Anatoly Chernyavskiy, originally born in the Republic of Tajikistan, moved to Russia in the early 90’s. Since 2015, he has focused on traveling in the far north of Russia. In 2018 he crossed Chukotka, completing a two-year trip around Russia. See Upshift Issue 33 .

Anatoly returns to the Northern region to explore more of the Chukchi Peninsula with his Honda XR650L and an inflatable boat.

Nowhere have I seen such vast uninhabited territories before. I never felt so lonely as I did on the Chukchi Peninsula, in the land of permafrost washed by two oceans: the Pacific and the Arctic.

The Chukchi Peninsula (also known as the Chukotka Peninsula) is located in the far north-east corner of Russia, bordering Magadan, Yakutia and Kamchatka. Chukotka is also a distant neighbor with Alaska, just 9,600 miles across the Bering Strait.

Not so long ago it was one of the most unexplored regions on Earth, which remains difficult to access due to lack of roads and harsh climatic conditions. Most of Chukotka’s territory is beyond the Arctic Circle, and winter here can last up to 10 months.

Using different motorcycles and different shipping methods, I’ve traveled around Chukotka twice. The first time, I sailed from the European side of Russia by the cargo ship “Alexander Sibiryakov.” It was a two-week journey from Arkhangelsk to Pevek across five seas of the Arctic: White, Barents, Kara, Laptev and East Siberian. My travel companion was a Honda XR650L, which has accompanied me on many expeditions.

There is only one month a year that is suitable for riding a motorcycle in Chukotka - it is August. Until August there are too many mosquitoes and water in the rivers, and in September winter begins. The main difficulty of Chukchi roads is that you have to overcome many rivers across which there are no bridges. To cross the rivers, I had to use the help of large Ural and Kamaz trucks, throwing my motorcycle into their trailers. These old monsters can cross rivers 1.5-2 meters deep. Drivers work in very difficult conditions, transporting cargo on the peninsula in summer and winter.

When I got from Bilibino and to the village of Anyuysk, I hoped to find a barge on the Kolyma River and get out of Chukotka to the Magadan region. However, bad news awaited for me. By the end of summer, the river was shallowed down and cargo boats stopped floating along it. I had to leave my motorcycle with my friends in Bilibino and fly home by plane.

Traveling in Chukotka is something incredible. Somehow surprisingly, this faraway region leaves an impression on the soul and, despite all the difficulties I had experienced there, lured me back again.

The next year, I returned to Chukotka by a route through the Magadan region and Kolyma River, which I wanted to get out of the previous year. This time I was using a lighter Honda XR 250 Baja. It made it easier for me to pass the Old Summer Road between the Yakutia and Magadan regions, and most importantly, it was easier to load this bike into boats.

When I came ashore in Pevek, the northernmost city in Russia, I saw for the first time the hilly expanses of Chukotka, covered with colorful tundra. In this trip I rode about 1000 km to the Kolyma River on the border of Yakutia. The path passed through the town of Bilibino to an unusual oasis where trees were growing. A Chukchi fisherman I met on the seashore told me that these trees were larches, a conifer whose needles change colors and fall during autumn.

Most of the Chukchi Peninsula is covered with mountain tundra. It seems that life is nonexistent in such conditions, but that is simply not the case. During the short summer, the tundra becomes home to many birds. I was especially impressed by the numerous flocks of gray cranes coming here from North America. Additionally I saw northern mountain sheep climbing skillfully on stone slopes, along with bears, wolverines, and of course, deer.

In order to get to Chukotka I had to sail about 1500 km along the Kolyma River. The trip along the famous river starts in the north of the Magadan region in Seimchan village. It is here where the Kolyma Shipping Company is based and there is a small port from where barges with cargo for Yakutia and Chukotka depart.

When I reached the river by mid July, I again faced the problem of low water level. The local shipping company only accepted to deliver cargo to the north, until June 25. Everything depends on the water level. It was the middle of July, there was no water, and the barges were standing still.

Usually here, in the Magadan region, travelers are begging nature for dry weather without rain, but then I was dreaming of heavy downpours so that the water level would rise. I stayed on a pier in a tent while I waited for my next move. At night, bears walked by, which I learned about in the mornings from the inverted barrels of garbage. During the day, the mosquitoes did not let me relax. The village a few kilometers away provided me access to food and internet, but I tried to stay near the river while I waited. I did not want to miss one of the small private boats able to pass on low water.

After a week of waiting, when I began to despair, finally a boat appeared carrying food for the store in the North.

The captain did not have a sailor, and he immediately agreed to take me and the bike on the condition that I would help him. Of course I agreed and was glad to trade the land for water, leaving the mosquitoes on the shore.

The captain, Yukaghir by nationality, knowing the river well, successfully navigated his old boat through all the dangerous places. My job was to control the ropes. In order to deliver more goods, the boat pushed three small barges filled with food fastened together by ropes. I needed to keep an eye on them as we sailed.

In three days we crossed the Arctic Circle and arrived in a small Yakut town called Srednekolymsk, one of the most sparsely populated towns in Russia. Having unloaded the products, the boat went back to the South to the Magadan region. I then had to look for a new boat to go further north. The captain asked the other captains via radio if any could take me north and I was quickly taken on board of a barge that carried coal.

The more to the north we moved away, the wider the river became.

The mountains were left behind, and the banks lowered.

A few days later our barge entered the port of a remote Yakut village, Chersky, named after a famous Russian traveler.

In Chersky, I had to look for a boat again to get to Chukotka via small rivers. A local offered to take me by his boat absolutely free, but due to strong winds, we had to postpone this trip for several days.

When the weather improved, we loaded the motorcycle into a small motorboat and after a few hours of sailing along the meandering tributaries of Kolyma, we came to the shore of Chukchi village named Anyuysk. From there I got to the town of Bilibino in a day, where I finished my previous trip and left my Honda XR650L.

In Bilibino, I rested and serviced both motorcycles. My companion Kyle would ride the second motorcycle. In a few days, he would arrive by plane. First we would reach the Arctic Ocean in Pevek and then try to ride to the eastern part of the peninsula to the village Egvekinot, which is washed by the waters of the Pacific Ocean. The distance was about 2000 km.

This time, I decided not to use outside help, as I did last year with the trucks. I wanted to try crossing the rivers with an inflatable boat.