The Bashkaus (Russian: Башкаус) is a river in the Altai Republic in Siberia, Russia.

[1] It rises from a cirque lake in the eastern part of the Kuraiskii Mountain Range.

In its lower reaches, it flows in a narrow valley, which often turns into a rocky canyon.

The mean annual flow rate near the village of Ust’-Ulagan measures about 30 cubic metres per second (1,100 cu ft/s).

In Russia, it is known as a Class 5 river meaning that its technical difficulty, i.e. the difficulty in navigating it in a raft or canoe, is high while its remoteness or distance from assistance in the event of things going wrong is Class 6 (on the Russian scale of one to six.)