Srednekolymsk (2018km)

When the Russians arrived in the 1640s, they built three forts on the Kolyma: Nizhnekolymsk, Srednekolymsk, and Verkhnekolymsk (i.e., lower, middle, and upper Kolymsk). They were about three days sled journey apart. Nizhnekolymsk was on the delta near the route to Anadyrsk. Srednekolymsk was at the head of navigation by seagoing koches, in forested country for good fur trapping and on the overland route to the Indigirka River.

Polar bear returned to Srednekolymsk after wandering too far South:

https://siberiantimes.com/ecology/others/news/wanderlust-polar-bear-cub-is-caught-700-km-too-far-south-and-will-now-go-to-zoo/

LINK 1: New York Times article: more about the impact of melting permafrost and some very interesting photos. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/04/world/europe/russia-siberia-yakutia-permafrost-global-warming.html

LINK 2: Blog entry by Swiss traveller, Syril Eberhart, with his insights into daily life, hospitality, and photos of Srednekolmynsk involving snow and ice (so this is what we’ll see at this time of year.) https://www.footprintless.org/2018/03/13/srednekolymsk-a-week-on-an-oasis-in-the-taiga/

LINK 3: Blog entries by Swedish photographer-explorer, Mikael Strandberg. https://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/tag/srednekolymsk/

LINK 4: No photos, but for those who read French, a fascinating account of the way the prison camps - both from the 19th and 20th centuries - are memorialised (or not). The account starts in the regional capital Yakutsk (further along our route) but then heads to Srednekolmynsk:

https://www.memoires-en-jeu.com/varia/memoire-orale-et-museographie-en-siberie-orientale/

LINK 5: Just a reminder of how dangerous our journey is. This incident took place to the east of Srednekolmynsk in 2018, when it was only minus 18 (we’re in minus 23-30). Note especially the comments by the pilot:

https://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/four-people-in-miracle-rescue-in-far-north-of-yakutia-after-getting-lost-in-taiga-at-18c/