The picturesque South Urals Hiking Trail is analogous to the Lycian Trail in Turkey. Traveling through these unique places can be done as a weekend hike, or the route can be divided into three weekly parts.
For first-time hikers, it can be a challenge to their endurance to complete the 500-kilometer-long main branch route in a non-stop format. Most often it takes between three weeks and a month, and the official record is ten days and six and a half hours. All those who wish to complete the non-stop trail will receive bronze tokens, while the fastest participant of the season will be awarded a silver token.
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Trail event organizers play a huge role in supporting the South Urals Trail. For example, for one of the largest races "Malidak Ultra" volunteers prepared approximately 100 kilometers of the route, and two thousand pairs of runners' feet trampled the trail to a perfect condition.
How it all started
On July 4, 2017, the creation of the
Bolshoy Yuzhnouralskaya trail by volunteers in Bashkortostan began under the guidance of the public relations director of the Rutrail project (marked routes of Russia)
Rais Gabitov, who is also a tourist and blogger. That year, the Beloretsk - Malinovaya Mountain section was the first to be marked. Initially, the main forces of the volunteer team were thrown into marking the trail
in Bashkiria.
Schoolchildren and students helped the project representatives with marking: they were taught the basics of organized tourism. In addition, they cleaned up litter along the routes.
The Rutrail project was invented by the famous tourist and video blogger Denis Doropey. This project is of a cultural and educational nature and is realized in cooperation with the Russian society "Znanie". The main idea was to create a hiking route through the most beautiful places of the Southern Urals, divided into convenient sections of about 30 kilometers long, with stops for overnight stays and access points at junctions.
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"The trail will pass through settlements and campgrounds. Thus, some part of the path can be passed and go home, next time to continue the path. The whole route is marked depending on the level of difficulty: two white stripes with green inside indicate an easy path suitable for families and children; with a blue stripe - for more experienced travelers; and with a red stripe - for tourists with good training," Gabitov said.
Marking of new routes
In the summer of 2022, volunteers from
Ufa, Beloretsk, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, and St. Petersburg were able to mark 300 kilometers of the Great South Ural Trail. This distance they passed through the territory of the Abzelilovsky and Beloretsky districts. Thus, at that time the length of the unique pedestrian route became 500 kilometers.
Last year, Gabitov and his team began exploring the Chelyabinsk region, and by June 2023, they had fully traversed and finished marking the section from Tyulyuk to Lake Turgoyak. In the same year, the South Urals trail won the Grand Prix of the All-Russian Tourist Award "Routes of the Year", becoming the best tourist trail in Russia.
Photo: bashinform.ru
In the summer of 2024, the Beloretsky and
Burzyansky districts were able to connect on the South Urals Trail. The length of the new branch was 200 kilometers. To date, the length of the route is 700 kilometers.
Project enthusiasts managed to put more than 10 thousand markers along the most convenient and safe sections of the trail, as well as install wooden benches for resting.
More than 40 volunteers from such cities as: Ufa, Beloretsk, Chelyabinsk and Kazan. The first symbolic mark on the new section of the South Ural Trail was made by anthropologist, candidate of biological sciences, who runs his own youtube channel to popularize science, Stanislav Drobyshevsky, who gave a long lecture at the Shulgan-Tash Museum.
"It took us more than two years to plan and explore the new site. This path will reveal real treasures: conglomerates of the Big Shatak, museum exhibits and the Shulgan-Tash cave. Part of the way there is an opportunity to raft down the Belaya River," says Gabitov.
Photo: bashinform.ru
Gabitov also thanked everyone who was able to help and support the project. The assistance was provided by: the WayPack company from Ufa, the Public Chamber of Bashkortostan, the administration of the Beloretsk and Burzyansk districts, the Directorate of Natural Parks of the Republic of Bashkortostan and representatives of the Shulgan-Tash Museum.
How the trail goes
The hiking trail is divided into several logical parts. The first part is more than 160 kilometers long and starts from the lake called Bannoe, near the city of Magnitogorsk, and further goes through the mountain Kushai, as well as
Abzakovo resort, Blue Rocks, Uraltau Ridge, Arviakryaz Mountain, Kraka Ridge, Arsky Stone, Kuzgun-Akhmerovo village and Malinovaya Mountain. The end point of the route is in the town of Beloretsk.
