Lake Jack London

The lake lies at around eight hundred metres in the Bolshoy Annachag range, ten kilometres long and narrow, clear and cold, held between ridges with larch forest on the lower slopes and bare rock and snow patches above, with a scatter of small islands. Around it are further lakes - Nevidimka, Serpentine, the Danish lakes - connected by walking routes, and the country is otherwise empty. The name is the odd part: the usual account is that a geological survey party in the 1930s found a volume of Jack London near the shore, or that a member simply proposed the name, and it stuck, which is how an American writer ended up attached to a lake in the Kolyma highlands. Access is off the Kolyma highway and then a rough track that needs an off-road vehicle, with the last stretch sometimes walked. There are basic huts and camping, and the fishing is good.

What you actually see

• The lake - ten kilometres of clear cold water between ridges at eight hundred metres.
• The connected lakes - Nevidimka, Serpentine and others on walking routes around.
• The name - attached by a 1930s survey party, by most accounts on a whim.
• The emptiness - highland country with essentially nobody in it.

When to go

July to September; the season is short and snow lies late. Three days to a week including the drive from Magadan.

Honest expectations

Six hundred kilometres from Magadan, the last stretch on a track needing an off-road vehicle. No services, signal or rescue. Bears are present. Mosquitoes and blackfly in July are extreme. Weather turns fast and snow is possible in summer.

Nearby

The Kolyma highway runs south to Magadan; Yagodnoye is the last settlement of size.