F.A.C.T.

Today has brought many changes and achievements, first of which was the trail to Ayaya completely cleared by the fourth group. The guys also met the third group on their way and carried 30 unforgettable kilos of food they didn’t manage to eat to the camp of the third group. The second group moved to a new camp at Ayaya, this camp unlike the previous one turned out to be sandless, which is lucky because the volunteers no longer need to shake the sand out of parts of their body and clothes difficult to access )) The trail to the old camp has been built completely by the first and the second groups. Having done the job, the crew leaders Evgeniy Mariasov, Tom Umbreit and Thomas Heidbuchel left the camp and went to Severobaikalsk by yacht to go home. It was very sad for the guys to part with their valiant leaders, but from now on they are led by Volodya Hideckel, who is not less valiant and absolutely tireless
So now the first, the second and the third group are all at Ayaya being absolutely delighted together. The fourth group visited them for a short time and went ‘back home’ to their camp planning to start marking the trail to Khakussy tomorrow.
The pet subject of all the talks today is a possible joining of all the four groups in two days

posted by HP iPAQ 914 Business Messenger

One more day of the project is gone. It was full of events as all the previous days. The first and the second groups had a competition between two camps trying to deserve the title of ‘the best dinner-makers’. In a severe fight between buckwheat and pasta with sauce, pasta won. But the first group evened the score by building 1700 metres of the new trail to Frolikha, whereas the second group built 800 metres of the trail to the Ayaya. The crew-leader of this group also came up with the new idea of what GBT stands for. In his opinion, GBT means Gulag Baikal Trail – which proves that the work on the project is really hard
The fourth group besieged by hungry bears continue their fruitful work, which is proved by 600 metres of the trail built.
The third group led by Volodya Hideckel presumably had the most difficult day – they have been constructing the bridge across the Ayaya river for two days now. But the longer you work the better the result is
Now everyone goes to bad so as to work easily tomorrow)

опубликовано с помощью HP iPAQ 914 Business Messenger

It’s just the 5th of July, but it seems that it’s been forever since we’re all together We got used to the schedule, the pace of our work and friendships we made. In the meantime, the work is in full swing! The third group is still building the bridge, the fourth group is working not paying any attention to the bears’ traces and two other groups (having almost become a single whole) reckon that manual labour is now twice as interesting.
The lunchtime is almost over and after a short break we’ll start working again.
Read our blog in the evening for more interesting details and the results of the day.

posted by HP iPAQ 914 Business Messenger

This is exactly what we call the news of the day (and which was actually the reason why we didn’t write anything in the morning and in the afternoon)! We had to do a lot. The first group was making its way to the south along the shore marking the trail. By today they have completed all the planned work and with the help from the volunteers of the second group relocated the camp to the site of the second group (who built a catamaran yesterday to transport the volunteers of the first group with all their staff to their new location). It was a real test for the guys and they – obviously and predictably – passed it. After a passionate reunion the groups made two signs and got acquainted with a South African tourist (wow, the first representative of our target audience!!) and also cleared 500 more metres of the trail. Now the first group is going to move to the north clearing the trail.
Two other groups were not bored and lazy either – group three started building quite a big bridge across the Ayaya river. By the way, the guy bitten by a tick feels okay, but we still have no results of the test.
The fourth group found lots of traces of a bear with a kid right around the tents. It makes some of the guys feel a little bit nervous, but there’s nothing to be worried about provided that everyone is careful. The group not only cleared 5 km of the trail to the north of the Bear Beach, but also swam in the crystal clear ice cold water. NAKED!!! This exotic activity is sure to frighten any bears off This group proves to be really weird – they claim they have too much food and no chance to eat all of it, so they will have to carry the remaining food to the Ayaya river, which is the next destination. Anyway, if they have too much food, they can always share it with bears ))
And we say bye-bye till tomorrow, which, we hope will be full of new achievements

posted by HP iPAQ 914 Business Messenger

Today was a difficult day. To start off, it was raining. It damped our enthusiasm down a little bit and we got sincerely fascinated carving wooden spoons It turned out that all of our volunteers have a very different understanding of style, it would be interesting to compare the spoons made by people of different groups separated by 100 kilometres So, the spoons and loooots of talking saved the situation.
The launch of the preserve came today to take the tick away for tests, we do hope that the tick was not an infection carrier. In the evening it stopped raining for a while, and the volunteers got the chance to start working Despite the fact that we didn’t have much time, we have done a lot – check this out: the first group was clearing and marking the trail, besides the guys built two bridges in ‘Russian style’. The second group built a catamaran in the rain to make a 4 km trip over Baikal to their new camp place. After settling down on a sandy beach, the guys made an exploration of the trail to Frolikha and made a 500 metres shortcut on their way back. The third group built 2 kilometres of the trail through the forest and hills to the viewing point. And finally, the fourth group has finished building and marking the trail to the Bear Beach in Khakussy (by the way, the name of the beach is absolutely just – there are lots of bear traces – and we don’t only mean their tracks. Gosh, the bears must be eating a lot! ).
That seems to be it for today, which, I repeat, definately was not easy

posted by HP iPAQ 914 Business Messenger

Yesterday we had a nice evening – a delicious dinner, talking and singing around the campfire. We didn’t expect it to be raining this morning, so now we have nothing to do but wait under the tarp. We’re entertaining ourselves carving wooden spoons and telling each other different stories.

posted by HP iPAQ 914 Business Messenger

The first working day turned out to be eventful and brought very good results. Apart from the spaghetti we had for dinner (as you have read on Twitter, for sure ), it is a noticeable job we’ve done. The first group spent their day marking the trail, the second and the fourth groups were clearing the corridor of the trail, and the third continued the exploration of the area and has already started building the first structures. It was not an easy day and we relaxed a bit having gone for a swim in a cold (what a surprise! ) water of Baikal. We also had the first “victim” today – one of the volunteers was bitten by a tick. We managed to coordinate our actions with the Frolikha preserve people and their launch will be here tomorrow morning to bring the necessary medicine and take an unfortunate insect away for the test. Now we have some time for sleep to refresh and get strength for tomorrow.

posted by HP iPAQ 914 Business Messenger

Today is our first real work day! Yesterday we were able to mark the first sections of the trail, so we have a good basis to start today. In 10 minutes our camp lunch (which is delicious every time on GBT ) will be ready and after it we will work again!

posted by HP iPAQ 914 Business Messenger