The high-altitude lake Bashkara is located in the gorge of the Adyl-Su River in the Elbrus National Park. It lies at the foot of the Jantugan Mountain (4012 m). The Bashkara glacier descends down the mountainside to the lake. Now Lake Bashkara is one of the most beautiful in the Caucasus, but in 2017 there was a moraine breakthrough and a mudflow. This led to major destruction in the Baksan Gorge.
You can enter the Adyl-Sy gorge by car and drive along a dirt road to the Dzhantugan camp. The distance from the village of Elbrus (at the entrance to the gorge) to the Dzhantugan camp is 5.6 km. It is better to drive this part by car. Behind the camp there is a campsite Ochag and a former border post. A hiking trail starts from here. Previously, a pass to the border zone was required for passage to Lake Bashkara, but since 2022 this has been canceled. Now the entrance to the hiking trail is free.
The distance from the former border post to Lake Bashkara is 3 kilometers, with claiming in a range 350 meters (from an altitude of 2250 to 2600 meters above sea level). The path rises along the right bank of the Adyl-Su River. The trail ascends along the right bank of the Adyl-Su River. At first, it stretches in the forest, but, with a climb, it comes out into the open spaces of the gorge of the river Adyl-Su.
After climbing, tourists go out to the high moraine of the glacier, which offers a beautiful view of Lake Bashkara, the surrounding mountains and glaciers. Mount Jantugan (4012 m). has a pyramidal shape. To the right of it rise the mountains of Bashkara (4162 m) and Ullukara (4302 m). The Bashkara glacier descends between them to the lake, and the border of Russia and Georgia runs along their peaks.
Lake Bashkara is separated from the Gorge of the river Adyl-Su by large moraines of glaciers. However, one of the moraines near the Bashkara glacier was constantly eroding and in the early 2000s seismologists warned about its possible destruction and mudslide. Such mudflows have occurred before, but the most powerful occurred on September 1, 2017. After heavy rains, the moraine could not withstand the water pressure. A mudflow with a volume of more than 500 thousand cubic meters of water descended into the gorge of the Adyl-Su River. It dragged down giant stones and destroyed three bridges in the Baksan Gorge. The entire tourist area at the foot of Mount Elbrus was cut off from the outside world.
The depth of Lake Bashkara is 32 meters. It is filled with glaciers of Bashkara and Dzhantugan. Many people reach the moraine of the glacier, towering over the lake, and return back, but you can go down to the lake by a path. It comes to a place in the moraine, through which a stream now flows into the valley, and in 2017 a mudflow descended. The color of the water in Lake Bashkara is gray, as it is filled with water from glaciers.
