The river of Pinega: photo, tributaries, length

The banks of rivers have always been a place of concentration of human settlements, since they were the source of water, fish, and waterfowl. The Pinega River is not an exception in this respect, since the most ancient known reports that the settlement of the same name were located on its bank date back to the 12th century.

Disputes about the title

To a single opinion about the transfer of the name of the river, the scientists did not come. Some of them were inclined to the fact that it belongs to the Finnish language and consists of two words - "peni", which means "dog", and "joki" is a river. Preconditions why the first settlers so called Pinega, no, because it is neither its outlines, nor the shores of this animal is not similar.

Another opinion is that the root of the name is the same root, but from the Baltic-Finnish ancient dialect, meaning "small", which again does not correspond to the truth, given that the length of the Pinega River is 779 km.

From whatever dialect this name has come to be, it has taken root and continues to personify the beautiful river in the Arkhangelsk region.

Geographical location of the river

The confluence of the two rivers, the White and the Black, on the right bank of the Northern Dvina, gave Pinega "life". Most of its channel is located in the floodplain valley, along which it slowly carries its waters, spilling into spring floods and becoming shallow in the summer.

In its lower reaches, Pinega very closely "gets" to the river Kuloy, once it was between them, and nowadays they are connected by a channel built in the 20s of the XX century. Since time immemorial, merchants have used this fiber to drag boats through a small space between rivers, which allowed them to go to the Mesenskaya lip, flowing into the White Sea, along the Kuloy.

After the "meeting" with Kuloy, the Pinega River rushes southwest to the mouth of Palengi. Missing her, she takes the western direction.

For more than 600 km, the Pinega River (Arkhangelsk Region) is navigable, due to which it is included in the register of waterways of Russia.

Water regime

With a basin of 42,000 km ² , 90% covered with forest, Pinega has a width of 20 m in the upper reaches and up to 190 m in its estuary, but everything changes in high water. As a rule, spilling a river is accompanied by a very rapid rise in water caused by the melting of snow. The peak of the Pinega spill is in May, but in general the water flow can be from 430 m ³ / s to 3000 m ³ / s. Maximum flooding occurs during rainfalls.

The first ice on the river forms a thin film at the end of October, gradually turning into an ice drift, but by the end of November it has frozen the water and kept on average 180 days, gaining a meter thick.

When the ice begins to melt, at times the ice drift creates congestion, because of which the water level in the river rises from 1 m to 3 m, which most often happens near the village of Pinega. That is why here in due time special ice-cutters were installed, which should break hummocks and prevent flooding of the terrain.

By chemical components, the water of Pinega is included in the class of hydrocarbonates, and its mineralization in winter is more than 300 mg / l, while in the summer - only 70 mg / l. If we talk about its purity, then the river refers to the moderately polluted, since the turbidity is 50 g / m3.

Description of the Pinega River

Where the banks of the river are 90% covered with forest, it can be called picturesque, but the feature of Pinega is the constantly changing relief of the coastline. This is due to the fact that in the middle and lower reaches it consists of gypsum and limestone deposits. Constantly washed away in floods, the banks change their shape slightly each year, then rising higher and falling slightly. In some places steep banks form a beautiful canyon, reaching a height of 20 meters and forming, as it were, natural walls with a forest at the top, protecting the rest of its waters.

In the immediate vicinity of the water there are 2 settlements - Pinega and Karpogory, which, despite the remoteness from civilization, enjoy success with lovers of extreme tourism and skiing.

No less interesting are the tributaries of the Pinega River , which it has 12 on the left bank, and 7 on the left bank, but the main ones are Vyya, Ezhuga, Yula, Ilesha, Pokshenga, Shuyga, Yavzor and Tingga.

Vyya

Perhaps, in the language of the ancient Slavs, the word "reveal" and meant "neck", but today this name is associated with the designation of the left tributary of the Pinega River. With its length of 181 km, it covers 2 districts - Pinezhsky and Verkhnetoemsky, with the middle and lower course washing the Vyiskoye settlement.

