Lake Undozero (russian: Ундозеро) is a freshwater lake, located in the west of
Plesetsky District
Plesetsky District (russian: Плесе́цкий райо́н) is an administrative district (raion) one of the twenty-one in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia.Law #65-5-OZ As a municipal division, it is incorporated as Plesetsky Municipal District.Law ...
of
Arkhangelsk Oblast
Arkhangelsk Oblast (russian: Арха́нгельская о́бласть, ''Arkhangelskaya oblast'') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It includes the Arctic Ocean, Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land ...
in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. It is one of the biggest lakes in Arkhangelsk Oblast and the second biggest one in Plesetsky District. The area of the lake is , and the area of its basin is . Lake Undozero is the source of the
Undosha, which belongs to the river basin of the
Onega and thus to the
White Sea
The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is su ...
basin.
The lake has a sophisticated shape and contains a number of islands. The source of the Undosha is in the south-western corner. The main tributary of the lake is the
Lopa
Lohjan Pallo (abbreviated LoPa) is a football club from Lohja, Finland. The club was formed in 1966 and their home ground is at the Harjun urheilukenttä. The men's first team currently plays in the Kakkonen (Second Division). The chairman is R ...
, which shortly upstream from the mouth accepts from the left a major tributary, the
Yonza.
There are three villages on Lake Undozero, Skarlakhta, Pogost, and Mezen. Skarlakhta is connected by the railroad to the east via the settlement of
Severoonezhsk
Severoonezhsk (russian: Северооне́жск) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Plesetsky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located west of the town of Mirny, on the left bank of the Onega River. Municipally, it is ...
with the railway station
Puksa located on the railway line between Vologda and Arkhangelsk. The same railroad continues west to the village of Yangory. There have been plans to extend it west to
Medvezhyegorsk
Medvezhyegorsk (russian: Медвежьего́рск; krl, Karhumägi; fi, Karhumäki) is a town and the administrative center of Medvezhyegorsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. Population: 15,800 (1959).
History
A village in ...
, but these have never been realized. The railway belongs to the Department of corrections, and as a matter of fact, there are settlements around the village of Skarlakhta inhabited by convicted criminals who have previously served a part of their jail term. There is a regular passenger traffic on the railroad. There was an air field in Pogost. There are no all-season roads connecting Undozero with the main road network.
Undozero is popular as a starting point for rafting down the Undosha.
Almost the whole course of the Undosha is not populated, with the exception of Lake Undozero and a number of villages close to its mouth at
Lake Pochozero
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
. (Downstream from Lake Pochozero, the Undosha changes its name to the
Pocha and flows to
Lake Kenozero
Lake Kenozero (russian: Кенозеро) is a freshwater lake, located in the south-west of Plesetsky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast in Russia. It is one of the biggest lakes in Arkhangelsk Oblast and the biggest one in Plesetsky District. The ...
). Therefore the rafters start in Skarlakhta and finish at Lake Kenozero. Before the railroad was constructed in the 1970s, the only way to get to Undozero for the rafters was to start in Severoonezhsk, take rafts upstream the
Iksa, and them bring them to Undozero by land.
References
{{reflist
Undozero
LUndozero