If you have come to Crimea for a vacation, you should definitely get acquainted with its natural attractions, because they are what made it so popular among tourists with a variety of interests, because they leave no one indifferent. These are both well-known places that are hard to ignore, such as the bays and cliffs of the South Coast, and more remote, hidden from the tourist’s gaze, such that can be seen only by going to them specially.
Many fans of the Crimea, who come here to rest regularly, as well as just tourists, at least once visited this amazing corner of the earth, know about its famous natural attraction as the Grand Canyon of the Crimea. This is the most famous canyon on the peninsula, but far from being the only one. No less beautiful, impressive and picturesque is the Kok-Asan Canyon, for a number of reasons less famous and therefore more wild and interesting for those who are drawn to nature in its pristine beauty.
Kok-Asan Canyon is located in the Belogorsky district, known for the Ak-Kaya rock, near the villages of Cheremisovka and Povorotnoye. These places are remote from the most visited by tourists corners of Crimea, and therefore open to the traveler pictures of inexpressible beauty and atmosphere, which are remembered for a lifetime. Ancient forest, waterfalls, cascades, baths with emerald water — and all this among the overhanging rocks, stirring the imagination and breathtaking.
The canyon stretches from the north from the village of Cheremisovka to the south to the village of Zelenogorie, towards the coastal resort village Morskoye. It is formed by the valley of the river Kuchuk-Karasu (Malaya Karasyovka), the waters of which, making their way, eroded the rock, creating a narrow rocky gorge with walls 10-15m high. The valley of this river is also known as Cheremisovskie waterfalls — here the streams of the mountain river form four impressive waterfalls.
The first one along the way is the «Love» waterfall, named so because it is formed by two water jets, which, coming off the ledge, merge in flight into one stream, forming the «Love» bathtub at the bottom. The second waterfall is «Braid», which got its name because of the thin water jets. Next, tourists see the waterfalls of «Youth» and «Health». These waterfalls have other names, so, for example, «Plait» is also called «Russian slides» — it is the highest (more than 10m) and the water in it falls down in zigzags, revealing an impressive picture to the admiring eyes of travelers.
But no matter what they are called, the essence remains the same — getting into the canyon after heavy rainfall in the summer or spring time, the beauty of these waterfalls fascinates everyone. Their splendor is complemented by round «cauldrons» in stone blocks — baths with the purest smoky-green water, shimmering emerald and literally mesmerizing with its shades. In summer, the water in the baths reaches a temperature of +10 degrees and higher, thanks to which water procedures give everyone who decides to take them, unforgettable emotions and a burst of strength, and many believe that also youth and health.
Traveling along the canyon by the valley of the river Kuchuk-Karasu is pleasant, as the route is not difficult and is within everyone’s power. Following from the village Cheremisovka, tourists first get to a beautiful birch grove, then to the beech forest, where the shady coolness reigns. And this fairy-tale forest protects its guests from the heat all along the way.
Unfortunately, in summer it is not possible to appreciate the beauty of Cheremisovskie waterfalls and baths in their entirety — this is one of the main reasons why this attraction is not so popular and famous among tourists. But those who were lucky enough to get on an excursion after precipitation or in the spring, literally fall in love with the canyon Kok-Asan, and often come to travel through it more than once. Due to this increasingly popular from year to year become tourist routes leading from the village Cheremisovka to the sea coast, and more often they are visited by those tourists who spend their holidays in Feodosija, Koktebel, Sudak, Privetnoye and other nearby coastal settlements, who want to see the most exciting attractions of Ukraine and Crimea.