As the name implies, three rivers meet - not in one place, but very close, within about a mile, and at some point all three flow nearly parallel to each other less than a quarter a mile apart. All three lay in Volga river valley (one of them being Volga, two others - Kud'ma and Shava), and in this location flow to the East. Northern shore is low and flat, and dense pine and fir forests come within half a mile from the river, to extend nearly a thousand miles all the way up to tundra. The southern shore is 30 to 150 meters high, with bluffs coming close to Volga river at places, or letting enough space to accomodate one or two more streams. Somewhat like Mississippi, Volga used to vary its flow path, leaving multiple small lakes, sand bars, and small islands and peninsulas in its valley - all present near Three Rivers Junction. 

We used to spend our summer vacations in a country home in this place. Lifestyle was rather rustic by todays western standards - it was a log house, with flaky power line coming into the village, tank propane, no running water, and wooden outhouses. Shower? What shower? In the beginning of nineties I almost drove my mother to the edge of heart attack by calling home from the village using a cell phone. The reason for it - the nearest phone was in the neighboring village's post office, and to use it in the middle of the night after a rainy day meant a three mile hike (ankle-deep in mud in places) and waking up a local postmaster lady to get into the post office. It had to be a very serious reason for such a call! 

Lately, the road to the place was improved first to graded dirt, then to gravel, and, finally, asphalt almost all the way, so a drive in town (about 30 miles) became faster than a phone call. Some time ago, while bragging about my full-size jeep, I claimed being able to get to the place anytime during the year (yeah, it may still be a challenge with hard-paved road). "In four feet of snow?" - that short question made me back out a bit. The question was asked by A.V.Gaponov-Grekhov, a physicist and very experienced four-wheeler not easily impressed by number of cylinders and cubic inches under the hood. Indeed, at times there may be four miles of one to four-foot deep snow with no Caterpillar in sight :-) Still, I'd like to try... 

In summertime the place's at its prime beauty. Rarely very hot (save this summer of 99), with occasional thunderstorms, with woods full of berries and mushrooms, good fishery (and most people having boats handy), tens of miles of clean sand beaches (yes, land is still public, and fires permitted!) and warm and clean fresh river water, - all make for a good full-blown vacation. Airplane tickets across the pond ain't no cheap, though, so some advance planning helps a lot (which we lacked). The bar at right features some thumbnail pictures that I took this July. Most or all of them have their full-resolution siblings that may be viewed by clicking on the picture. I think this page will get more elaborate if I ever get this bit of time needed for it.