Geyser Lake Aktash

The lake is about thirty metres across and shallow, in larch forest a short walk off the Chuysky Trakt near Aktash, and what makes it worth stopping for is the bottom: springs push blue-grey clay up through the sediment continuously, and it spreads in slow concentric and swirling patterns across the bed, visible through water clear enough to read them precisely. The patterns change over hours and days, so no two visits look the same. The popular name calls it a geyser lake, which is wrong - nothing erupts, there is no heat, and the water is cold; it is cold springs moving silt. It became widely known through photographs in the 2010s and now has a boardwalk, a fee and a car park, and enough footfall that the approach is worn. The Chuysky Trakt itself, the road from Novosibirsk to the Mongolian border, is one of the great drives in Russia.

What you actually see

• The clay patterns - blue-grey silt welling up and spreading in swirls across the bed.
• The clarity - water clear enough to read the patterns precisely.
• The change - a bottom that looks different from one visit to the next.
• The misnomer - no geyser, no heat, just cold springs moving silt.

When to go

May to October; the approach is muddy in spring and the road can be snowbound in winter. One to two hours including the walk.

Honest expectations

Small - the lake is thirty metres across and the visit is short. Nothing erupts, despite the name. The boardwalk and fee arrived with the crowds, and it is busy in the summer season. Entering the water destroys the patterns and is prohibited.

Nearby

Aktash is on the Chuysky Trakt; the Kurai steppe and Kyzyl-Chin are south.