Vyya is as picturesque as Pinega, which was noted by the Russian artist Vereshchagin during his journey through the Russian north. Framing from wooded hills, a calm current, sometimes interrupted by rolling by single stones, makes rafting along this river a real rest.

Vyyskoye settlement, formed in 2006, in fact consists of the first villages, settled here as early as the beginning of the XVIII century. The first settlers were engaged in fishing, hunting and agriculture and were few. Today Vysskoye settlement inhabits only 644 people, forming the Vyysk municipal formation.

Ezhuga

This right tributary of Pinega, 165 km long, flows through the Arkhangelsk region, then passing to the lands of the Komi Republic. The name is also given to it by the Komi people, and it means the "meadow river", which fully corresponds to the truth.

Indeed, with its lower part the tributary passes through a swampy plain area, only in the upper reaches of the "embrace" of picturesque hills. The gentle banks of the river have a fishing and tent rest. That's really where you can really relax from civilization, devoting time to nature - fishing, gathering mushrooms and berries in the surrounding forests.

The Sura River

At 395 km from the mouth of Pinega, the river Sura flows into it, formed by the confluence of Yurama with Surosora. Despite the small length of only 92 km, this river is quite densely populated. So on its shores in the lower reaches there are the villages of Gora and Sluda, Pakhurovo and Markovo, while in the estuary there is the village of the same name, which is the center of the Sur Municipality.

In the widest part of Sura does not exceed 37 m, and the depth is 0.5 m. Once in these places inhabited by a nationality chud, called Zavolochskaya. The name denoted that the Chudis (Finno-Ugric tribes) lived after the drag. Much later, people settled there who did not want to accept Christianity and did not renounce their pagan gods. The culture of the Chudis and their customs, as some ethnologists believe, are still alive in some settlements.

The name "Sura" first appears in the Novgorod chronicles of the beginning of the XII century, as "Sura is filthy", which speaks about the attitude towards those who did not want to accept Christianity. Of course, after a long time the locals took a new faith for them, and the village of Sura became the birthplace of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt.

Inflow of Ilesha

In fact, this influx of Pinega has two names: on the eastern part of the Verkhnetoemsky district, where it originates, it is called Small Ilesha, and only after the waters of the Pinega Yentalu join it, it becomes Ilesha.

The largest settlement on the river is the village of Krasny, located 43 km from its mouth.

Places of interest in Pinega

This river is loved by fishermen and amateurs of rafting on rubber boats, and by hunters, and simply by those who prefer overseas resorts to the untouched beauty of their native land. There are beautiful places for parking, and limestone steep banks (photos of the Pinega River confirm this) and impenetrable forests, as it were, take the guests to the depth of centuries.

Special interest among tourists is enjoyed by the famous karst caves, which for thousands of years have been carved into the limestone of the river's water. Their visit is possible mainly in the winter, because during the rest of the year they are flooded, and the names speak for themselves of their beauty. There is a cave of the Snow Queen, Winter's Tale, Ice and Crystal, and they fully justify their names.

Ice stalactites and stalagmites meet guests in their halls. In fact, there is a huge number of caves that are still waiting for speleologists to open them. To protect these natural monuments as far back as 1974, a reserve was established in this place, the main task of which was the protection and conservation of karst caves.

No less interesting is the salmon fishing on the Pinega River. In fact, there are also sterlet, grayling, chub, podyahok, perch, dace, burbot and pike, so that no one stays without a catch. Who is used to comfortable rest, can use the services of a tour operator and spend an unforgettable summer in a guest house in the village of Verkola or a tent camp right on the river bank. Nature in these parts is impressive with a variety of reliefs. The village is on a steep bank, surrounded on one side by hills and forests, and on the other by meadows.

The village is located in the middle stream, but if you want, you can rent a boat and go to the headwaters of the Pinega River. A lot of time will not take a trip, but fishing here is also excellent.

In these places, the famous writer, Fyodor Abramov was born, created and died , whose house became his memorial museum.

The Pinega River is a beautiful and unspoilt corner of nature, where you should go if you want to relax from the noise of civilization.