Built by gulag inmates during Stalin’s big purge in the 1930s, this desolate region on the very edge of Europe was given purpose by the rich deposits of coal discovered nearby.

However, what was once the lifeblood of Vorkuta has now disappeared. After the collapse of the U.S.S.R., the mines were privatized, and within a few years, almost all were shut down.

Surrounded by abandoned mines and filled with derelict apartment blocks, the city – which is the coldest place on the continent (clocking in a record -52 degrees C) – is in steep decline.

The population plummeted from 217,000 in the late 1980s to less than 50,000 today. Vorkuta is now Russia’s fastest dying city.

History of Vorkuta

Vorkuta was discovered during an expedition by Russian geologist Georgy Chernov in the early 20th century.

Once Stalin was aware of the vast wealth waiting to be mined there, the region became vital in his efforts to industrialize Russia.

In tandem with the tyrant’s plans to “re-educate” vast swathes of the population (in the “Great Terror” repressions of 1937 and 1938), Gulags were hastily constructed in the district.

Vorkutlag was the largest camp in European Russia. Political prisoners sent there were forced to work the mines and build the necessary infrastructure. From this, Vorkuta was born above the permafrost.

For 25 years, prisoners and exiles battled the elements to transform the remote arctic landscape into one of the largest coal sources of the Soviet Union.

At its height, the complex had 20 mines, roads, and railroads, power stations, and a small community of mining towns. The city of Vorkuta was the hub between them all.

By the 1960s people from all over Russia moved to Vorkuta for the promise of employment and higher salaries offered by the mining industry and surrounding economy.

So much so, in the 1980s Vorkuta could boast of being one of the richest northern cities in the USSR.

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Then the iron curtain fell. The collapse of the Soviet economy set a chain reaction of chaos through communities like Vorkuta.

Industry dried up as the now Russian Federation scrambled to function in a capitalist market economy. Unemployment and inflation grew, crime was rampant, living standards plummeted.

The exodus from Vorkuta began.

Within a short space of time, whole suburbs turned into ghost towns.

Jobless and with no prospects of work for the foreseeable future, many people packed what measly belongings they could and headed for the southern cities of Russia.

To this day, whole apartments still contain the rotting furniture of the last inhabitants to live there, decades ago.

As the community shrank, schools, hospitals, nursery schools, and many other governmental institutions had to close through lack of numbers and investment.

Today, Vorkuta’s population continues to decline every year. Before long a city that once had close to a quarter-million residents will be down to its last few thousand.

Where is Vorkuta?

Visiting Vorkuta today

Vorkuta today is a depressing, desolate place to be. Decaying Soviet block housing is blanketed in heavy snow for most of the year. In many instances, one family may live in a building meant to house 50.

And that’s where the people still live. Across large parts of the city (particularly along the Vorkuta River), apartments have been abandoned long ago. Derelict and forlorn, they stand windowless looking out onto the frozen tundra.

The few mines that still run and connected by old railroad tracks that are desperately in need of repair.

Positioned at the horizon on the edge of town, their distant smokestacks belch black threads into the pale arctic sky.

The city is full of old folk, too tired to leave and with no other options anyway. They huddle in decrepit courtyards, or outside the stores that remain open.

The few children around, jostle in ruined playgrounds under the shadows of old Soviet statues.

The desolation is almost poetic, only if you are lucky enough to not live there.

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Walking around Vorkuta

A dark tourist making a trip to Vorkuta will find vast areas of the city empty and easy to explore.

Many of the aforementioned abandoned homes can be roamed freely; their shelves, wallpapers, curtains, and lamps relics of the 1980s and before.

Vorkuta cannot be classed as a ghost town mind you. The locals who still number in the tens of thousands, live and work amid the ruins.

To them collapsed buildings on the end of the street, or the empty stairwell on the way to their front door is ordinary life.

The lack of infrastructure means that many turn to fishing and hunting to sustain themselves.

Self-made cars are another strange, yet common sight on the streets of Vorkuta. Resourceful locals have built themselves these large tank-like vehicles, known as Karakaty, that enable them to move through the thick, snow-clogged tundra.

