Waterfall Gadelsha: where is, how to get there, description, photo

This is one of the largest waterfalls in Bashkortostan. It is called differently - Tuyalas, Khudalaz, Ibrahimovsky, but still the most common and familiar name for the indigenous population is Gadelsha. It comes from the village of the same name, located nearby. On one of the branches of the river Khudolaz is Gadelsha. Waterfall (the map of the republic will help tourists) is located on the slope of Mount Irenyk, from the eastern part, in the Baymakh region. At this point the river Khudolaz (Tuyalas) broke through the mountains a deep and narrow valley.

The beauty of this river is being sung by the Bashkirs in folk songs. Previously, this river was inhabited by local residents, and the visitors were affectionately called Tuyalas, which means "fast flow" in Bashkir. Unfortunately, the beauty of this exotic for a Russian word has eventually become a thing of the past. Today cartographers and surveyors have replaced it with a cooler, but more habitual for locals name Khudolaz.

The banks of the river are rich in mineral deposits. When the landscape of the Earth was just beginning to form, where volcanoes are now located, volcanoes erupted. Evidence of this - the powerful layers of volcanic rocks (spiliths, porphyry).

Many tourists and travelers would like to see the Gadelsha waterfall. How to get to it?

The road to the waterfall

The nearest town is Sibai, located fifteen kilometers away. Having come here, it is necessary to pass in the direction of the village of Old Sibai, and then on the grader road to the recreation center Gadelsha. From here you can climb up the gorge. In order to make this climb, it will take some skill (especially when back down), but the seen beauty more than compensate for all the difficulties.

Gadelsh Waterfall: description

This is a three-stage waterfall. Its upper step is the smallest, with a height not exceeding 1.2 meters. The following cascades reach seven meters. Thus, its total height is fifteen meters. Depending on the season and the amount of precipitation, the volume of water (and, consequently, its entertainment) varies. In the middle of summer, when precipitation is usually small, the water flow does not exceed 10 l / s. But in early spring it is very full, beautiful and turbulent. The gorge is filled with the sound of falling streams.

Weather and climate

In Bashkiria it is usually a snowy winter. The average temperature in January is 18 degrees below zero. It lasts from the second decade of October to the first of April. In the spring, frosts can return, but with the onset of summer the real heat comes, especially in July. More precipitation falls in autumn and summer.

Nature reserve

The republic has many pretty large waterfalls. All of them are very different in size and intensity. But the most spectacular of them is Gadelsha's waterfall. Bashkiria is proud of its natural monument.

In the vicinity of the waterfall, deposits of jasper come to the surface of the earth. It is well polished, and therefore often used as an ornamental material. Out of it, amazingly beautiful statuettes and vases are obtained. In addition, it is widely used in the lining of monuments and buildings. Uvals and ridges in the river valley are dotted with rock outcrops of Carboniferous limestones. They are successfully used in metallurgy during melting. In architecture, they are used as a wild stone, and after the material is fired, it is used as lime.

Milk white quartz, asbestos and talc still occur on the slopes of Irenyk. Here, rare herbs and shrubs are grown, listed in the Red Book. There are plans to create a nature reserve here.

Monument of nature

Since 1965 the Gadelsh waterfall is a geomorphological, geological and botanical monument of Bashkiria and is protected by the state.

Excursions

If you decide to visit the waterfall Gadelsha, you can also go on an excursion to the copper-sulfur plant. It is famous for the fact that the quarry has a depth of more than 500 meters, it is considered to be one of the deepest in Europe and takes the fourth place in the world. It produces sulfur, copper, iron, silver. Its diameter is two kilometers.

A by-product in the extraction of copper pyrites is gold. However, it is present in scanty amounts and it is impossible to simply see it. The quarry is guarded, and you can next to it see small lakes with a characteristic blue-green color. If you come to the quarry "savages", then you will need permission of the travel agency, which cooperates with the combine. Here you can get a pass and an explorer.

From the viewing platform, the bottom of the quarry is not visible. From this position you can see only a black-and-yellow slope with light stripes of roads. Over time, this quarry will become an artificial lake.

Where to stay

Near the waterfall Gadelsha is an old camp site with the same name. Many people say that it is not comfortable enough - it does not have TVs, there is no mobile connection. Those who prefer a more comfortable stay, you can settle in a more comfortable hotel "Golden Card" in the city of Sibai, from which excursions are made to the waterfall with a guide.