The next section of the route is 155 kilometers long and starts in the town of Beloretsk, then passing through the Yalangas Ridge, following the Evushkin trail to Zhurboloto, Inzersky cogs, Mashak Ridge, near Shirokaya Placer to the village of Verkhnearshinsky, Rudnik, Mount Bashtur, Nikolaevka,
Iremel, to the source of the Belaya River and, finally, to the village of Novokhusainovo.
On this part of the route there will be no need to camp because it is possible to stay overnight in hotel rooms and shelters, but there is an exception - it is a fifty-kilometer section from Zhurboloto to Verkhnearshinskoye (volunteers hope that there is a possibility to build a shelter on Misel cordon).
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Another part of the route in Chelyabinsk region starts in the area of Iremel near Tyulyuk, then follows to the tract of Vinogradov Khutor through the national park "Zyuratkul" to the lake Zyuratkul itself, in the area of which there are a lot of places for overnight stays.
"Basically speaking, the distance between Tyulyuk and Zyuratkul is about 40 kilometers and this way is realistic to pass without an overnight stay during one day, that's what I and my son did last year", - Rais Gabitov notes.
Starting from Zyuratkul, the trail passes through incredibly beautiful places
to the village of Veselovka, where there is also a hotel and one of the oldest churches of Zlatoust district. There is a short excursion trail around Veselovka.
The next point of the route is Zlatoust, the city of metallurgists and rocket workers, where it is quite easy to find a place to stay. From this settlement the trail rushes to the Taganai National Park with many shelters and cordons (however, it is not easy to book a place in high season).
From Taganaya Park there is a direct road to Lake Turgoyak, located in the vicinity of Miass, where this route ends.
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Since from 2024 the main trail was supplemented with one more new section: "Uzyan - Shulgan-Tash", now, starting from the Krak Ridge, you can pass through the villages of Uzyan, Verkhny Avzyan, Bainazarovo and Starosubkhangulovo, and this route ends at the Shulgan-Tash cave.
Tourism perspectives
In recent years, the tourist infrastructure of the Southern Urals has been actively expanding. In the mountainous areas, near the most popular peaks and natural attractions, recreation centers, guest houses and tourist shelters are being built, equipment rentals are being opened and auto-touring is being organized.
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Rais Gabitov explains: "The main idea is that people can gradually walk the route, not the whole trail at once - it is physically difficult. The trail is divided into logical segments and includes many entry points with entrances, where you can drive even a passenger car, as well as leave it and find places to sleep. Travelers can choose the sections that interest them the most, visiting them in different years until they have mastered the route completely."
"When designing the trail, we focused on making sure hikers could move light, without tents or a lot of gear for field overnights," Gabitov said.
He emphasizes that the convenience and passability of the route were the main objectives of the team. When planning, they ensured that all important data such as the location of bridges, springs, wells, fords (with descriptions of characteristics and features), campgrounds, stores, hotels, mountain peaks, and scenic locations were displayed on the map. With the help of tags, tourists can simply see that they are following the right route.
Gabitov also assures hikers that the trail does not require special skills or complicated equipment, but it is important to stock up on comfortable shoes, medicines, provisions, water and communication equipment.
He believes that the trail will open up new prospects for tourism in the South Urals: "Our task is to create tourist traffic, that is, to create the trail and popularize it. As soon as there is traffic, businesses will have a reason to think: oh, how good it is, there are many people there, I want to put a cafe or organize a shelter there and I will make money".
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This route, stretching along beautiful places, such as the Bolshoi Shatak and Masim mountain ranges, the Belaya River and mining villages, also introduces tourists who want to spend an active and interesting time with the traditional craft of beekeeping. At the end of the route you can visit the museum and
Shulgan-Tash cave with unique rock paintings.
The South Urals trail is amazingly diverse in its landscapes: there are rocky ridges, majestic stone pillars, rugged kurum placers, tundra plateaus of highlands, curvilinear forests, dense taiga and rushing rivers. All these natural riches make the journey along the route unforgettable.
Although the trail is open throughout the year, the best time to travel is from late May through early October.