Kamchatka: The Land of Fire and Ice - Part 4: The Ice Crown

Part Four
 
The man turned his head around. He noticed a bear standing right behind him.

He wasn't surprised at all.  He turned his head back to the camera sitting on as tripod.

The bear didn't want to bother the man either. It simply slipped by the man and his camera.

I began to believe that maybe Khrushchev's "Peaceful Co-existence" was a serious intention. If a Russian man and Russian bear could "peacefully co-exist", why couldn't the Russian and American armed forces?

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Our boat had to wait - because a couple of bears were taking an afternoon walk near the dock. 

After the bears wandered off, we approached for the shore. We quickly headed back to the helicopter, and took off for PK.

On the way back, we landed into the crater of Ksudach Volcano. It erupted over 100 years ago and two lakes were formed as a result of this activity. Eric, the Chinese tourist from Ningbo seemed to be fascinated by the two lakes. He ran all the way to the shore, and asked people to take picture of him touching the ice cold water of the lake. 

Indeed, the scenery around us seemed to be eternal. I could imagine that people of 60 years ago was seeing the very same thing as us.

We were told that if we pick up a stone nearby and throw into the lake, the stone wouldn't sink. So I grabbed a stone and threw it into the lake, and it turned out that the stone was indeed floating! I grabbed another stone and threw it into the lake - the outcome was the same. 

I looked at Eric, he was simply fascinated by the lake. He was the first to get off the chopper to the shore, and was the last one to return from the shore. 

Eric touching the lake

As the chopper approached PK, all of sudden we entered a zone of endless snow. A giant white-capped peak emerged from the view. The monolithic pyramid stood like crown of Kamchatka, pretty much saying all about this land - even in the middle of July, the overall environment is still unforgiving. 

A natural Hot Springs en route back to PK

Oh yes, somehow I signed up climbing the peak beside this one two days later. 

Avachinsky- the mountain I signed up for climbing two days later

When I got back to the hotel, I found the manager waiting for me in the lobby. On her hand was my passport with the registration slip with the local police.

Nearly 72 hours later, I finally reunited with my passport. 

(Continued in Part 5)