Places to Paddle tm
Canoeing - Kayaking - Rafting

Shuya River, Karelia, Russia
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Copyright 2001 Alfonso Vazquez-Cuervo - See Terms of Use

Our Route Summary

  • Submitted by: Natalia Sorokina-Canada, native from Russia who has lived in US since 1995 (936-441-4220) nata00@netzero.net
    211 Harris Blvd, Conroe, TX 77301
  • Date Submitted: 11/2001
  • Location:
  • Class: 2 typical
  • Distance Paddled: about 64 miles
  • Water Level: water levels affect the rapids on this river so paddling with a guide is strongly recommended.
  • Water: fresh
  • Wildlife: a lot of berries, mushrooms; fishing usually good too (pike, perch, roach, if you are lucky, trout)
  • Special Regulations:

Entry

  • Directions: A bus will take the group from Petrozavodsk railway station first to the lodge (tourist refuge, 20 miles from Petrozavodsk) where breakfast will be served. Participants leave their belongings that won't be needed during the trip at the lodge, put on water outfits, load traveling gears and headed by bus to the starting point of the adventure.
  • Fee: Please email me for details and trip dates:
    - Trip price as detailed below is $1650 + airfare
    - Group size: 6-10 people
    Everything will be included: all meals but one dinner in St. Petersburg, lodging, sightseeing (museum fees included), land transportation, visa arrangements. All white water and camping equipment for expedition will be provided: tents, boats (cataraft, inflatable kayak, plastic kayak by request, tandem canoe by request), PFD-life vests. Participants need to bring only their personal equipment (list of recommended equipment will be provided).
  • Description:
  • Parking: adjacent unpaved
  • Facilities: at refuge, otherwise primitive camping enroute (with delicious cooking)
  • Handicap Access: none

What We Saw

This is a combined trip of one week sightseeing in two Russian capitals, Moscow and St. Petersburg, and one week expedition style paddling down the Shuya river. It will be guided tour, no experience necessary, only good physical health.

First two nights we stay at Russian homes (actually apartments), then overnight train, then 6 nights in tents, one night at the lodge, then again overnight train, and in St. Petersburg we stay in a hotel in Moscow or Bed and Breakfast in St. Petersburg.

If you have a group of experienced paddlers who would like to paddle in Russia we can consider more a complicated route. Give me your objectives and I will come up with suggestions.

  • Day 01 Depart on your International flight bound to Moscow
  • Day 02 Arrive Moscow.
  • Day 03 -04 Sightseeing in Moscow. Overnight train to Petrozavodsk, capital of Karelia.
  • Day 05 Arrival to Petrozavodsk, capital of Karelia, in the morning. Transfer to the tourist refuge.
Days 06-10. Expedition down the river Shuya.

Technically, the river is II class white water. Complexity of the route increases gradually that gives the participants to get an experience and skills to work together. Despite the fact that it is quite close to Petrozavodsk, the travelers find themselves among wild and austere surroundings, in forests abounding in mushrooms and berries. The fishing usually is good too.

With every twist and turn of the Shuya, stunning vistas come into view, and unexpected adventures await travelers who are sure to enjoy them, even if they are quite experienced in this sort of things.
There will be a lot of rapids during the expedition.

Some interesting ones are the Sizovskij rapids shown at left and Sobachij (class 2, day 8).

Keniajkoski (on day 10) and Kumio shown below (day 11) (class 2-3, depending on water level).
Rest on day 9 and portage on day 11 (around Ignojlskaja power station)
Day 11. Return to the tourist refuge shown at left. Farewell dinner and sauna.

Day 12. Excursion to the Kizhi Island (to Kivach national reserve if weather prevents Kizhi). Transfer to the railway station . Departure to the St.-Petersburg.

Day 13 - 15 Sightseeing in St. Petersburg

Day 16 Return to the US.