir, half Sami, an interesting figure. After serving urgently in the special forces of the Navy, he returned home and started hunting. Currently, he is the best hunter in the village. He lives by organizing hunts up to bear hunts for visiting tourists. In the yard he has all the transport that may be needed for this: a car, a swamp vehicle, an ATV and even a GTSka (medium caterpillar tractor). And on the river his motorboat is waiting for us. We loaded into a motorboat of the Kazanka type and quietly, “on soft paws”, went out over the shallows into the big water. And then Vladimir drowned in full ... We go along Lovozero. Lovozero is the fourth largest in the Murmansk region. Length 45km. But the end of the lake is not visible, not only because of the length, but also because of the curving shape and the islands between which we pass. It's good to go: the wind is fair, there are no waves. "The wind in the mug, and I'm spitting!". In stormy weather, there are waves up to one and a half meters on Lovozero ... In general, they would not go out on the water. Vladimir is a serious man: he gave life jackets to everyone. In an hour we reach the right place. And then Vladimir tells us an unexpected joy - just half a kilometer from the intended landing point in the forest there is a hut! This is by the way. We disembark and stop in the hut.

This is far from the first forest hut in my practice, but this is not a hut - this is a hotel right! There are no broken glass in the windows, there is a stove, beds, mattresses, tables and, most importantly, a whole roof. The door of the hut is locked ... it used to be. But this was not understood - the door was carefully broken open. And rightly so: a hut in a wild forest - for all weary travelers. Closing a place where you can warm yourself here is not according to concepts. However, they later explained to us that everywhere there are different concepts ... We settle down. Since Amber first carried everything by car, and then by motorboat, he stocked up in full: up to cutting boards and skimmers. Amber and Mikhalych are pulling an awning over the parking lot. The task of fitting a rectangular awning into a triangular space between trees is not an easy one. At least I will not express my opinions, so the process of tent-building caused a lot of emotions among the ideologists of this process. Ambera has a cool Swedish axe. Cuts branches 5 cm with one blow. Ding! The blade tangentially bounces off the branch and strikes at my foot. Oops! My left foot is in big trouble… She no longer has a boot. The sharp ax cut through the rubber like a razor. And we are here to walk through the swamps ... The recipe from the "Peculiarities of the National Hunt" for gluing the tops did not help. Maybe not the right glue. It doesn't matter: I stick my foot in a plastic bag into my boot - and the sock will be dry! When we finished the camp, there was still half a day left, but the weather was not very good, the place is unknown, how long our hike to the mountains would take - it is not clear. We decided to postpone it until tomorrow. I began to read Anna Karenina, the reading room from which I prudently took with me. Anya helped me a lot on this trip to brighten up the gray everyday life ...

In the morning the weather is fine. We move out vigorously. Walking briskly for a long time - it does not work. We go around bumps up to 40cm. in height, we go around marshy bochas, sometimes we fall a little. Moss under the foot goes up to 10cm. We make our way through the dwarf birches in the swamp. But on the other hand, along the way you can intercept ripe cloudberries - a very juicy, large and tender berry! After an hour of walking, having overcome 2 km, we go out to the foot of the mountains and climb up the stones. Many stones are covered with reindeer moss. Yagel is shaped like a sponge. It is wet and, moreover, or because of this, easily slides off the stones. It is dangerous to climb the stones covered with reindeer moss. I try not to step on him. We divided into two groups: Mikhalych goes to the gorge along the tops, Amber and I are in the middle of the slope, looking up and down. We reach the gorge, climb it up, inspecting both slopes and listening to a powerful stream running down between the stones. Nothing mineralogically interesting. Only a beautiful lake and a waterfall. The clouds are starting to thicken. Distant thunder rumbles. We hurry to the camp, but, pushing through the swamp, on the way to it, it still covers with rain. We sit in the house. I am reading Anna Karenina.

Third day on point. Constant rain. I am reading Anna Karenina. The boletus that we picked on the way back yesterday turned into a wonderful mushroom soup. But we have been eating it for the second day 2 times a day. In Revda, they ate a roast made from boletus, which they gathered in the mountains. There are so many mushrooms here that we are already passing between the boletus, not paying attention to them.

Fourth day on point. Anna Karenina has already given birth, but the rain does not stop. We are in the camp. But Mikhalych caught graylings in the lake near the nearest stream last night, I butchered them, and we ate them today. Grayling is an amazing fish! Before that, I ate it in the Polar Urals of spicy salting. Fried it is different, but no worse.

Fifth day on point. At 16-00 a motorboat will come for us. But the weather in the morning is wonderful! This must be used! Again we start to the mountains and examine the opposite slope of the gorge. The mineralogical result is the same - zero. But a lot of the freshest eversion of stones by a bear - he was looking for worms under them. The inversions are so fresh that the edges did not have time to crumble and swim, despite the rains. There is also fresh bear droppings. We also saw the droppings of moose and hares. Only hares, jays, kingfishers, weasels and eagle owls were seen alive. Oh yes! More mosquitoes and bugs. This small gnat is so small that it is almost invisible, and it bites there too. Gnus, in a word ... Well, they did not find murmanite, but the issue was fully worked out. Conscience is clear - we return to the camp. And in the camp we are waiting for the local Sami, who begin to ask questions about the broken door and what we are doing in their house. Diplomatic negotiations are conducted by Amber. The mention of the local Vladimir, who is about to come for us, removes all questions. We promise to clean up after ourselves. As if we would not have removed it anyway. Along the way, the Sami explain that from the time when they were still herding deer, all the shores of the lake were distributed by the community between families, and their hut stands not just like that, but on the foundation ... This is a question of concepts.

At the appointed time, a motorboat comes for us, and we go home. This time the wind is opposite. We have been going for more than 1.5 hours. We return to Revda. In the morning it rained again. The temperature drops to 11 degrees. We are sitting at home. I am reading Anna Karenina. It is already evening, but the weather is not improving, and according to the forecast, there are no prospects for the next few days. Yearning. I make a decision, why sit like that for no reason, curtail the second part of the trip and return to Moscow - I have a lot to do there. Which is what I did. Anna Karenina nevertheless threw herself under the train, and 15 minutes later my train arrived at the station.

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