The mountains and volcanoes of Paramushir Island look picturesque from space, but the view from the ground and from the sea is no less impressive. Paramushir is the most mountainous and most "volcanic" of the large Kuril Islands. Of the 23 Paramushir volcanoes, 18 turned into calm Mountain peaks, but five still cannot calm down and regularly erupt. The best volcanic landscapes are in the south of the island: numerous peaks either nest in groups, or stretch out in lines of short ridges with jagged ridges, or rise in majestic single cones ...
The name of the island was given by the Ainu - in translation from their language "Paramushir" means "wide island". A purely subjective and terrestrial perception: Paramushir from space looks like an elongated sausage about 120 km long and only about 30 km wide. But whoever came first - he called.
Previously, there were more people and settlements on Paramushir. There is enough fresh water here for both locals and visitors. You can live. The name of the island also has a second translation from Ainu: "crowded island". Ainu, Russians, Japanese, after 1945 - Russians again...
After Iturup, Paramushir is the second largest of all the islands Kuril ridge(area 2053 sq. km), however, in relation to the area - the most sparsely populated. The population of Paramushir today does not exceed 3,000 people, and almost all of them are residents of a single city, Severo-Kurilsk.
Severo-Kurilsk
The city of Severo-Kurilsk is the only permanently inhabited locality on the huge island of Paramushir. The area of the city is only 6 sq. km, the population does not reach 2500 inhabitants. All city streets can be counted on one hand, and the life of the city is concentrated on one (main) street - Sakhalinskaya, where everything that the locals and a few visitors need is located: the administration, the only museum, the only hospital (they say it’s not bad), the only hotel (not too heated), the only restaurant.
The “only” in Severo-Kurilsk is the “only” on the whole island. Here are the only heliport and sea pier on Paramushir (by the way, recently renovated). So Severo-Kurilsk is not just a small town, but the main "gateway" to Paramushir and quite a large port on the way from Vladivostok and Korsakov to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
Severo-Kurilsk is economically and historically connected with the extraction of fish and seafood - navaga, flounder and pollock, crabs and squid. Here they process such a delicacy as scallop. In Severo-Kurilsk there is a fishing port (the base of the seiner fleet) and 4 fish processing enterprises. There are a lot of fish here, so in the evening you can come to the port where the fishing boats are unloaded and just ask to “wrap the fish”.
There are no special opportunities for recreation in Severo-Kurilsk, but there are mineral springs, and around - 2000 sq. km of untouched nature of Paramushir, with its mountains and volcanoes, bears and shrews.
The port city of Severo-Kurilsk is located on the Pacific "storm route", as well as in a zone of increased seismic and volcanic danger.
In Severo-Kurilsk, the expression "to live like on a volcano" can be used without quotes. The Ebeko volcano, located seven kilometers from the city, from time to time comes to life and releases volcanic gases. In calm weather and with a westerly wind, they reach Severo-Kurilsk - it is impossible not to feel the smell of hydrogen sulfide and chlorine. Usually in such cases, the Sakhalin Hydrometeorological Center transmits a storm warning about air pollution: it is easy to get poisoned by toxic gases. Eruptions in Paramushir in 1859 and 1934 caused mass poisoning of people and the death of domestic animals. Therefore, in such cases, volcanologists urge city residents to use masks to protect their breath and filters for water purification.
The site for the construction of Severo-Kurilsk was chosen without a volcanological examination. Then, in the 1950s, the main thing was to build a city no lower than 30 meters above sea level. After the tragedy of 1952, water seemed worse than fire.
Secret tsunami
The tsunami wave after the earthquake in Japan this spring has reached the Kuril Islands. Low, one and a half meters. But in the fall of 1952, the eastern coast of Kamchatka, the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu were on the first line of the elements. The North Kuril tsunami of 1952 was one of the five largest in the history of the twentieth century.
The tsunami, which was later named after the destroyed city - the "tsunami in Severo-Kurilsk" - was caused by an earthquake in the Pacific Ocean, 130 km from the coast of Kamchatka. An hour after a powerful (magnitude about 9 points) earthquake, the first tsunami wave reached Severo-Kurilsk. The height of the second, the most terrible, wave reached 18 meters.
