Sakhalin Mud Volcano

September is a beautiful time on Sakhalin.  All of the trees begin to change colors and hues of yellows, oranges and reds dominate the forests.  One of our summer goals was to make it to the mud volcano and two weeks ago we did, on October 5th.  That happens to be the date that Red and I went on our first date EIGHT years ago!  Who could have guessed that our conversations over gelato at Tuscany's in College Station, TX would in time lead to marriage and to such a deep friendship full of global adventures.  Eight years have passed in the blink of an eye.  I wonder where we will be in eight more years and what our family will look like then.

Back to the mud volcano though, it's not the volcano we were extremely interested in, but more the path by which one gets there.  Our bus took us to the end of one of the train lines.  In the past, there was a Japanese built railroad that ran from Yuzhno Sakhalinsk (the city we live in) in the central valley, through the mountains to the west coast port of Kholmsk.  The path to the mud volcano follows the former railroad for about 6kms, through 2 tunnels, one snow protection tunnel and gorgeous forest and colors.  Take a look...

Red at our first lookout point.  In the distance, you can barely see Yuzhno.

Elvira and I ready for the first tunnel :)

The first tunnel was the shortest.

Guarding the tunnels were tiny Japanese bunkers.  Red has commandeered this one!

Here we go!

One tunnel down, another to go...

The snow protection tunnel.  The supports on the left are made from old railroad tracks.

Red captured a cool shot.

EIGHT years!!!! (And he's still carrying me around!)

We made it to the mud volcano! And no, it's not hot, the mud is actually quite cold.

Alina, Elvira and I :)

Love this man!

:)

 Red and I took some cool up close shots of a few of the CO2 vents...

And while the vents themselves are quite small, we were surprised to see how large the area was that is affected by the mud volcano.

Red by one of the little vents

Our view

Our group

Another group shot

Walking back toward the train station

The hike home

We had a great time visiting the mud volcano and we really enjoyed the hike/walk to get there. 

Until next time!