Lake Psenodakh

Psenodakh — 'the beautiful lake' in Circassian — lies at the bottom of a glacial cirque closed between the peaks of Oshten and Pshekha-Su, north of the Fisht-Oshten pass. It is the largest and best-known glacio-karst lake of the Caucasus Reserve in Adygea: 165 metres long, about nine thousand square metres in area, at 1,938 metres above sea level. The lake is shallow: twenty to eighty centimetres deep, with only a south-western sinkhole reaching three and a half metres — visible through the transparent water. There is no surface outlet: four streams from the slopes of Fisht and seven springs feed the lake, while the water leaves through underground karst drainage. The level and the outlines of the shore change by a principle that has never been worked out. Psenodakh is the reward of a multi-day route: from Guzeripl across the reserve's territory, or from the Lago-Naki plateau over the Fisht-Oshten pass. The water is icy even in August; all around are alpine meadows, with the cliffs of Oshten rising behind them.