The tsunami came at night, after strong, but not too frightening aftershocks (we got used to seismic activity). The earthquake subsided, the houses stood, the light came on. And in the Pacific Ocean, 200 km from the coast, a wave was born and went to the shores of the Kuril Islands.
After 40 minutes, the wave entered the bay and licked the city with thousands of people, as if it never existed. On November 5, 1952, nature seemed to rebel... Three huge waves hit Paramushir in a matter of minutes, destroying both the port of Severo-Kurilsk and several fishing villages. A third, and according to unofficial data, half of the then population of the island, about 3,000 people, died.
The Severo-Kurilsk Museum has data on civilian casualties, calculated by various researchers: adults - 6,060; children under 16 - 1,742; total - 7,802 people.
The military, I think, died no less. The official documentation of 1952 calls them "Urbanovich's people", "Gribakin's people", after the names of the commanders; there is no general number.
The total number of victims is estimated to be 13-17 thousand people.
There are oral data about 50 thousand; it is this figure that still walks in legends in Kamchatka and the Kuriles.
The city of Severo-Kurilsk was destroyed. The Kuril and Kamchatka settlements of Utyosny, Levashovo, Reef, Rocky, Coastal, Galkino, Okeansky, Podgorny, Major Van, Shelekhovo, Savushkino, Kozyrevsky, Babushkino, Baikovo were swept away ... The entire coastline is neatly listed in the martyrology:
“.. Utesny village, 7 km from Severo-Kurilsk. Excluded from the credentials as a settlement by the decision of the regional executive committee
.. Levashovo fishery, at the exit from the Second Kuril Strait. Excluded from the credentials as a settlement by the decision of the regional executive committee
..settlement Rifovoe, the center of the village council of the same name in Rifovaya Bay. Excluded from credentials…”
and so 11 places where people lived.
In the autumn of 1952, the country lived an ordinary life. The Soviet press, Pravda and Izvestia, did not get a single line: neither about the tsunami in the Kuriles, nor about the thousands of dead people.
The picture of what happened can be restored from the memories of eyewitnesses, rare photographs and 25 seconds black and white chronicle- miraculously removed and miraculously preserved.
Many destroyed villages were never rebuilt. The population of the islands has been greatly reduced. The port city of Severo-Kurilsk was rebuilt in a new place, higher up. Without carrying out the same volcanological examination, so that as a result the city ended up in an even more dangerous place - on the path of the mud flows of the Ebeko volcano, one of the most active in the Kuriles.
The city was restored in a new place, and the villages devastated by the elements and abandoned by people remained ghosts - on the maps, where they still exist marked "non-residential", and in reality - on east coast their half-decayed skeletons gloomily appear through the thick fogs of Paramushir...
Such is the "crowded island". But here is expanse for animals - on an island rich in water and fish, hundreds of brown bears, many almost fearless foxes and the mysterious animal "Paramushir shrew" freely settled.
History, legends and facts
The largest Ainu settlement on Paramushir was once located on the site of Severo-Kurilsk, and the island itself was part of the Russian Empire. However, in 1875, Russia ceded to Japan all 18 Kuril Islands (including, of course, Paramushir) in exchange for full ownership of Sakhalin (the so-called "St. Petersburg Treaty").
The Japanese began active development of the island, and on the site of the Ainu settlement they founded the city of Kashibawara, which became the main port city on Paramushir. In addition to fishing, the islands were of key military importance for the Japanese - during the 20th century, Japan and Russia clashed 5 times in armed conflicts in various territories.
On Paramushir and on the neighboring island of Shumshu, the Japanese military garrison numbered 23 thousand people, a powerful anti-landing defense was created (the ruins of Japanese fortifications are still visible in the vicinity of Severo-Kurilsk). There were four airfields on Paramushir, one of them was in Kashiwabara (the other three were Kurabu, Suribatsi, Kakumabetsu).
On August 18, 1945, Soviet landing units landed on Paramushir, the fighting continued for five days. On August 23, at 15:30, the Red Army troops occupied Kasivabara.
The city retained its Japanese name until 1946, when it was renamed Severo-Kurilsk.
