Water on Chatyr Dag

On the plateau itself there is only one source (good) - Kur-Tair (or Kurtair). Approximate GPS coordinates 44°47'54.51"N 34°18'32.82"E It is located near the Onyx-Tour base "Tochka" at the fork of routes 127 and 126 (according to the 500-meter map "across the mountainous Crimea, updated"). Route 126 is the Donkey Trail, 127 is the so-called red trail to the Sosnovka tourist site. The spring is hidden in a small ditch just north of the path to Sosnovka, about 200 meters east of the dirt road connecting “Tochka” with the Emine-Bair cave. On the map of Chatyr Dag this source is indicated too close to the road, which is not true. The spring is very small, the water flows over the surface only a few meters, after which it is lost in the stones. There is very little water in this source, especially in summer. You can fill the bottles only with the help of a mug, placing it under a thin stream “spouting” from an iron pipe. Last July, it took me more than 5 minutes to fill a 1.5 liter bottle. You can imagine this "flow".

Breaking all tourist traditions, there are practically no parking lots near the source. The place here is too open, and completely devoid of firewood. Tourists from all over Chatyr Dag come here to drink and, having stocked up on water, scatter again through the bushes and caves.

Is there an alternative? Until mid-May, islands of snow can be found on the lower Chatyr Dag plateau. In some caves the snow remains for even longer. However, don't think that finding them is easy.  There is snow all year round (albeit a bit dirty) in the Khabazi (Snow) cave. There are lakes in the Vyalova cave and Emine-Bair-Kobe (Three-Eyes). Somewhere in the center of the lower plateau at the beginning of the ascent to the upper plateau of Chatyr Daga in the forest there is a hut of the legendary cave seeker - Megel. Near the hut there is a hole with a spring covered with a piece of iron. The spring is weak “single” - about 4 liters per day. Another trace of Megel in the Emka cave. This is such a small hole in the stones to the north through the funnel from Yelochka (Uchanju-Khosar). The letter M is carved into the tree above the entrance.

There is also a spring in Barsuchaya Polyana - Domchi Kaya. Approximate GPS coordinates 44°46'47.95"N 34°16'3.02"E. I haven’t seen it myself. But they say that if you walk from the caves (Mramornaya and Emine-Bair-Khosar) along the main road to the south until you turn right (where the road dives down), then a path will go down on the left side of the road. After going down it 7-8 meters you will see a spring.

In the cafe near the Emine-Bair-Khosar and Mramornaya caves you can buy mineral water at incredible prices. But you can’t cook porridge from it, and they don’t sell simple drinking water there for any money (I suggested). But if you camp on the territory of Onyx Tour (about a dollar per person) you will be allowed to use the tap in the kitchen.

So far we have discussed the search for water on the lower plateau of Chatyr Dag. On the upper plateau everything is even simpler - there is basically no water or firewood here. It takes at least 2 hours to descend to the nearest source. From Eklizi-Burun it’s closer to go to the Saurgan spring, and from Angar-Burun it’s closer to Bukovaya Polyana or Kutuzov Lake.