Hello! I’ve been wanting to share something about Kyrgyzstan with you ever since I visited last September. There’s so much to say about this beautiful country, I’ve been asking myself where to begin?
After some deliberation, I simply have to start with the majestic Kyrgyz nature and my unforgettable hike to Ala-Kul Lake. A piercingly blue alpine lake that sits 3500-m high above sea level, surrounded by craggy rocks and snow-capped mountain peaks.
Mountains of Heaven
Kyrgyzstan is home to the Tien Shan Mountains which fittingly mean the ‘Mountains of Heaven’. With over 90% of the country covered by mountains and with so much of it sitting above the high-altitude threshold, this beautiful country has so much potential.
Whether you’re into walking or hiking or after something a lot more challenging, the choices are endless. The trails are shared with remarkably few people. In fact, it’s quite easy not to pass a single soul for hours and hours, or even days and weeks.
The hike to Ala-Kul Lake is considered one of the most popular in the country, but we saw very few people which tells you how little tourism there is comparatively in this region of the world.
Hiking to Ala-Kul Lake: quick overview
Along with my boyfriend, we did the hike to Ala-Kul Lake without a guide or tent in early September. We took the hiking route from Karakol, made it to the lake and over the challenging 4000m high pass to Altyn Arashan village and then back to the road to Karakol. In total, the hike was supposed to take us two nights and three days, but that didn’t go exactly to plan, instead it took us three nights and four days!
The first night we slept in a yurt, and instead of sleeping in Altyn Arashan the second night, we ending up sleeping rough under a tree after realising that one of the bridges leading to Altyn was broken. If you want to avoid such a spectacular mishap, I recommend reading on.
One thing to be mindful of is the weather. Pack for all occasions. Sun, snow, sleet, hail, cloud, rain, thunder – the weather was as dramatic and ever-changing as the scenery along the Ala-Kul trek.
Day 1: Park entrance to Camp 2 or Karakol Basecamp
We took a taxi from Karakol town centre and jumped out when we reached the entrance which is marked by a bridge (250 som entrance fee).
Beforehand we downloaded the route on Maps.me and it was pretty easy to follow, though sometimes it would lag behind to give the impression that we were further behind on our trek. If you use the app, make sure to keep refreshing the page for accuracy.
All in all, I was in good spirits. The weather was decent; neither too hot, nor too cold, and the views were glorious. We passed lots of curious cows, roaming, wild horses and flocks of lazy sheep enjoying the fresh pastures of the valley.
It was love at first sight walking alongside the winding river, admiring the way it branched out into a million little white veins, creating beautiful organic shapes in the lush, green landscape.
We were supposed to be staying at a small camp further along the trek, but as the weather turned for the worst, we decided to stay at a place called Basecamp Karakol. Just before the Basecamp we spotted an old army truck that had transformed into a quirky mini shop selling snacks.
We bought some fizzy drinks and scoffed down some biscuits. The guy even pointed to a SHIPPING CONTAINER and asked if we wanted to stay in it for the night. We politely declined while admiring his entrepreneurial spirit. At least we knew we had back up if the camp was full!
Basecamp Karakol
We settled into the basecamp, drying our socks around the fire after we managed to get our feet wet from crossing a few streams.
The basecamp consisted of 2 large yurts filled with mattresses that were slung over wooden pallets. They provided sleeping bags, but I’d recommend bringing your own sleeping bag liners for hygiene.
There were only two other hikers staying the night and we shared the yurt with them. We didn’t book in advance so we were happy to realise that they had plenty of available mattresses, but in peak summer season it might be better to book in advance. It was extremely basic, but it had the essentials we needed.
In addition, the lady who ran the place gave us an axe to chop some wood into small pieces and we gathered enough in the hope that it would keep us warm for most of the night.
One thing about the yurts which I found difficult to deal with were the vast amounts of flies that were buzzing around. I’m not sure if they were attracted by the fire but there were dozens and dozens of them.
I found it almost impossible to sleep because of the buzzing noise they made while circulating the ceiling, but tiredness did eventually kick in and I got a couple hours of sleep.
An awesome thing about the basecamp was the dining and social area located in the main tent. There’s a chessboard if you are lucky to find someone to play with, and the owner provides dinner and breakfast for an additional fee.
She cooked us a delicious hearty meal and we went to bed early knowing we would need to leave before 6am the next morning.