The indigenous Nenets also remain. The dwindling community makes a living through reindeer herding. Every autumn, reindeer in their thousands are brought to Vorkuta to be traded.

Outside the city limits, most of the old mining settlements are completely abandoned.

Some, such as Yurshor and Rudnik are worthy of a visit. Once part of the gulag camp system, the dark history attached to these locations makes for a poignant experience.

Whipped by the wind of the cold arctic, these empty ghost towns are both eerie and beautiful in their decay. Nature has taken over, the white-blue vastness surrounding you is nothing but humbling.

Featured Image: f-Lars / CC BY 3.0)

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I have an insatiable wanderlust for the extraordinary. Born with an adventurous spirit, I have spent over the past decade exploring the far reaches of our planet, seeking out the strange and mysterious.

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This part of Siberia is known for something else too, the devastating brutality of its Gulags.

For decades, the name Kadykchan was uttered in hushed tones by anyone unlucky enough to live under Stalinist rule. Nicknamed the “land of the white death,” the town was populated by hundreds of thousands of prisoners relocated for “reeducation” in the local work camps.

Today, Kadykchan is an abandoned ghost town. Situated along the route of the “Road of Bones”, (a highway built by prisoners to connect the many mines of the Kolyma region); it is a place only the most discerning dark tourist is likely to visit.

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The History of Kadykchan

Kadykchan was originally founded during World War II after rich deposits of gold, silver, copper, uranium, cobalt, diamonds, coal where discovered in the region.

The gulag prisoners used to build the town and work the nearby mines endured appalling living conditions. The mortality rate was tragically high.

However, the mines were prosperous. After the death of Stalin in 1953 and subsequent closure of the gulags, many of the former prisoners stayed on in Kadykchan to continue working the pits.

Although now free men, the conditions were still harsh. The Far Eastern Federal District in which the city is situated is one of the most remote areas of the former Soviet Union.

The long, cold winters and almost constant permafrost meant that the growing season was reduced to a mere three months. It was not an easy place to live.

All that said, by the 1980s, Kadykchan had a population close to 10,000 people. Gradual modernization had taken place (in line with Soviet levels of progress) and there was a collective infrastructure comparable to other industrial cities in Siberia.

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The collapse of Communism

The eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting disruption to the value and level of coal production spelled doom for Kadykchan and its residents.

It wasn’t long before people were fleeing the town in droves, many for larger cities miles from Kolyma.

The town faced further problems in 1996 after a pit explosion claimed six lives. This was the proverbial nail in the coffin for the mine that was already destined for closure.

Throughout the 1990s the population of Kadykchan dropped from over 10,000 people, to under 300. By the early 2000s, there were very few people left.

The turn of the century also saw the Russian government offer the remaining inhabitants meager subsidies in an effort to convince them to relocate.

As of the 2010 Census, it had no recorded population. A deathly silence had settled upon Kadykchan. It is now the largest ghost town in Siberia.

Where is Kadykchan?

The town is just off the Kolyma Highway, approximately 1,300km from Yakutsk and 700km from Magadan. The closest city is Susuman, (100km in the direction of Magadan).

Visiting Kadykchan Today

Since many of the residents left unceremoniously, packing just essential belongings and heading by train to other parts of Russia, Kadykchan is now eerily filled with the decaying relics that were left behind.

Aging posters peel from walls, furniture lays haphazardly among ruined apartments, and rusted cars dot empty streets.,

Battered by glacial winds for much of the year, and hidden within the frequent snowy fog, to say a visit to Kadykchan is a melancholic experience is an understatement. It really does feel like the edge of the known world.

A walk through the town offers such apocalyptic sights as dilapidated, Soviet apartment blocks, decaying children’s play areas, and a cultural center whose façade still displays the word Sevodnya, (an announcement for the entertainment of the day).

To remind one further of the communist links, a bust of Lenin is still visible in the central town square.

Evidence that this was once a bustling town is everywhere. Enter one of the town’s larger schools and old textbooks litter the floor, equipment lays smashed in the science labs and gym gear can still be found in a ruined sports hall.

