Shchugor River

The Shchugor is a right tributary of the Pechora, 300 kilometres long, flowing entirely through the 'Yugyd Va' national park. The river is born on the western slope of the Northern Urals above 750 metres — near the 'pole of relative inaccessibility' — and carries clear water through rapids to its mouth at the village of Ust-Shchugor. The river is famous for its rock monuments: Ovin-kamen and the Upper, Middle and Lower Gates cliffs rise above the water. In the late 19th century the Sibiryakov tract — a road from the Pechora to the Ob built by the gold-mining magnate Alexander Sibiryakov — ran along the valley, with the Shchugor portage as its key section. The river is a salmon spawning ground; there are no permanent settlements on it. For rafters the Shchugor is one of the main rivers of the Northern Urals: accessible multi-day routes with the national park's equipped campsites and a feeling of complete isolation. Ice cover lasts from late October to early June — the season is short.