F.A.C.T.

The second and the fourth group have finished marking their parts of the trail today, which means that the work on the trail from the Upper Angara to Khakussy is completed. Now the guys are working on the part of the trail going to Frolikha. This is quite a big part and the groups feel worried that they might fail to finish the whole thing. Meanwhile, the building of the bridge is happening as well at the same time with building the trail divided by the groups in different sections. One more surprise for today was the catamaran that sunk. Fortunately, the crash of this local Titanic hasn’t caused any troubles except for the necessity to fix it. The groups haven’t decided yet who is going to do that, they are presumably drawing lots aaaallll night )) Tomorrow all the four groups will have a very tense day, because it is the last day they will spend working on the trail full time, and the eleventh of July is the day all the volunteers depart from the place of the project. Despite the fact that everyone seems to be preoccupied with the thoughts of the work to be done, they can’t but admire the sunset today, it is just incredible. The last days make the guys feel the magic of this beautiful place even more keenly.

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It has finally happened – all the group have united in one team and feel almost almighty The guys can’t think of a moment they felt equally happy – maybe when they saw Baikal, but except for the joy to see the most beautiful lake, nothing measures up to the beauty of the moment.
All the groups today had a hike to the lake Frolikha, which amazed them by the fact that despite it’s often dwarfed by its grand neighbour – Baikal itself – the lake is still absolutely charming and the scenery is brilliant.
Coming back to work – the guys continue building the bridge – it’s going to be a grandiose construction. All the groups now have a clear plan – they move in the direction of their former camps from the Ayaya bay, building and improving the trail.
And there’s definitely something nostalgic in the air – moving to the finishing belt shows.

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we are almost together – our groups will meet tomorrow
Here is what happened today:
Groups 1 and 2 were working hard clearing the trail corridor, they have only 1,8 km left to Ayaya Bay. Work was conducted till 7 pm, the group was so enthusiastic that they had almost missed dinner . A real Baikal feast was waiting for them at the camp: fish (omul) on sticks was prepared.
Group 3 is very keen on their bridge. the group was divided in two: ones were occupied with the bridge preparing materials for it and others were clearing the scouted portion of the trail to Frolikha Lake (250 meters). They had to work surrounded by mosquitoes who were very hungry to try German and Russian blood. Mosquito nets ‘d be of the great help! these heroes had even excavated 16 of the trail. Bears are scared of this group because all bear signs of evidence are at least a week old.
Group 4 was busy marking the trail with painting all the way to “Khakusy” resort. They celebrated such important event by swimming in the hot springs on the sunny day.
Tomorrow the groups will have a challenging day mowing to Ayaya bay where Group 3 will be waiting for them. And right now all are enjoying the stars on the sky, chats by the fire and some even “Amritta” (Buryat alcohol balm on steppe herbs)

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It’s hard to imagine but today is the day when our project is past its half, we’ve got six days left, and it’s sad!! It is too early to discuss the results, still we’ve already got something to boast of Today in the morning the first and the second groups felt the most nostalgic, because they truly miss their crew leaders who have already gone home. Having spent together six uneasy but fascinating days, the guys have really become very much attached to each other. In the meantime, the interpreters in all the groups confessed that they now find their job several times easier because all the volunteers got to like each other so much and, as they say, “undersatnd each other without saying anything” (if the trend continues, the interpreters will reach new frontiers and start practicing telepathy )). Right now the lunchtime is coming, but no one feels like finishing the job – when you see the tangible results, you don’t want to stop. Thus, the fourth group is marking the trail to Khakussy, looking forward to swimming in hot springs situated there and the other groups are working to their utmost, thinking that tomorrow they we’ll all become one camp.

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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

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