Term: 3 days, 2 nights
Day 1:
From Utena we go to the little town of Tauragnai (about 13 km from Utena). Tauragnai is a
very old settlement established in the XIV century. It is recorded as one of the first 7
parishes of Lithuania.
We begin the tour in
Tauragnai, by the bridge of lake Tauragnas. The banks of this lake are generally steep and
high, apart from the south bank, which is in the eastern part of the lake. The land
surrounding lake Tauragnas is hilly and covered in forest. There are plenty of fish in the
lake: vendace, smelt, whitefish and others. Two short-term campsites for tourists are
located on the north bank of the lake.
We canoe farther into the
broadening lake about 4 km and on the right bank is one of the highest hills of Lithuania,
Taurapilis. We will pass a long peninsula behind which the right bank sinks down and some
streams enter the lake. In the eastern part of Tauragnas are two inlets and between them
is the village of Varniškes. From lake Tauragnas, a stream flows about 4,7 km to lake
Pakasas. It is very swift, stony, winding and in some places fouled with debris. Here we
will go by canoe only intermittently, often we will tow the canoes and in some places we
will carry them. At the end of the stream are the ruins of a watermill and a damaged dam.
We will carry the canoes from Varniškės to Stripeikiai and lake Pakasas (about 2.5 km).
We will continue the trip through lake Pakasas, which is deep, in some places 17 m deep.
The northeast bank is high and covered by thick forest the southwest bank is low and
marshy. On the northeast side is a campsite where we will stay for the night.
Day 2: In
the morning we continue the tour on lake Pakasas. In the southeast bay, near the village
of Ruškėnai, we will find the 250 m long Žvėrinčiaus dam hidden in the reeds.
Emerging from under a little bridge we enter lake Ukojas whose length is 3 km and depth
30.5 m. The line of the bank undulates and the northeast bank is steep and high. Between
the lakes Ūkojas and Linkmenas are two hills, Papiliakalnės and Ginučiai.
A rather deep stream, which
is about 100 m long, connects lake Ūkojas and the bowl like lake Alksnaitis. Lake
Alksnaitis also connects to lakes Alksnas and Linkmenas.
We will canoe and fish in
lakes Alksnaitis and Alksnas. Later we will canoe to the high-shored lake of Linkmenas.
The southwest bank of this lake is high, steep and covered by forests. Lake Linkmenas,
like Alksnaitis, is joined to three lakes: Alksnaitis, in the south, Alksnykščiai, in
the east and Asėkas, in the north. On the southwest bank of lake Linkmenas, in the land
that separates lakes Ūkojas and Linkmenas, is the highest hill in the Utena region,
Ladakalnis. From the crest of the hill you can see the surroundings for a great distance
including, ten lakes. It is one of the most beautiful places in Aukštaitija.
Next we will go to lake
Asėkas upstream of the Asėka River, which is deep and full of fish. Asėkas Lake is a
little shallow; the banks, except the northeast one, are low, wet and marshy. In the
northwest, the stream Srovės flows to the lake.
We will row against the
strong current of the Srovės for about 2.5 km. Then we will come to the source of the
Srovės, lake Almajas. Lake Almajas has an abundance of fish especially, pike and
roach. The northeast bank of the lake is high, dry and covered by pine woods. There is a
short-term tourist campsite where we will stay.
Day 3:
After spending a night and resting in the campsite, we will canoe the Almaja River and
come back to the Srovės. We will again canoe against the strong current of the Srovės to
the small town of Ginučiai. We transfer through the 2 m high dike of the Ginučiai mill.
Lake Sravinaičio is near here. We will take the shallow and fast flowing stream
Skriogžlės from lake Sravinaičio for a half of kilometer to lake Baluošas.
As opposed to most of the
lakes of Lithuania, lake Baluošas extends from northwest to southeast.
There are many islands in this lake. The total combined area of the islands is about 7.19
ha. One of the islands has a small lake, which is about 7.7 m deep. The banks of Baluošas
are mostly very low and winding with the southwest section being a little higher. The bank
is mostly sand and gravel. The stream Būka flows into the north side of the lake. We will
continue our trip traveling up the Būka where we will see the little ethnographic
villages of Strazdai and Šuminai.
The little village of
Strazdai is a settlement of the former forest guards of the Ažvinčiai forest. Šuminai
is also a settlement of the former forest guards dating back to the XVI century. Only 1 km
separates lake Baluošas and lake Dringis. We will carry our canoes and gear from lake
Baluošas to lake Dringis here.
Dringis is the largest lake
of this region it has lots of bays, backwaters and capes. There are five islands, whose
combined area is about 4.8 ha, located in the lake. The banks of the lake are mostly
covered by forest, but there are also large sandy areas. A stream, Dumblynė, flows
from the south end of Dringis Lake and after 0.6 km flows into lake Dringykštis. From
lake Dringykštis, another stream flows 0.6 km to lake Lūšiai. The west and southeast
banks of Lūšiai lake are high, the south and north somewhat low and marshy. Palūšė is
located on the high east bank of the lake. Palūšė is famous not only for the beautiful
landscape with forest covered hills and rippled lakes, but also for the interesting church
built from the axe hewn pine logs. In Palūšė we finish the trip by canoe and return to
Utena.
Length of itinerary: about
110 km |
