The Pinega River: photo, tributaries, length
The banks of rivers have always been a place of concentrationhuman settlements, since they were the source of water, fish, and waterfowl. The river of Pinega is not an exception in this respect, since the most ancient known reports that the settlement of the same name were located on its bank date back to the 12th century.
Disputes about the title
To a common opinion about the transfer of the name of the river scientistsand did not come. Some of them were inclined to the fact that it belongs to the Finnish language and consists of two words - "peni", which means "dog", and "joki" is a river. Preconditions, why the first settlers so called Pinega, no, since it does not resemble either its outlines or shores in this animal.
Another view that the basis of the name isthe same root, but from the Baltic-Finnish ancient dialect, meaning "small", which again does not correspond to the truth, given that the length of the Pinega River is 779 km.
Whichever dialect this name is, it has taken root and continues to personify the beautiful river in the Arkhangelsk region.
Geographical location of the river
The merging of two rivers - the White and the Black - on the rightthe sublime bank of the Northern Dvina gave "life" to Pinega. Most of its bed is located in a floodplain valley along which it slowly carries its waters, spilling into spring floods and becoming shallow in summer.
In its downstream Pinega is very close"Is selected" to the river Kuloy, once it was fused between them, and nowadays they are connected by a canal, built in the 20s of the XX century. Since time immemorial, traders have used this fiber to drag boats through a small space between rivers, which allowed them to get to the Mezenskaya lip, flowing into the White Sea.
After the "encounter" with Kuloy, the Pinega River rushes southwest to the mouth of Palengi. Missing her, she takes the western direction.
For more than 600 km, the Pinega River (Arkhangelsk Region) is navigable, which is included in the register of Russian waterways.
Water regime
With a pool of 42 000 km2, 90% covered with forest, Pinega has a width of20 m in the upper reaches and up to 190 m in its mouth area, but everything changes in high water. As a rule, spilling a river is accompanied by a very rapid rise in water caused by the melting of snow. The peak of the Pinega flood is in May, but in general the water flow can be from 430 m3/ s up to 3000 m3/from. Maximum flooding occurs during rainfalls.
The first ice on the river forms a thin film at the end of October, gradually turning into an ice drift, but by the end of November it fetters the water and keeps on average 180 days, gaining a meter thick.
When the ice begins to melt, sometimes ice driftsforms jams, because of which the water level in the river rises from 1 m to 3 m, which most often happens near the village of Pinega. That is why here in due time special ice-cutters have been installed, which must break hummocks and prevent flooding of the terrain.
By chemical components, the water of Pinega is included inclass of hydrocarbonates, and its mineralization in winter is more than 300 mg / l, whereas in the summer - only 70 mg / l. If we talk about its purity, then the river refers to moderately polluted, since the turbidity is 50 g / m3.
Description of the Pinega River
Where the banks of the river are 90% covered by forest, itscan be called picturesque, but the feature of Pinega is the constantly changing relief of the coastline. This is due to the fact that in the middle and lower reaches it consists of gypsum and limestone deposits. Constantly washed away in floods, the banks change their shape slightly each year, then rising higher, then falling slightly. In some places, steep banks form a beautiful canyon, reaching a height of 20 meters and forming, as it were, natural walls with a forest at the top, protecting the rest of its waters.
In the immediate vicinity of the water there are 2 settlements - Pinega and Karpogory, which, despite the remoteness from civilization, are very popular with lovers of extreme tourism and skiing.
No less interesting are the tributaries of the Pinega River, which it has 12 left on the left bank, and 7 on the left bank, but the main ones are Vyya, Ezhuga, Yula, Ilesha, Pokshenga, Shuyga, Yavzor and Tingga.
Vyya
Perhaps in the language of the ancient Slavs the word "reveal" andmeant "neck", but today this name is associated with the designation of the left tributary of the Pinega River. With its length of 181 km, it covers 2 districts - Pinezhsky and Verkhnetoemsky, with the middle and lower course washing the Vyisky settlement.
