Hiking in North Caucasus. Wolves at Teberda

1. Teberda

This story took place when I was ascending the pass Muhu near Teberda.
Teberda is the name of a mountain river in Karachay-Cherkessia. This river is the left tributary of the Kuban. Many popular hiking trips in the North Caucasus begin in the upper of the Teberda. The last little town on the way to the mountains is also called Teberda. Even higher up the river is the famous tourist village of Dombay. But, if you are going to go on a not very difficult hike through completely abandoned  places, it is better to start it from Teberda. You can get to Teberda by minibus from the regional center of Karachay-Cherkessia Cherkessk. Teberda is home to 9,000 people and is located at an altitude of about 1300 m . above sea level. The first stop in the settlement is called Muhu. Muhu is a small river that flows into the Teberda River from the west. You can start your hike by climbing up the Muhu Gorge. In the lower part of the gorge there is a forest, and for the most part there is a dirt road. The road is replaced by a steep climb. It leads to the pass itself, which is also called Muhu. This pass is uncategorical and is located at an altitude of 2764 m .
If you go down from the pass to the West, you get into the Malaya Marka gorge. Malaya Marka or Kichy Msrka is a river. It flows into the Big Marka. A Malaya Marka can be crossed by wading. It is necessary to cross the river, because the path down to the Big Mark goes only along the left bank of the Malaya Marka. But you can cross the river only when there is no rain in the mountains. In rainy weather, the river overflows, becomes very stormy and it is very dangerous to cross it.

2. The hiking to Muhu pass

I went on this hike in 2005, if I haven't forgotten. I was going to drive to Teberda from Cherkessk to climb the mountains along the Muhu River to the west to Muhu pass. I arrived in Teberda only in the evening, and therefore I did not have time to reach the pass that day. I saw the pass when it started to get dark, and I had to think about sleeping. That day I walked for probably six hours without stopping, and therefore I was very tired. When I was putting up my tent, I noticed the horses that were quite far away from me.
I started falling asleep in my sleeping bag. Suddenly, very close by, I heard a growl, a trampling and the clanging of a bell. Looking out of the tent, I saw horses running around me in the dark. Growled, of course, the stallion.
I afraid of the horses and tried to drive them away by shouting. But it was useless. They were running around my tent, laughing all night, and any one of them could have stepped on me. I didn't fall asleep that night. The horses have leaved me only in the morning. It was strange that the horses never let a stranger get close to them, this time they came to me themselves.

In the morning I packed up, put my backpack on my back and went up to the pass. The bright sun was in my eyes, but soon I saw the mares that were waiting for me by the road. There were about twenty of them, and near each of them lay a month-old foal. All the foals were lying on the grass and basking in the sun, and their mothers stopped grazing and stared at me.  It was as if they wanted to understand what kind of weapon I had against the wolf they were afraid of. I recognised that the frightened animals were looking for protection from predators from me. It became clear to me that my tent was in a double environment. The frightened horses were running closer to me, and further behind them, obviously, there were wolves. And if I was uncomfortable that night, then what did the foals go through then?
Although, perhaps, because of their smallness, they did not understand anything that night.

3. Wolves in the mountains

I told this story later to the shepherd Natsby. It was when I went hiking from the village of Arkhyz through the Teberdinsky National Reserve. At that time I had to go up Arkhyz to the Arkhyz Saddle pass, cross the reserve along the ridge and reach the Ozerny Pass. From the pass I was going to descend into the Maruha Gorge.
To get into the reserve, you need to get a pass here in the administration of the reserve. After the Arkhyz Saddle pass, there is no more forest. And then the route passes by five incredibly beautiful mountain lakes.
When I passed the last lake, I noticed a herd of horses, and then there was a hut of shepherds. I went to hut and acquainted a herder. It was a Karachai man who called himself Natsby.
He told me that wolves often appear near his sheep. A small river separated his pasture from the Arkhyz section of the Teberdinsky Reserve. In the reserve, wolves, as its inhabitants, were under the protection of the law, but they chose to hunt outside of it.
"The wolf is cunning," Natsby said, "he attacks the herd when it's foggy or raining. - But there are no problems with horses. If the stallion is strong, he will always protect his herd even from a pack of wolves.
 Another shepherd, whom I met in the mountains of Karachay-Cherkessia, told me that a wolf sometimes manages to outwit a foal. It happens that a predator lies down near the herd and waits for hours. And it happens that some curious foal, he comes to look at an incomprehensible beast.

4. Puzly

The work of a shepherd in the mountains is very dangerous. Once I spent the night in the shepherd's house Puzly. Puzzles said that he was an experienced rider. In his younger years, he even worked as a herdsman. And despite this, trouble happened to him a few years ago. While he was riding, a small dog attacked his horse. The dig "A little shepherd" began to bite the horse's legs. It was a young horse. The horse frightened, threw him. Puzlу fell on a small stone, because of this he had a hip fracture. He was operated on, steel spokes were implanted in his bones, and he became disabled. However, he still had to live somehow, and Puzl again every day to get into the saddle.
Following the sheep, he again ascends  to such steeps on horseback, where most ordinary mortals will never climb. Puzzles take turns every day with their friend another shepherd visiting each other. In the mountains, he says, something can happen to a person every day.