The mountains and volcanoes of Paramushir Island look picturesque from space, but the view from the ground and from the sea is no less impressive. Paramushir is the most mountainous and most "volcanic" of the large Kuril Islands. Of the 23 Paramushir volcanoes, 18 have turned into calm mountain peaks, but five still cannot calm down and erupt regularly. The best volcanic landscapes are in the south of the island: numerous peaks either nest in groups, or stretch out in lines of short ridges with jagged ridges, or rise in majestic single cones ...
The name of the island was given by the Ainu - in translation from their language "Paramushir" means "wide island". A purely subjective and terrestrial perception: Paramushir from space looks like an elongated sausage about 120 km long and only about 30 km wide. But whoever came first - he called.
Previously, there were more people and settlements on Paramushir. There is enough fresh water here for both locals and visitors. You can live. The name of the island also has a second translation from Ainu: "crowded island". Ainu, Russians, Japanese, after 1945 - Russians again...
After Iturup, Paramushir is the second largest of all the islands of the Kuril chain (area 2053 sq. km), but in relation to the area - the most sparsely populated. The population of Paramushir today does not exceed 3,000 people, and almost all of them are residents of a single city, Severo-Kurilsk.
Severo-Kurilsk
The city of Severo-Kurilsk is the only permanently inhabited settlement on the vast island of Paramushir. The area of the city is only 6 sq. km, the population does not reach 2500 inhabitants. All city streets can be counted on one hand, and the life of the city is concentrated on one (main) street - Sakhalinskaya, where everything that the locals and a few visitors need is located: the administration, the only museum, the only hospital (they say it’s not bad), the only hotel (not too heated), the only restaurant.
The “only” in Severo-Kurilsk is the “only” on the whole island. Here are the only heliport and sea pier on Paramushir (by the way, recently renovated). So Severo-Kurilsk is not just a small town, but the main "gateway" to Paramushir and quite a large port on the way from Vladivostok and Korsakov to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
Severo-Kurilsk is economically and historically connected with the extraction of fish and seafood - navaga, flounder and pollock, crabs and squid. Here they process such a delicacy as scallop. In Severo-Kurilsk there is a fishing port (the base of the seiner fleet) and 4 fish processing enterprises. There are a lot of fish here, so in the evening you can come to the port where the fishing boats are unloaded and just ask to “wrap the fish”.
There are no special opportunities for recreation in Severo-Kurilsk, but mineral springs are located near the city, and around - 2000 square meters. km of untouched nature of Paramushir, with its mountains and volcanoes, bears and shrews.
The port city of Severo-Kurilsk is located on the Pacific "storm route", as well as in a zone of increased seismic and volcanic danger.
In Severo-Kurilsk, the expression "to live like on a volcano" can be used without quotes. The Ebeko volcano, located seven kilometers from the city, from time to time comes to life and releases volcanic gases. In calm weather and with a westerly wind, they reach Severo-Kurilsk - it is impossible not to feel the smell of hydrogen sulfide and chlorine. Usually in such cases, the Sakhalin Hydrometeorological Center transmits a storm warning about air pollution: it is easy to get poisoned by toxic gases. Eruptions in Paramushir in 1859 and 1934 caused mass poisoning of people and the death of domestic animals. Therefore, in such cases, volcanologists urge city residents to use masks to protect their breath and filters for water purification.
The site for the construction of Severo-Kurilsk was chosen without a volcanological examination. Then, in the 1950s, the main thing was to build a city no lower than 30 meters above sea level. After the tragedy of 1952, water seemed worse than fire.
Secret tsunami
The tsunami wave after the earthquake in Japan this spring has reached the Kuril Islands. Low, one and a half meters. But in the fall of 1952, the eastern coast of Kamchatka, the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu were on the first line of the elements. The North Kuril tsunami of 1952 was one of the five largest in the history of the twentieth century.
The tsunami, which was later named after the destroyed city - the "tsunami in Severo-Kurilsk" - was caused by an earthquake in the Pacific Ocean, 130 km from the coast of Kamchatka. An hour after a powerful (magnitude about 9 points) earthquake, the first tsunami wave reached Severo-Kurilsk. The height of the second, the most terrible, wave reached 18 meters.
The tsunami came at night, after strong, but not too frightening aftershocks (we got used to seismic activity). The earthquake subsided, the houses stood, the light came on. And in the Pacific Ocean, 200 km from the coast, a wave was born and went to the shores of the Kuril Islands.