Vyya is as picturesque as Pinega, which he notedanother Russian artist Vereshchagin during his journey through the Russian north. Framing from wooded hills, a calm current, sometimes interrupted by rolls due to single stones, makes rafting along this river a real rest.
Vyyskoye settlement, formed in 2006, onIn fact, it consists of the first villages, built here in the beginning of the XVIII century. The first settlers were engaged in fishing, hunting and agriculture and were few. Today Vyyskoye settlement inhabits only 644 people, forming the Vyysk municipal formation.
Ezhuga
This right tributary of Pinega is 165 km long,flows through the Arkhangelsk region, then passing to the lands of the Komi Republic. The name is also given to the Komi people, and it means the "meadow river", which fully corresponds to the truth.
Indeed, its bottom part is the influxpasses through the marshland plain, only in the upper reaches of the "embrace" of the picturesque hills. The gentle banks of the river have a fishing and tent rest. That's really where you can really relax from civilization, devoting time to nature - fishing, gathering mushrooms and berries in the surrounding forests.
The Sura River
In 395 km from the mouth of Pinega it flows into the river Sura,formed by the fusion of Yuroma with Surosora. Despite the small length of only 92 km, this river is fairly densely populated. So on its banks in the lower reaches there are the villages of Gora and Sluda, Pakhurovo and Markovo, while in the estuary there is a village of the same name, which is the center of the Sur Municipal Formation.
In the widest part of Sura does not exceed 37 m, anddepth is 0.5 m. Once in these places inhabited by a nationality chud, called Zavolochskaya. The name denoted that the Chudis (Finno-Ugric tribes) lived behind a roadway. Much later, people settled here who did not want to accept Christianity and did not renounce their pagan gods. The culture of the Chudis and their customs, as some ethnologists believe, are still alive in some settlements.
The name "Sura" first appears in the Novgorodchronicles of the beginning of the XII century, as "Sura nasty," which speaks of an attitude toward those who did not want to accept Christianity. Of course, after a long time the locals took a new faith for them, and the village of Sura became the birthplace of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt.
Inflow of Ilesha
In fact, this influx of Pinega has twoname: on the eastern part of the Verkhnetoemsky district, where it originates, it is called Small Ilesha, and only after the waters of the Pinega Yentalu join it, it becomes Ilesha.
The largest settlement on the river is the village of Krasny, located 43 km from its mouth.
Places of interest in Pinega
This river is loved by fishermen and amateurs of alloyson rubber boats, and hunters, and just those who prefer overseas resorts untouched beauty of their native land. There are beautiful places for parking, and limestone steep banks (photos of the Pinega River confirm this) and impenetrable forests, as it were, take the guests to the depth of centuries.
Special interest among tourists is the famouskarst caves, which for thousands of years have been carved in the limestone of the river's water. Their visit is possible mainly in winter, because during the rest of the year they are flooded, and the names speak for themselves of their beauty. There is a cave of the Snow Queen, Winter's Tale, Ice and Crystal, and they fully justify their names.
Ice stalactites and stalagmites meet guestsin their halls. In fact, there is a huge number of caves that are still waiting for speleologists to open them. To protect these natural monuments as far back as 1974, a reserve was established in this place, the main task of which was the protection and conservation of karst caves.
No less interesting is the salmon fishing on the Pinega River. In fact, there are also sterlet, grayling, chub, podyazok, perch, dace, burbot and pike, so that no one stays without a catch. Who is used to comfortable rest, can use the services of a tour operator and spend an unforgettable summer in a guest house in the village of Verkola or a tent camp right on the river bank. Nature in these parts is impressive with a variety of reliefs. The village is on a steep bank, surrounded on one side by hills and forests, and on the other by meadows.
The village is located in the middle reaches, but if you want you can rent a boat and head to the upper Pinega River. A lot of time will not take a trip, but fishing here is also excellent.
In these places, the famous writer, Fyodor Abramov was born, worked and died, whose house became his memorial museum.
The river of Pinega is a beautiful and unspoilt corner of nature, where you should go if there is a desire to relax from the noise of civilization.
