Today Alexander, Maria and Inna (todays designated interpreter) took us for a drive in the countryside to look at a local geological phenomena called the Lena Pillars. These are eroded stone outcroppings on the banks of the Lena River somewhat south of the city of Yakutsk. The Lonely Planet spends some time describing how to see these pillars from a boat cruise on the Lena River. However at this time of year there are no boat cruises as the river is still full of ice. The first hint that the day would be more adventurous than the above mild description might imply was the start time; 7:00 am. When asked why such an early start we were told that the planned drive was a 500km round trip. In our truck that is at least 2 days. What we did not know at the start of the day was that this would be a fascinating day of off-roading in the mud, driving on the rapidly thawing Lena River, some breathtaking views of the river, its escarpments and forests, and a very enjoyable picnic lunch in (relatively) warm sunshine.

Not far out of Yakutsk we stopped at a monument, to get good luck for the day by tying some ribbons on a monument. Then the driving got underway in earnest. The road transitioned from typical Russian pavement, to typical Russian gravel road and after about 120km into typical Russian track or minor road. With the days introduction over we arrived at the start of a muddy temporary road with evidence of recent use by heavy trucks. We slogged along this for some time before dropping down from the western escapement of the Lena River onto a rocky beach, sometimes muddy and sometimes snow covered beach. Our travels continued along the beach and beach front for the remainder of the outward trip. We passed a number of small villages where people were hard at work cleaning up after winter and water from the rapidly melting snow, cutting wood, fixing buildings and generally doing the usual work of a farm. We saw many old traditional log houses, many newer houses, and even a number of traditional animal winter houses. We saw many Siberian ponies as well as men herding those same horses. All in all it was a fascinating glimpse of Yakutian rural life. We had a delightful picnic lunch on a grassy slope next to the river, walked on the ice, and enjoyed the sun. At this point at about 14:30 Nina and I figured it was probably time to head back; but that was not the plan. To date we had only been through grade 2 of our introduction to Yakutian roads.

After lunch we continued south on the beach, it seemed that we were not close enough to the Pillars to get good photographs. From this point the "road" deteriorated even farther; now we were picking our way over the rocky beach, snow, thick deep mud and standing pools of water (run off from the thaw) at times 2 ft deep. It was beginning to feel like a Washington Jeep Club outing in the spring.

After one particularly challenging patch (a wide expanse of mud and water) we met up with a couple of Alexander's friends who are professional hunters and were in the area plying their trade. They were driving a vehicle called a UAZ (УАЗ-452) Wagon; we have seen a great many of these small vans and they seem to be the preferred vehicle for people that must spend their time carrying small quantities of goods or people on nonexistent roads.

Much to our surprise the plan was that the hunters would load all of us into their UAZ and drive us over the ice to the middle of the river so we could get better photos of the famous Lena Pillars. It was explained to us that the hunters, because of their familiarity with the area, knew which parts of the river were still solid enough to bear the weight of the vehicle and the 7 people. Thankfully it turned out that they did, and we spent an exciting and interesting 30 minutes standing on the ice in the middle of the river.

The return journey was equally as interesting and challenging as the outward journey but if I give too much detail this entry will turn into a book, so let me mention just two. We had one bad moment on the return journey where Alexander had to resort to the full capability of his Nissan Patrol, its 4 wheel drive, diesel engine and locking differentials to get us out of some mud. We also got to see a fine example of rock paintings. A male and female moose. Apparently the moose were accompanied by paintings of people but Nina and I were let down by our eye sights and only saw the moose.

Finally we were returned to our apartment at midnight tired but in all other ways delighted with the days excursion.

I would have to say that although the Lena Pillars were an interesting geological feature, the highlights of the day for Nina and I was the Lena River itself, the vast expanse of white snow and ice that covered it, and the way of life we glimpsed along its shores.