One of the most picturesque rivers of the Sverdlovsk region attracts not only with its fascinating rafting on mountain rapids, but also with “quiet” hunting and fishing. For lovers of outdoor activities with a backpack on their shoulders, the Tagil River is one of the typical taiga routes that will let you feel the obstinacy of mountain rivers and the calmness of the lower reaches with the scent of meadow herbs.
Where is Tagil?
The source of the river is located near Mount Pereval, in the spectacular Red Mountains range, which is the ancestor of many rivers of the Middle Urals. Seven kilometers from this place is the city of Novouralsk, which is famous for its significant contribution to the nuclear future of Russia. The Tagil flows mainly to the northeast and is the right tributary of the Tura, one of the most significant rivers in the Sverdlovsk region.
They meet near the village of Bolotovskoye, which is located near the village of Sankino: only sixteen kilometers away. To navigate and more accurately understand where it is, you need to find Nizhny Tagil on the map: this cityis located north of Yekaterinburg, it is on it that the desired river is located.
Description and characteristics
The length of the Tagil River is 412 kilometers, and the water basin spreads over more than 10,100 square kilometers (for comparison: the area of the entire Sverdlovsk region is 195 thousand square kilometers). In the upper reaches the river is quite turbulent, with dangerous rapids and dams, and closer to the lower reaches it becomes a calmer, flat river with a slow flow.
The river covers three important reservoirs of the Urals: Nizhne- and Verkhnetagilskoe and Lenevskoe, being part of the water system of the Irtysh district. The forests in the river district are mostly taiga, with a predominance of coniferous trees and dense shrubs, and the farther inland from settlements, the more often wolves, elks and lynxes are found, foxes and hares are regulars, and sometimes brown bears can also be found. In addition to numerous waterfowl, you can meet black grouse and capercaillie, as well as hazel grouse.
There are two significant cities on the river: Verkhny and Nizhny Tagil, on the map you can see in more detail how winding the river is and how numerous its tributaries are. Its main food is snow and due to tributaries.
Main tributaries of Tagil
The river has about forty tributaries of different lengths and distances from the mouth:
- Barancha - stretches for 70 km.
- Vyya, about 34 km long, connects with the main river within the city of Nizhny Tagil.
- Salda reaches a length of 122 km and is considered one of the most important tributaries that feed the riverTagil.
- Mugai is the second most important tributary, originates in the Mugai swamps and stretches for 88 km.
- Kyrtomka is about 81 km long, starting at 140 meters above sea level.
The nature of the mountain river is visible from the rapids
Before reaching twenty kilometers to the village of Tagilskoye, there is a two-stage Pryanishnikovsky rift on the river, and after it, between Tagilskoye and the village of Morshinino, the rifts are already more difficult and dangerous: a three-hundred-meter zigzag, crushed by large boulders, randomly lying and tearing the main stream of the river. After a short break, there is another one after turning left.
Further along the river, the right bank becomes steeper and higher, rising up to a hundred meters high granite cliffs, and before confluence with the Salda tributary, the Tagil River begins to wind strongly between the hills and gradually becomes much deeper and more full-flowing, despite the same width (about 45 meters).
After the mouth with Salda, another kilometer threshold begins, somewhat similar to Morshinin, and after it another eight smaller and simpler ones.
Before reaching Tolstovaya, the river becomes twenty meters wider, mountains and forest give way to water meadows and settlements.
Origin of the name of the river
The origin of the name is a topic of long-standing discussions between historians, linguists and local historians. According to the generally accepted and widespread version, the word "tagil" in translation from Vogul means "high water, a lot of water", but this option is constantlydisputed by linguists, who lean towards two more interesting versions.
- The most primitive version: in translation from the Tatar language, "tag" is "more", and "yl" (yul - according to some sources) is translated as "river". This version is little loved by historians due to its lack of persuasiveness.
- "Tag" in ancient Turkic means mountain, "el" - homeland or country. That is, initially Tagil is not a river, it is a mountainous country, and the name of the area determined the name of the river in the future.
- There is a Kazakh translation: "tagyly" is a place with wild animals, or a place rich in game.
Which of the translations is valid, only long-dead ancestors know, but all versions have their own reason and hidden meaning.
Tagil Pond
An artificial reservoir with a sandy bottom with an area of about ten square kilometers extends to Lenin Avenue in the city of Nizhny Tagil, and starts near the village of Nikolo-Pavlovskoye, in the Gornouralsky district. The Tagil River crosses this pond and extends further north.
Almost all the shores of the Tagil Pond are occupied by various economic facilities, sanatoriums and beaches, residential areas, only the southern part is little developed - the area is swampy in places, but "wild" tourists and fishing enthusiasts still often stop there, in the distance away from the hustle and bustle. The depth of the pond reaches two meters, which makes it possible for fish farms to actively breed freshwater fish. Amongavid fishermen have a saying: "If you want to catch a significant fish, go to Tagil." A favorite place for fishing is at the dam at the entrance to Tagil, where pike and perch, ide and golden carp, burbot and bream are perfectly caught. Moreover, fishermen claim that fish are caught in this place at any time of the year and day.
Historical facts about the Tagil River
Between the villages of Balakino and Makhnevo, which are spread out on the shore, there is a rocky ridge, on which rock paintings with ocher dated back 5 thousand years have been preserved. Images of local wildlife continue to beckon archaeologists and local historians.
In 1852, Ermak Timofeevich, the Siberian conqueror, made his famous campaign along the Tagil River towards the Tura River.
The first Siberian tract was laid along Tagil for the colonists who were looking for a new life and their lands. A few years later, the tract was moved to a safer location, but the river still keeps the secrets of the first pioneers of the Ural land.
A few kilometers from the village of Yasva is Bolshoy Balaban, which is a national botanical monument of nature. Here once was one of the sites of the legendary Cossack ataman Yermak, on which his associates Vasiliev and Kashin founded a settlement.
Stone bear - the pride of the Urals
At 18 kilometers from Nizhny Tagil, on the bank of the river, there is the famous Bear-Stone: a rock mass about 288 meters high, from a distance similar to a sleeping beast. This place was chosen by climbers and climbers for their training days, because the rocks here aremostly syenite (a rock similar to granite but without quartz).
This place is also valuable because in the rock at a height of seventy meters there is a grotto with traces of an ancient man. It is noteworthy that this is the only site of primitive man known to the world in the Ural region. Opposite this historical place, there is another, no less valued by historians - this is the Yermakov settlement, where the brave traveler spent the winter in the distant 1852 and built boats for rafting along the river towards new lands.
