Taganay National Park
Taganay is a national park that stretches in an amazing corner of the Southern Urals, between a group of ridges called Taganay. It is located in the western part of the Chelyabinsk region, near the northeastern outskirts of the city called Zlatoust, which is located in the Urals. The entire area of this park is 568 km2. Taganay Park was founded on March 5, 1991. Valuable ecological systems such as moss swamps, mountain meadows, tundra, and relict forests have remained completely untouched in this park.
The Taganay mountain range, which is located at the intersection of two parts of the planet – Asia and Europe, is the bearer of the status of the most picturesque corner in the Urals. Here, nature has founded a unique cocktail of its kind, which consists of mountain rivers, unique stone rivers, exquisite remnants of stones, mountain tundra, podgoltsovy woodlands, ancient mineral mines, as well as relict forests. This park is an amazing place, which is covered with a huge number of legends and tales. The park called Tagan-Ai means "moon stand" in Bashkir. According to legend, in the past, giants lived in these places. The main one, who owned precious stones and untold wealth, had three sons. He didn't give his treasures to anyone, not even his sons, but one day they secretly took the wealth and ran away. The bag was full of holes, and the jewels scattered throughout the Urals, which made it rich in gems. The giant got tired of looking for his sons, and sat down and began to cry. He cried so much that rivers formed around him. The moon, seeing his suffering, comforted him, but when she put him on his shoulder, the giant was stone. And his tears became rivers of stone. Since then, the second name of these places has been "Moon Stand". When the sons realized that they had lost all the jewelry, they decided to go back home. When they saw what had happened to him, they were so scared that they themselves were petrified with fear. According to local residents, animals and birds are afraid to walk near the Three Brothers rocks, and tourists avoid them. But earlier these places were favored by the Old Believers, who conducted their secret rituals here. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Old Believers hid in the forests, who disguised their dugouts among granite boulders, windfall and moss so that the uninitiated had no chance of finding them.
The highest point of the Taganay ranges is a mountain called Kruglitsa, which is located at an altitude of 1,178 meters, got its name due to its characteristic rounded shape. It attracts a huge number of psychics, esotericists, as well as occultists. Various sacred signs can be seen painted on the stones. In addition, there are a huge number of small seids, which are built of stones stacked on top of each other. According to the pilgrims, the peak has a special energy that has positive properties. And travelers believe that any wishes they make on a Round table will certainly come true.
In the rocky area, which is located between Kruglitsa and the Response Ridge, there is an extraordinary natural monument called the Valley of Fairy Tales. This monument is a kind of site of a low-growing podgolts forest, where peaks rise from unusual remnants of stones. There are also sandy paths, steep cliffs, clearings overgrown with forests and meadows. Near the foot of the Taganay cliffs, there is such an attraction as the stone rivers, which is a chaotic jumble of boulders.
7 km from Zlatoust is the Dvuglavaya Sopka mountain, known for being made of white quartzites that dazzle like snow in the sun. On the south side, the mountain has almost vertical walls and looks like a castle from the outside. This place is called a Climbing wall and here you can meet climbers during training. At an altitude of 690 meters there is a rodinik "White Key". During the analysis of the water, it was revealed that the softness of the water in the spring is higher than that of the melted snow (very little mineral salts). The spring got its name from the white quartz stones, the water in the spring does not exceed 4 ° C even in the hottest weather.
This park is also known for its amazing floral wealth – today approximately 728 species of various plants are registered. Tanaya National Park has 52 species of mammals, 3 species of amphibians, about 130 species of birds, 6 species of reptiles, and 7 species of fish. In the forests of Taganay, predators such as the brown bear, fox, lynx and wolf are often found, while roe deer, wild boars and moose run through the fields. There are a lot of trout swimming in the rivers.