After 40 minutes, the wave entered the bay and licked the city with thousands of people, as if it never existed. On November 5, 1952, nature seemed to rebel... Three huge waves hit Paramushir in a matter of minutes, destroying both the port of Severo-Kurilsk and several fishing villages. A third, and according to unofficial data, half of the then population of the island, about 3,000 people, died.
The Severo-Kurilsk Museum has data on civilian casualties, calculated by various researchers: adults - 6,060; children under 16 - 1,742; total - 7,802 people.
The military, I think, died no less. The official documentation of 1952 calls them "Urbanovich's people", "Gribakin's people", after the names of the commanders; there is no general number.
The total number of victims is estimated to be 13-17 thousand people.
There are oral data about 50 thousand; it is this figure that still walks in legends in Kamchatka and the Kuriles.
The city of Severo-Kurilsk was destroyed. The Kuril and Kamchatka settlements of Utyosny, Levashovo, Reef, Rocky, Coastal, Galkino, Okeansky, Podgorny, Major Van, Shelekhovo, Savushkino, Kozyrevsky, Babushkino, Baikovo were swept away ... The entire coastline is neatly listed in the martyrology:
“.. Utesny village, 7 km from Severo-Kurilsk. Excluded from the credentials as a settlement by the decision of the regional executive committee
.. Levashovo fishery, at the exit from the Second Kuril Strait. Excluded from the credentials as a settlement by the decision of the regional executive committee
..settlement Rifovoe, the center of the village council of the same name in Rifovaya Bay. Excluded from credentials…”
and so 11 places where people lived.
In the autumn of 1952, the country lived an ordinary life. The Soviet press, Pravda and Izvestia, did not get a single line: neither about the tsunami in the Kuriles, nor about the thousands of dead people.
The picture of what happened can be restored from the memories of eyewitnesses, rare photographs and 25 seconds black and white chronicle- miraculously removed and miraculously preserved.
Many destroyed villages were never rebuilt. The population of the islands has been greatly reduced. The port city of Severo-Kurilsk was rebuilt in a new place, higher up. Without carrying out the same volcanological examination, so that as a result the city ended up in an even more dangerous place - on the path of the mud flows of the Ebeko volcano, one of the most active in the Kuriles.
The city was rebuilt in a new place, and the villages devastated by the elements and abandoned by people remained ghosts - on the maps, where they still exist marked “uninhabited”, and in reality - on the east coast, their half-decayed skeletons gloomily appear through the dense fogs of Paramushir ...
Such is the "crowded island". But here is expanse for animals - on an island rich in water and fish, hundreds of brown bears, many almost fearless foxes and the mysterious animal "Paramushir shrew" freely settled.
History, legends and facts
The largest Ainu settlement on Paramushir was once located on the site of Severo-Kurilsk, and the island itself was part of the Russian Empire. However, in 1875, Russia ceded to Japan all 18 Kuril Islands (including, of course, Paramushir) in exchange for full ownership of Sakhalin (the so-called "St. Petersburg Treaty").
The Japanese began active development of the island, and on the site of the Ainu settlement they founded the city of Kashibawara, which became the main port city on Paramushir. In addition to fishing, the islands were of key military importance for the Japanese - during the 20th century, Japan and Russia clashed 5 times in armed conflicts in various territories.
On Paramushir and on the neighboring island of Shumshu, the Japanese military garrison numbered 23 thousand people, a powerful anti-landing defense was created (the ruins of Japanese fortifications are still visible in the vicinity of Severo-Kurilsk). There were four airfields on Paramushir, one of them was in Kashiwabara (the other three were Kurabu, Suribatsi, Kakumabetsu).
On August 18, 1945, Soviet landing units landed on Paramushir, the fighting continued for five days. On August 23, at 15:30, the Red Army troops occupied Kasivabara.
The city retained its Japanese name until 1946, when it was renamed Severo-Kurilsk.
/ Paramushir Island
Paramushir Island
Paramushir Island is the second largest of all the islands of the Kuril chain. Curving slightly towards the ocean, it stretched from the southwest to the northeast for more than 100 km, with an average width of 19-22 km and an area of 2479.0 km2.
