Description of the attraction
7-8 kilometers from the city of Yalta, inside the mountains, on the Uchan-Su river, there is one of the highest waterfalls on the Crimean peninsula, called Uchan-Su. If translated into Russian, it means "volatile water" or "falling water". The length of the river reaches 8, 4 kilometers.
The river originates at an altitude of 800-900 meters on the steep slopes of the Ai-Petrinskaya yayla. In the upper reaches, it flows along a narrow gorge. After passing two kilometers from the source, at an altitude of 390 meters, the river forms a beautiful waterfall, which consists of four steps. The height of each step is, respectively, 90, 15, 7 and 8 meters. It is a thundering cascade of falling water between sheer cliffs with the scent of resinous pines.
All the beauty of the waterfall is revealed during floods - in spring, when the snow melts on Ai-Petri. Then streams of water with a crash fall from a ledge of 100 meters, filling the air with brilliant spray. It is at this moment that the waterfall can be called "flying", which justifies its name.
This waterfall serves as a source for water supply to Yalta. Therefore, in the summer we can see only a few small streams that fussily run down the steep cliffs. It happens that in the summer the river dries up altogether. During the period from 1938 to 1946, the river was without water nine times.
Another picturesque mountain river - Yauzlar - is found along the road leading to Uchan-Su. It is also beautiful and forms several not very large, but no less pretty waterfalls.
In winter, it sometimes happens that a waterfall freezes, and then it turns from a waterfall into an icefall. And in hot summer, when the waterfall dries up, you can see a sign with a joking content: "The waterfall does not work."
