Gorge of the Chulcha River in the Altay

The gorge of the Chulcha River is one of the most beautiful places of the Altay Biosphere Reserve. It begins at the place where the Chulcha River flows into the Chulyshman and stretches for 8 kilometers to the Uchar waterfall. There is a hiking trail along the right bank of the river. 

The Chulcha River originates in Lake Itykul on the Shapshal mountain range. Its length from the lake to the confluence with the Chulyshman River reaches 82 kilometers, however, only 8 kilometers from Chulyshman to the Uchar waterfall are available for tracking. 

Uchar Waterfall is one of the main tourist attractions of the Altay Mountains. It is a stepped cascade, 160 meters high, littered with huge stones. The Uchar waterfall is the main goal of the hike along the Chulcha River Gorge, but you need to understand that the gorge itself is an exceptionally beautiful place of the Altay Nature Reserve. 

In 2011, the Uchar Waterfall was included by the Association of Tour Operators in the list of the most inaccessible attractions in Russia. This is an exaggeration. Nowadays, several comfortable campsites have been built in the Valley of the Chulyshman River, at the confluence of the Chulcha River. Here you can order a boat to cross the river and then the hiking trail along the gorge of the Chulcha River begins. There is a checkpoint at the entrance to the Chulcha River gorge from the Chulyshman Valley. Here, the employees of the Altay Nature Reserve register visitors and charge a symbolic entrance fee of 100 rubles. 

The distance to the waterfall is only 8 kilometers and the height difference is 330 meters, which is evenly distributed over this distance. This path is not difficult even for untrained people. 

Two kilometers away from Uchar there is a small waterfall, with the height of 20 meters. There is a slightly complicated part of the route nearby, where you need to walk along a stone slope on metal brackets, hold a rope. This does not mean that tourists are crawling along the brackets over the abyss. The brackets were made for a more convenient passage along the stone crevice. 
The trail passes through the territory of the Altay Nature Reserve, so you can see many rare plants here. On the way to the Uchar waterfall in the gorge of the Chulcha River there are several streams with crystal clear water. You can drink it. 

Geologists suggest that the Uchar waterfall was formed due to rock failure as a result of an 11-point earthquake that occurred in the Altay in 1898. In the upper part of the Chulcha riverbed, a lake about 10 kilometers long was formed. The width of the lakes reaches 80 meters. 

There are trails for trekking along the Chulcha riverbed behind the Uchar waterfall, but ordinary tourists do not go there. These places are visited only by fans of complex rafting on mountain rivers. There is a water route that starts at Lake Itykul, and stretches all 82 kilometers to Chulyshman. 

The most difficult section for rafting passes through a 13-kilometer canyon, which is called the Big Breakthrough. Rafting in these places has the highest difficulty categories. In some places, rafting is impossible due to giant boulders similar to those that can be seen at the Uchar waterfall.