From the side Sea of Okhotsk the island is bounded by steep cliffs with a narrow pebble strip at the foot, slightly indented by bays and capes. On the ocean side, the coastline is much more complicated with low-lying coastal areas, bays, steep capes and many rocky reefs that protrude into the ocean for 2-3 km.
Of all major islands ridges about. Paramushir is the most mountainous. Its majestic volcanoes are somewhat shifted to the west, so it descends steeply to the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Pacific slope gradually turns into flat spaces and into the low southeastern Cape Kurabu, also called Cape Vasiliev or Henry.
The mountain range is higher in the north and south, and in the middle part it is somewhat lowered, forming, as it were, a gentle saddle with many peaks.
The “pile of mountains” (Snow) in the north of the island rises by the cone-shaped peak of Arakava to 1053 m and the Levashov volcano to 1006 m. 799 m). The spur of Mount Eboshi (923 m) by the rocky Cape Khirita moved north further than all other mountains. In the south, the volcanic peaks are sometimes grouped into “nests”, sometimes they are elongated in lines of short ridges with jagged ridges, sometimes they rise in majestic single cones and are generally more impressive than the mountain group of the north.
To the south of Tsikura are the peaks of Tomari (598 m), the peaked Minamiyama (1274 m), Onogatake (1204 m), Yake (1262 m), Aka (1464 m).
On the eastern side of the island, in places along the coast, elevations up to 900 m in height stretch, but most of the space is flat or hilly and is composed of sedimentary rocks from the surface. In low-lying areas, low noticeable single hills rise, for example, the flat-topped mountains of Jiro (128 m), Tateishi (133 m), Umeki (147 m).
The runoff of precipitation and meltwater from snowfields that have been lying in the mountains for a long time is directed mainly to the east. The rivers of the eastern slope are comparatively long and full of water. The largest river on the island Todoroki (Tukharka), more than 20 km long, is composed of many streams in the mountains and flows into Otomae Bay 26 km northeast of Cape Kurabu in the form of a stream 55 m wide, separated from the sea by a rocky bar.
The Yamakami, Sakagutsi, and Ishi rivers are less abundant. Brooks are rare here; waterfalls too. The rivers of the western flow - Kosira, Kokamabetsu, Otani are short, shallow and with a rapid course. Numerous streams fall from steep banks, often forming waterfalls. Significant interfluve spaces are not drained and swampy.
There is enough fresh water on the island to supply many ships and villages, although some rivers are not suitable for use due to their sulfur content (Sakagutsi, Kosira). It is not difficult to cross the river. They freeze for 4-5 months.
In the southeast of the island, the vast Suebettobu Lake receives water from many small rivers and has a drain through the Pettu River. The basin of the lake is apparently of tectonic origin. In the center of it rises a small rocky island.
Loose sediments are almost absent in the west on the steep slopes of the mountains and cover their eastern foothills like a cloak, decreasing in thickness towards the ocean coast, where low-lying capes are usually composed of pebbles and sand (Cape Kurabu).
The vegetation is predominantly herbaceous. In the valleys, cereal and herb meadows with Langsdorf reed grass, kakalia, Kamchatka shalamaynik, palm-leaved ragwort alternate with thickets of willows and alder forests.
In the low interfluves, tundra prevails. On the hills, they are replaced by cedar forests with shrubby alder and heath with wild rosemary, shiksha, and golden rhododendron. Alder on the slopes rises higher than the cedar forest.
Rocky placers on the tops of the mountains are covered with rare grass-lichen-moss lawns. There is little timber; only in the upper reaches of the river. Todoroki grows tall willow-chosenia suitable for small buildings.
By color in summer, the island is clearly divided into a verdant eastern half with separate dark spots of rocks and a western half with a dark background, with white spots of snowfields on the slopes of the mountains and with green lawns in the basins.
Of the land animals, there are many bears and foxes. Mass of small rodents.
Near the western slope of Mount Suribatsi, in the bay of Suribatsi, a Japanese iodine plant operated for many years. In 1934-1935. On the island, Japan launched large-scale construction work and created a naval stronghold with a significant garrison. Communication with the metropolis, which had previously been maintained by a steamship once a month, was strengthened. There was a radio station on Cape Tomari.