The old city cinema can also be explored. It is not hard to imagine a crowd of moviegoers enjoying the latest cinematic release in what are now rows of torn and broken seats.

Like many ghost towns of the communist era, a walk through Kadykchan is to travel through time.

Good to know

Vistors to Kadykchan enter at their own risk. There are potential health and safety issues and the Russian government has not opened the site to tourists, i.e there is no infrastructure to support you being there.

Roads throughout Kadykchan are not passable to traffic due to debris and decay. You are advised to park close by and to cover the town on foot.

Featured Image: Laika ac from USA / CC BY-SA

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I have an insatiable wanderlust for the extraordinary. Born with an adventurous spirit, I have spent over the past decade exploring the far reaches of our planet, seeking out the strange and mysterious.

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These were great adventures, however, there is one route that has a firm place on my bucket list: The Road of Bones in Russia.

This has to be one of the most epically, bleak road trips anyone can ever hope to take.

Officially known as the R504 Kolyma Highway, this enormous road stretches for 1,262 miles (2,031 km) through the Russian Far East. Considered by some, and not unfairly, as beyond the edge of the world.

The endpoints of the road are Nizhny Bestyakh to the west and Magadan, infamous for its Soviet gulags to the east.

And how did it come by the name “Road of Bones”? A simple, tragic truth. It is estimated that over 250,000 people died during its construction, their bodies unceremoniously laid beneath or around the road as the workers soldiered on.

Construction of the Kolymá Highway

The road gets its official name because it passes through the region of Kolymá. The territory is best known for the many Gulags that were built there.

Thousands of zeks (political prisoners) were sent to Kolymá. One of the motives being the rich deposits of gold and minerals located there.

However, despite the fact Stalin had been using forced gulag labor in the area since 1929, the only possible year-round access was via boat from Khabarovsk.

This was cumbersome and unreliable. In an effort to speed up production, a road was required along with more workers.

A total of 80 concentration camps were built in the Kolymá region to meet the demand. Led by the Latvian Eduard Berzin, an officer of the Cheka Political Police, a great purge was conducted across the entire Soviet Union to build and fill the gulags.

In 1932 the construction of the city of Magadán and the Kolymá highway finally began. The cheapest way to do this of course was by the use of prisoners.

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Death on the Road of Bones

It is said that the Kolymá highway cost one death for every meter of road built. Conditions were horrific.

The prisoners had little more than shovels and wheelbarrows to build over 1,000 miles of road in some of the harshest terrains on earth outside of the poles.

The grueling work was undertaken in all weathers. In winter, temperatures could drop to minus 50 degrees, in summer the mosquitoes could drive you insane. On top of this were the hunger and brutality.

In the majority of cases, prisoners worked until they literally dropped dead. And when this happened the sentries did not order for the bodies to be buried. Corpses were simply left inside the foundations of the road. Flesh made for good mortar, bones were a handy substitute for stone.

To traverse the Road of Bones today is to travel a mass grave of many thousands of corpses.

Where is the Kolymá Highway

Driving the Kolymá Highway Today

Traveling the Road of Bones is not for the faint-hearted. For most of the year, the route is covered by snow or mud and is considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world.

It is also incredibly remote. Locals call the road ‘Trassa’ (“The Route”) as no other road exists in the region.

In fact, it is worth knowing that the safest time to tackle the Kolymá highway is during the winter.

Armed with sufficient supplies and equipment to withstand the cold, the route is at least firm and more predictable in the freezing months.

In spring, the melting snow fills the road with mud and debris from the ice-flows. The formally frozen rivers are also more difficult to pass.

To add to the dangers there is also the threat of hungry bears and ticks; the latter which transmit encephalitis, a particularly debilitating ailment you do not want in such depopulated areas.

But do not let all of this put you off, it only adds to the adventure.

Must-see Sights along the Road of Bones

The best way to drive the road of bones is to fly into Magadan and make that your starting point.

Motorcycle or 4×4 is the only way you are really going to make the entire journey and these can be rented in Magadan. Organized tours along the Kolymá highway also start from here.

