Description of the attraction
The largest river in the Vologda region is the Sukhona River. Sukhona is known for its rapids and rifts, picturesque shores, a backward current in a large flood, a multiple change of the channel in the mouth part.
One of the striking places on the Sukhona River is Opoki, a well-known geological fault - a village and a rapids, which have the same name. They are called the Sukhonsky diva, the Sukhonsky pearl. From Ustyug to the sights a little more than 70 km. The banks reach a height of 60 meters. The longest rapids on the Sukhona are 1.5 km. The Holy Mountain and the Holy Stream cutting through this 60-meter coast.
Opoki - the so-called steep bend and the most dangerous rapids on the Sukhona. The river squeezed by high steeps is raging, foaming between stones. In this place there is a rapid current, the speed of which reaches 5m / sec, which can only be compared with mountain rivers. At the beginning of the 20th century, in order to conduct ships through the Opokskie rifts, the neighboring peasants were summoned. Fifty, and sometimes even a hundred people were harnessed to the barber straps and held the ship in the fairway, preventing it from hitting the stones.
In ancient Russia, the word "opoka" was translated as "rock". Sukhonsky rocks formed on the plain. The river, cutting through the bedrock sediments, reveals a 65-meter thickness of Quaternary and Permian sediments. The coast looks like a huge layered cake with dark gray, brownish-brown and white stripes of clays, siltstones, marls, limestones, more than 200 million years ago.
Fossils, amethyst, quartz, and multi-colored flints can be seen on the numerous shoals of the Sukhona. They were brought to the Sukhonsky shores from the Kola Peninsula and by a glacier from Karelia.
In the Opok zone there is a gushing source of ferruginous artesian waters. The well was drilled over half a century ago. Water from it was supplied through pipes to the livestock farm, as old-timers testify, the height of the fountain has significantly decreased recently, all this is associated with a decrease in water reserves in the aquifer. In winter, an intricate ice sculpture forms near the fountain.
Sukhona karst processes are associated with limestone deposits that form the banks of the river. The depth of the Karst Lake basin, which is near the village of Ozerki, is more than 15 m.
One of the most impressive and original cliffs on Sukhona is "Mad Sluda."
In the period from 1943 to 1947, the GULAG zone - "Opokstroy" was located in Opoki. They tried to curb the willful Sukhona by building a waterworks: they cut ryazh from the best forest, filled them with earth and stones, and covered them with iron. The construction was carried out by a large "construction" organization of that era - the NKVD. In order to maintain a high water level on the rift, it was decided with the help of prisoners to build a dam across the river. By the beginning of the navigation period in 1947, the work was completed. However, during the first ice drift, the river demolished part of the dam. Its remains were scattered over the Sukhona. And now only dilapidated sluice buildings and a bowing cross to innocent people who died during the construction period do not let them forget what happened.
The flora of the tract is unique: larch and fir are the messengers of harsh Siberia, the beautiful northern orchid is tuberous calypso, clematis is a liana rarely found in northern forests, and the forest anemone. The world of birds and insects is beautiful and no less amazing. At the beginning of the 21st century, Opokas were given the status of a landscape reserve.
Reviews
| All reviews 2 Alexey 2015-29-10 9:11:32 AM
Where is Opoki? I went there yesterday 2015-28-10. It was already dark. From the road we were told by the local 2 km, but after driving 2.5 km we did not see anything. The road is gravel. It was poorly cleaned and ended on a small heel. Then there was a descent, but due to the fact that it is steep, and the road is poorly cleaned, we did not dare to go further on the descent …
