Buryatia: Hiking Sayan Mountains at Arshan

Arshan is a mountain village south of Irkutsk in the autonomous republic of Buryatiya that lies at the foothills of the stunning Sayan mountain range (a 500km almost straight range of 3-4K meter peaks). Hiking here is superb, albeit too steep. You climb up a nearly vertical trail surrounded by sheer walls of the Siberian forest to a series of spectacular waterfall, one more spectacular then the other. Besides the spectacular vistas and steep trails, there are several hot springs pumping naturally carbonated mineral water here.