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🌊 Lake Jack London: How an American Writer Came to Magadan

Friends, today we are heading to the far northeast of Russia, to the Kolyma region. There, amid mountains and larch forests, lies Lake Jack London, one of the country’s most picturesque lakes. In autumn, it is surrounded by golden slopes, while the peaks are already covered in snow.

What is unusual about this place, however, is not only the landscape, but also its name.

Welcome to Lake Jack London.

🏔️ A Lake Like a Painting

Lake Jack London is located in the Yagodnoye District of Magadan Oblast at an elevation of about 800 meters above sea level. It is more than 10 kilometers long, up to 50 meters deep, and has an area of approximately 14.4 square kilometers.

The surroundings are almost untouched. There is larch taiga, mountains, and crystal-clear water. During the short summer, it can become surprisingly warm here, while winter temperatures fall far below zero. The lake is of glacial origin and remains very cold even in summer.

📖 The Legend of the Book on the Shore

But why does a remote lake in the Magadan region bear the name of an American writer who himself was never here?

The best-known legend sounds almost too good to be true: geologists are said to have found a book by Jack London on the shore—supposedly his novel “Martin Eden.” They then allegedly decided to name the lake after the writer.

The story is still widely told today. However, there is no documentary evidence for it.

🗺️ The More Likely Story

The more likely explanation is less fairy-tale-like, but no less interesting.

The geologist Pyotr Skornyakov, who worked in the Kolyma region in the 1930s, was a great admirer of Jack London’s works. His stories about people in the wilderness of the American North were also very popular among Soviet geologists and researchers at the time.

Skornyakov is associated with the idea of naming geographical features in the area after London. Eventually, the name stuck for the lake and appeared on maps.

Thus, the name of an American writer became a permanent part of the geography of Russia’s northeast.

🏝️ Vera Island

The small island of Vera lies in the middle of the lake. For decades, it was home to a meteorological station—a tiny outpost amid the nearly uninhabited mountain landscape.

The island and the surrounding waters enhance the unusual character of the place: a lonely lake between mountains, far from larger settlements and shaped by ice and snow for many months of the year.

🏞️ Today: a Protected Landscape

Today, Lake Jack London is part of a protected natural area and is known primarily for its extraordinary landscape.

Mountains, larch forests, islands, and clear water form a landscape that is more reminiscent of Alaska or the Canadian Yukon—which, coincidentally, is the very world Jack London wrote about in many of his most famous stories.

Thus, this remote lake bears more than just his name. The landscape itself seems almost like a setting from one of his books.


Give it a ❤️ if you liked it!

📍 The coordinates of the location are available here

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