Khadjokh Gorge

On the south-western edge of Kamennomostsky the Belaya river squeezes into a chasm about four hundred metres long: six or seven metres wide in places, up to thirty-five deep. Fractured limestone dissolved under the water for millennia, the river cut deeper and wider, and the slow uplift of the mountains finished the picture. The settlement takes its name from a 'stone bridge' — a collapsed rock that once hung over the gorge. Since 1979 the canyon has been a protected natural monument of republican significance. Walkways, stairs and railings run along the left bank; a road bridge splits the route in two. Once out of the gorge the Belaya calms down and spreads to fifty or sixty metres — the contrast people come here for. In the lower part there are enclosures with bears, wolves, foxes and other animals of the local fauna. The gorge is the signature sight of mountainous Adygea and a natural hub: a dolmen and the Mishoko gorge are nearby, the Rufabgo falls two kilometres away, and the Mikhailo-Afonsky monastery in the village of Pobeda. Morning light is best in the canyon; in high season the trail gets crowded.