Guam gorge (Guam canyon), in the upper reaches of the Kurdzhips River, is one of the main attractions of the Caucasus Nature Reserve in Adygea. But it is a little way from Kamennomostsky where the other beautiful places of Adygea are concentrated.
The length of the canyon is 4 kilometers. In some places it is very narrow. With the height of walls reaching 400 meters, there may be only several meters between them. The sides of rocks are covered by relict trees: yews, box-trees and hornbeams. On the rock tops there are a lot of pines, ash-trees and limes.
The drop of the bed of the Kurdzhips running along the twisting canyon is 82 meters. There are many beautiful rapids and small waterfalls in the Guam canyon. They cut their way through layered rocks. These layers of the Jurassic rocks have various colors as they were shaped in different periods. All this creates very picturesque landscapes literally at every turn.
In the 30th of the past century a narrow-gauge railway was built along the river at the bottom of the canyon. It connected Guamka and Mezmay. In those years lumbering operations were carried out in Mezmay and this railway was used to transport lumber.
The tourist path begins at Guamka. You can get there by a car. Small trains of 4 carriages us a problem for tourists as at daytime, when the trains run along the canyon, it is closed for visiting on foot until 17.00. Surely, you can go there by train, but it is impossible to see all the beauties of the canyon from the window of a train.
The best time to visit Guam canyon is Monday or Tuesday. These days trains don`t go to the canyon a whole day. And the other days trains go there only until 17.00. After that time the entire canyon is open for visiting.
The main beauties of the Guam canyon are in its remote part, near the blue bridge and at the confluence of the Kurdzhips and the Sinyaya (Blue) Balka. There the rocks have the largest height and the canyon itself is the most twisting and picturesque.