If you are arranging the road trip yourself, there are some essential pitstops that should form part of your itinerary. They are as follows:

Dneprovskiy Gulags

About 300km west of Magadan is the abandoned Dneprovskiy Gulag. This is one of the most intact Gulags in Siberia due to the fact the Soviets attempted to destroy all existing remains of other camps before the fall of the Union.

As you arrive in the Dneprovskiy region you will need to take a small track leading off the highway to the right.

Travel this for approximately 20km and you will arrive at the ghostly carcass of the former gulag concentration camp.

Isolated deep in the taiga forest the site has not been touched by any kind of tourism authority.

What you see is how the gulag looked 80 years ago, only weathered by time and the elements.

You will be able to explore the camp completely alone. Be sure to check out the old watchtowers and mines on the perimeter of the main camp complex.

Kolyma Remembrance Museum

Further west along the Road of Bones you will find Yagodnoye. From 1949 until 1957, the town was the administrative center of the nearby SevLag forced labor camp.

There is a Kolyma Rememberance museum located here that must be visited. With the sights of Dneprovskiy Gulag fresh in your mind, you will surely be affected.

The museum contains thousands of photographs of former prisoners. Artifacts from the camps are on display as are the work tools and objects that once belonged to the incarcerated.

Kadykchan – Abandoned Coal Mining Community

The coal-mining community of Kadykchan was founded during World War Two. However, the depleted deposits led to the town being abandoned in the early 2000s.

This is an extraordinary ghost town that you should definitely check out. Devoid of human life the town is being taken over by the enveloping Taiga forest.

Dilapidated blocks of flats with broken windows and doors still contain furniture that once belonged to the former inhabitants. Old cars rust along deserted streets.

The town is like a scene from a post-apocalyptic zombie movie. Riveting and creepy in equal measures, especially when you stop to consider that you are probably the only human around for several hundred miles.

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Oymyakon – The Coldest Settlement on Earth

Further along on the Kolymá highway, you will reach Oymyakon; often referred to as “The Pole of Cold”.

In this village of indigenous Yakuts and Evenki, (the only peoples that can physically withstand the intense cold) the coldest temperature in any settlement on earth was recorded: -71.2C.

Stop by, just to say you have visited the coldest village on earth.

Oymyakon to Khandyga – Scenic Beauty

There are no landmarks along this section of the highway as such, however, you will be awestruck by the spectacular scenery.

This part of the Road of Bones features pristine lakes with the backdrop of forest and mountain.

In some places, the road has simply been etched out of the mountain rock, affording incredible views across the valley.

Khandyga to Yakutsk – Ferry Crossing Adventures

The drive from Khandyga to Yakutsk will involve two river crossings; the Aldan and the Lena.

This is done via regular transit ferries. Organizing boarding permission on these with the local captains is an adventure in itself. But the services are regular so no need to book in advance.

The region is one of the world’s biggest producers of diamonds, (it also exports large amounts of gold, oil, and gas) so expect to see trucks loaded with expensive cargo as you travel this section of the road.

Spend some time in Yakutsk once you reach the city as there is a number of things to do here.

It also represents the end of the journey for most travelers. The airport is relatively well connected (there are regular direct flights to Moscow) and the endpoint of the Road of Bones is at nearby Nizhny Bestyakh.

For all intense and purposes, you have completed the route once you reach the city.

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The Old Summer Road – For the Intrepid

For lovers of high adventure (and are confident with either the 4×4 or off-road motorbike), The Old Summer Road section needs to be traversed when taking the Road of Bones.

It involves a slight detour, however. After the Russian government upgraded part of the Kolyma Highway in 2008, they bypassed a 200km sector between Tomtor and Kadykchan.

This section (called the Old Summer Road) has now been left to the Siberian wilderness for over a decade. With collapsed bridges, often flooded roads, and deserted settlements along the route you really are at the mercy of fate when you take it. Good luck if you try.

Featured Image: Missy Leone / CC BY

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Stew Baxter

I have an insatiable wanderlust for the extraordinary. Born with an adventurous spirit, I have spent over the past decade exploring the far reaches of our planet, seeking out the strange and mysterious.

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