Karelia is not only an amazing land of a thousand lakes and rivers but also a land of waterfalls. There is an incredible number of them here: big and small, famous and unknown, deeply hidden in the Karelian wilderness. If you plan to visit Ruskeala, be sure to stop by the Ruskeala waterfalls on the way. They are just a few kilometers from there and can be seen right from the highway. It’s a great place for a walk with magnificent nature all around.
The Ruskeala waterfalls are a cascade of four small flat waterfalls on the Tokhmayoki River, which translates as "Bad" or "Furious." It flows out of Lake Ruokoyarvi near the Finnish border and empties into Lake Ladoga. The river is fed by waters from bogs rich in organic matter and iron, which gives it that brownish bog color, resembling dark beer. The foam, also a result of the bog’s contribution, enhances the resemblance to beer. In fact, these waterfalls are called Ahvenkoski, but complicated Finnish names don’t catch on well here, so these waterfalls are more often referred to in guides as the Ruskeala waterfalls. They are only 3-4 meters high but very beautiful. The Ahvenkoski waterfall translates from Finnish as "Perch Rapids." The nature there is insanely beautiful, especially when the sun breaks through the Karelian taiga.
If you know, it was at this very waterfall that the famous scene from the movie "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" was filmed, where Zhenya Komelkova, to scare off the Germans, staged a performance by bathing in the lake in front of the waterfall, while Vaskov and the anti-aircraft gunners pretended to be chopping wood.
This is exactly the scene from the 1972 film "The Dawns Here Are Quiet."
The new film "The Dawns Here Are Quiet" was shot at a different waterfall.