Near the island, especially on the eastern side, there are several small satellite islands, rocks, reefs and banks, for example: 19 km northeast of Cape Kurabu, the islands of Minamiyotsu - Okino, Hira, etc .; at the eastern cape of Otomae Bay - Tsutsumino reefs; between capes Tategami and Watanabe - about. Nakashima; near Cape Tomari - about. Camomeidr.
A group of small islands of Torieima (Ptich'i) is characteristic in the northeast, at the eastern entrance to the Second Kuril Strait. The rocks of Togari (Ganimusir), Kotani (Kotanimusir) and Tsiri (Tsirimusir) form an arc, open to the southeast. The first two islets are low, covered with grass and connected by a reef.
The southern island of Togari (Ganimusir) rises as a dome-shaped rock about 47 m high. Descending to the south, it ends with a high sharp stone. On the rocky ridge that connects the islands, vast fields of sea kale are underwater.
All these islands are the edge of a volcanic cone protruding from under the water. Countless flocks of guillemots, puffins, fulmars, gulls and cormorants nest here and breed offspring, with their cry helping ships navigate when entering the strait in calm and foggy weather.
Stone Siro (Kokshkher, Koksher) is located near this group. This is a long ridge of chaotically piled up stones about 5 m high - a protrusion of the edge of the volcanic peak, strongly destroyed by the sea. There is a large rookery of sea lions, the roar of which is heard at a distance of about 1 km.
went to Kurile Islands, this time to the North. You can get to Paramushir Island only from Kamchatka, not from Sakhalin.
Passed an interesting route along Paramushir 414.4 km, 27 days. Also, in the remaining time, we covered 100.4 km in Kamchatka, 5 days.
In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, we had to wait several days for the ship to Severo-Kurilsk (Paramushir Island).
We lived right in the center of the city on the slope of a hill.
View of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky from Petrovskaya Sopka (270 m).
We tried not to waste the waiting time in vain, and walked around the neighborhood.
Zavoyko bay.
Testing a new rain cape.
The furry passenger of the Gipanis.
The ship nevertheless went to Paramushir and we went with it.
The schedule is absolutely irregular, it may not go for months at all.
Locals advise to have at least 5 days of reserve in each direction.
Accordingly, it is impossible to reduce the total duration of the trip (46 days).
Sea otters escort the ship.
Sea otter (sea beaver, Kamchatka beaver, sea otter, Enhydra lutris) is a predatory marine mammal.
The sea otter is adapted to the marine environment. It is one of the few non-primate animals that use tools. The species is close to otters. The word "kalan", which entered the Russian language, is of Koryak origin. In the 18-19 centuries, sea otters were subjected to predatory extermination due to their valuable fur, as a result of which the species was on the verge of extinction.
Interesting food process. Sea otters dive for prey and collect prey from the bottom into a kind of pocket formed by a fold of the skin. Having picked up several units, sea otters swim on their backs on the surface of the water and take turns opening and eating food.
Now we definitely need permission to enter the border zone to the Kuril Islands, including Paramushir.
It needs to be done in advance.
Bathing bird.
Thin-billed petrel (Puffinus tenuirostris)
The Kuril island arc is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean and has a length of about a thousand kilometers. From the west, the islands are washed by the Sea of Okhotsk, and from the east by the Pacific Ocean. The Kuril arc consists of more than 15 islands. The largest of them are Paramushir, Iturup, Kunashir, Simushir.
Mount Mayak is located near Severo-Kurilsk.
View from the first camp near the Nasedkina river.
Alder dwarf wall.
There are many of them on Paramushir.
Paramushir Island - one of the Northern Kuril Islands has an area of 2053 km². From the language of the Ainu (indigenous people) it is translated as "wide island". This is the second largest island of the archipelago after Iturup. The island is about 120 km long and up to 30 km wide. Of all the large islands of the ridge, Paramushir is the most mountainous. Paramushir is separated by the Alaid Strait from Atlasov Island, located 20 km to the north; the Second Kuril Strait - Shumshu Island, located 2 km northeast; Third Kuril - from Antsiferov Island, located 15 km to the west; The fourth Kuril Strait - from Onekotana Island, located 54 km southwest. Near the island there are several small islands and rocks. More than 100 bears live on the island, foxes, hares, small rodents, etc. live in the mountains. There are many partridges in the mountains. There are many guillemots, puffins, fulmars, gulls and cormorants on the coastal cliffs. In coastal waters there are sea otters, sea lions and seals.
