Gorgeous gorges on the road to Karakol

Today is an exercise day! We are going to walk in a couple of gorges on our route further around lake Issyk-Kul.

Incidentally the lake is the world's second largest high altitude lake (behind Lake Titicaca). It is fed by snow and glacier melt from the surrounding mountains, but has no outlet, only evaporation. It is slightly saline with all the minerals from the mountains flowing in.

There were mining companies along the lake during Soviet times - now closed - and we travel along the less developed southern shore but even here lots of leisure developments are starting up. We came at the right time!

Along the way we stop at Skazka Canyon, aka the fairy tale canyon. (As it had been raining and thundering overnight there was some doubt whether the road was passable but our driver coaxed his way through the somewhat unstable sand!)
The canyon is famous for its eroded red, orange and yellow sandstone formations. Wind and water have carved the soft rock into towers, ridges and shapes that supposedly resemble castles, dragons and other mythical figures — hence Skazka, meaning “fairy tale.”

Normally we would have climbed right to the top ridges but with the group, abilities are mixed. We still got some great views though.

We picked up some packed lunches at a nearby cafe and went on to Barskoon gorge. This is one of the most spectacular valleys on the southern shore of Issyk-Kul, cutting deep into the Terskey Ala-Too mountains and only a few ridges away from China.

We went for the waterfalls but it has one very unusual feature - a monument to Yuri Gagarin, first man in space. After his successful flight in 1961, Gagarin spent time recovering in the Issyk-Kul region, and the area became associated with Soviet cosmonauts.

The first waterfall we got to, after a pretty steep climb, was the Bowl of Manas, named after the Kyrgyz hero.

We then gingerly made our way round the mountain on the Gagarin Trail to reach the Tears of the Snow Leopard waterfall.

Both were a little testing to get to but then it turns out we were at over 2300 metres so a little breathlessness was acceptable. And both were definitely worth the effort.

But the exercise doesn't stop there. Most of the roads to Karakol have something missing - the top layer! As such our bones are completely jumbled up until we reach a smoother section where we can enjoy the fantastic scenery without teeth falling out😬

Just as we were nearing Karakol, KGs 4th largest city, we turned off down yet another bumpy, unfinished road towards another gorge! This was the Jeti-Ögüz Valley, famous for its striking red sandstone cliffs known as the “Seven Bulls” (Jeti-Ögüz), a natural formation resembling seven massive bulls lined up side by side. It is a big cultural symbol of KG.

There are lots of legends about this place, the popular one seems to be about two rival khans who fell in love with the same woman. In a fit of rage, one khan killed seven of his own bulls and the woman, whose blood stained the rocks red. The bulls became the seven towering cliffs, symbolizing jealousy and destruction!

We finally made it to Karakol and had dinner out with a show, some traditional dancing and music. If our heads weren't spinning with all we'd seen today they were now, all good but might take a while to process 😀.Read more