Nakhodka is a port city on the Sea of Japan, the kind of place that lives by its harbour, and its name means a find or a stroke of luck. In 1859 the Russian corvette America sheltered in the bay during a storm, and the crew noted the deep, protected water as a stroke of luck, so the name stuck. Today the city has around 147,000 people, a long waterfront of cranes and container terminals, and the end of the Trans-Siberian railway's branch to the Pacific nearby. Volchanets is a small neighbour on the road.
For a rider it is a working city and a good stop for supplies. Fuel is plentiful, there are plenty of cafes serving seafood and Korean-influenced dishes, and mechanics are easy to find. The road from Vladivostok runs through Artyom and Partizansk, with rolling forested hills and occasional glimpses of the sea, and the surface is generally good, though traffic of trucks bound for the port can be heavy. The best riding is along the coast and the hills nearby, where the road dips and rises through oak and pine forest, and the air smells of salt and wet leaves. Fog is common in early summer, and winter is cold and windy.
Nakhodka is a young city by Russian standards, and its character is that of a Soviet port town, with blocks of flats on the hills and a busy embankment. It served as a gateway for goods and people leaving and entering the Soviet Union, and in the Cold War years it was closed to foreigners. Today, you will see Japanese and Korean cars on the roads, which come in through the port, and Asian influences in the food and shops. The bay is a lovely sight in the evening, when ships' lights come on and the water goes dark.
The surrounding landscape is wilder than the city suggests. Hills rise steeply behind the town, covered in forest of oak, birch, fir and cedar, with the Sikhote-Alin range beyond. The coast has rocky headlands and small beaches, and in autumn the forest turns a deep red and gold. Tigers and leopards live in the region's forests, though they are far from the city and almost never seen.
Fill up here before riding on to the Lazovsky coast, where villages are small and supplies thinner. Pack a rain layer, since sea mist can come in quickly.