Administratively, Paramushir is part of the North Kuril urban district of the Sakhalin region of Russia. In the north of the island is the city of Severo-Kurilsk (~2381 people) - the administrative center of the district. There is a fishing port and fish processing enterprises, a diesel and hydroelectric power station, a heliport, a hospital, etc. The economic activity in the city is mainly related to the extraction and processing of fish and seafood. Passenger communication is available only with Kamchatka. The largest Ainu settlement on Paramushir was once located on the site of Severo-Kurilsk, and the island itself was part of the Russian Empire. However, in 1875 all the Kuril Islands were lost to Russia. The Japanese began active development of the island, and on the site of the Ainu settlement they founded the city of Kashiwabara. In addition to fishing, the islands were of key military importance for the Japanese. On Paramushir and on the neighboring island of Shumshu, the Japanese military garrison numbered 23 thousand people, and a powerful antiamphibious defense was created. There were four airfields on Paramushir, one of them was in Kasivabara. The remaining three are Kurabu (Cape Vasiliev), Suribachi (Cape Ocean), Kakumabetsu (Shelekhovo). On August 18, 1945, Soviet landing units landed on Paramushir, the fighting continued for five days. On August 23, the troops of the Red Army occupied Kashiwabara. The city retained its Japanese name until 1946, when it was renamed Severo-Kurilsk. In 1952, it was almost destroyed by the tsunami, after which it was rebuilt.
The average annual air temperature in Severo-Kurilsk is 2.9°C, relative air humidity is 77.7%,
average wind speed - 3.8 m/s, average daily temperature in July-August - 10-11°С
They walked around Paramushir Island clockwise, entering its inner parts. The route was built in such a way as to cover all the significant sights of the island - Cape Okeansky, Cape Vasiliev, various waterfalls, the hot Yuryev River, the volcanoes of Karpinsky, Fuss, Tatarinov, Chikurachka, Vernadsky, Ebeko, etc. Since there is only one inhabited island on the island point Severo-Kurilsk, autonomy was complete. A few more people live in 3 different parts of the island. The inner regions of the island were passed on the rights of first ascent - there were no descriptions, and those that were did not cover the necessary sections. Paramushir is interesting for volcanoes, animals and flora, hot springs, old Japanese fortifications and technology, and, of course, the lack of people. There are very few trails and roads on the island. We walked mainly along the coast, along the rivers and along the tops of the ridges, where there is no elfin. During the hike along Paramushir, we did not meet a single tourist group. It was not possible to make it to the Shumshu and Atlasov islands for transport reasons (although they planned).
Walking on dense sand between Capes Ozerny and Levashov
Basically, the path coastline described by A. Klitin in 2004 in the form of a story. The site of the mouth of the Yuryev River - Cape Artyushin has not been described. There are many inaccuracies in the story. He also described the ascent to the volcano Fussa, Chikurachki, Tatarinov and Ebeko, but in a completely different way than we climbed. The only report for the IWC could be found for 1983. At that time, some trails were still present on the island. Our path crossed with this route only in some areas of the coastline, and part of the path when climbing the Chikurachki volcano. All information in this report is completely outdated and of no value. The category of the route was declared approximately and was calculated after the return.
Crossing the Levashov River.
Regularly you need to cross the ford of the river, there were 32 crossings in total.
It occurs on all the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Moneron, Bolshoi Shantar, Kamchatka, etc. Lysichiton grows in well-moistened places, near streams, along forest oxbow lakes, and in swampy meadows. Herbaceous perennial with a thick short rhizome. The plant is poisonous, especially the flowers and rhizome.
Halt.
Detour of Cape Levashov from above.
They say that the fortifications on Paramushir were built by Chinese and Korean prisoners of war, about 10 thousand people, whom the Japanese then took out on barges to the sea and drowned. Even 20 years ago, in the area of Cape Levashov, human skulls and bones were found on the shore.
In addition to the usual obstacles, there are special ones that cause quite a few problems. These are Japanese trenches, which are sometimes well preserved and have vertical walls 2 m deep, densely overgrown with dwarf and silkworm - they are not even always visible. I think their total length in Paramushir is huge: 200-500 km.
Remains of a Japanese settlement at the mouth of the Rifovy stream
