Kolyma Highway @ 2912km
Road of Bones
The Kolyma Highway is one of the most dangerous roads in the world. The biggest risk by far is death by car accident due to unsafe driving, bad roads, unmaintained vehicles, or a combination of all three. A local proverb advises "the slower you go, the faster you'll get there".
Independent travel in Kolyma is serious adventure, with the very real possibility of death. The area is essentially lawless, undeveloped, barely populated, and unbelievably remote. Just getting to either terminus at Magadan or Yakutsk is an adventure in itself - travelling along the road makes this look like buying a bus fare in comparison. Every year dozens of people die in the region from drowning, freezing, car accidents, starvation, tick-borne encephalitis, alcohol poisoning, fires, crime, wild animals, or just disappear.
Many towns lack police, but not people with financial problems, so either camp out of town or don't look rich. Drunken people are more common in winter, and can occasionally be bothersome. Bears and other wildlife enjoy a fearsome reputation but very few actual recorded fatalities. Bears in Russia are less accustomed to people than in North America, have ample food resources in the wild, and are very frightened of people.
Immediately after joining the Koylma highway, we come to the Konevodcheskaya Baza Yakutskikh Loshadey (a travellers lodge). Unfortunately, it isn't on Expedia, and it doesn't take online bookings :)
World's Most Dangerous Roads:
https://www.dangerousroads.org/eastern-europe/russia/48-federal-highway-russia.html
Russia Beyond, about building the road
https://www.rbth.com/history/333033-road-bones-kolyma-gulag
Fantastic NY Times Article
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/22/world/europe/russia-stalin-gulag-kolyma-magadan.html
Quotes from Koylma Tales
https://www.rbth.com/arts/literature/2017/07/27/7-quotes-shalamov-kolyma-tales_811380
Calvert Journal - fascinating Koylma Tales with wonderful photos
https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/10515/kolyma-stories-varlam-shalamov-siberia-gulags