Day 2: Hike to Ala Kul Lake and a very cold night spent in a ditch!
As the light started to appear in the morning, we packed up our stuff and began the next part of the hike which we knew would be harder. There was a cool, wooden bridge nearby the camp that we crossed (you can’t miss it) to get onto the right path.
After crossing the bridge, the path started to incline steadily and a little bit of scrambling was needed to climb over the dense undergrowth and rocky footpath.
Eventually we reached the next camp where we should have slept the night previously. There were more yurts, but they were much smaller. I suspect most of them only fitted enough for two people so we probably would have gotten a better nights’ sleep, alas! The location was majestic, overlooking a wide valley beneath a backdrop of towering mountains.
For the next hour or two before reaching the lake, the incline got steeper and steeper but thankfully the higher we got, the views became more and more sublime. However, that didn’t last long.
The weather began to turn. Initially, the clouds grew darker and heavier, and I prayed it wouldn’t start raining but my prayers were to no avail. The weather Gods showed no mercy. Within seconds I was drenched. Luckily, I had packed a shell jacket which I shoved on over the top of my down’s jacket.
If the rain wasn’t bad enough, sleet and snow followed which made the visibility incredibly poor and I questioned whether to turn back.
My fingers were cold and red and stiff from holding my hiking poles without any gloves. It was difficult to see far ahead, so turning back might have been the wise thing to do but my heart sank at the thought of coming this far already without seeing the lake which I knew couldn’t be too far in the distance.
We decided to stay put for a few minutes in the hope the snow would pass, and fortunately it did. Phew.
Luckily, we spotted a couple of people wearing brightly coloured trekking gear and decided to track their position.
The decision paid off, and once we reached the top, the clouds parted, and the sun beamed down in what felt like a biblical invite to a promised holy land.
All that was needed was one final turn of a corner and the beauty of Ala-Kul lake shimmering in unbelievable hues of blue and turquoise was unlocked.
The timing could not have been more perfect. The clear view of the Terskey Ala-too Mountain Range serving as the beautiful backdrop to the ever-changing colours of Ala-Kul Lake, made the struggle getting to this point beyond worth it.
We stayed at the lake for over an hour, resting our feet and taking in the beauty of it all. It might have been wise to leave sooner, as the sky was looking a bit broody and the lake looked much darker now.
Hiking over the pass the 4000-m pass
We had read that getting over the 4000-m pass was the most difficult part of the hike, and the reviews weren’t wrong. It was super steep (see photo below) and I was just thankful that I hadn’t been stupid enough to think I could do this trek without hiking poles, which was the mistake I made when climbing Mount Triglav in Slovenia.
Since the ground was so loose with a type of volcanic ash, and the pass was incredible steep, I was able to descent down in a crouching position akin to skiing.
If you take away just one tip from my guide, this would be it: Crouch and ski down, or at the very least, shuffle down in the squat position. It’s not pretty, and your bum will get dirty, but it’s way safer, hah!
Looking for accommodation. Oops!
After all the hiking and sleeping in a yurt dominated by pesky flies and just overall being sleep deprived, I was dying for a warm, clean bed and a hot shower. The sleet and snow from a few hours earlier added more time onto the hike than expected so I knew it wouldn’t be for a while until I could put my feet up.
There was actually a yurt camp directly at the bottom of the pass, but I chose not to stay there in favour for pressing on to Altyn Arashan in search for a hot shower – a decision I would later regret. On retrospect, and looking back at this photo, it looks so appealing to spend the night there!
I proceeded to hike down into the valley, expecting I could do it before it would start to get dark in a two or three hour window.
With the difficult part over, and the rest of the terrain being pretty flat, I figured it wouldn’t be a problem. Oh boy, I was wrong. I mean, it would have been easy(ish) had the bridge to cross over to the other side of the valley not been broken (when you see the bridges you’ll understand why so many get wrecked).
I tried for some time to look for a different way over – stepping stones, another bridge, a magic carpet – but came up with nothing.
By now a lot of time had been wasted so it was almost dark and the light emitting from my head torch was nothing but a dim glow compared to the day light I knew I needed to cross over the river safely. Also adding to my sense of unease were the wild animals roaming the valley.
In the pitch black of night all I could see were dozens upon dozens of eyes illuminating under the moonlight and black shadows moving around the ground. Logically I knew most of them were horses, but in the dark and unfamiliar territory my mind played tricks on me.
Sleeping outside in the cold - without a tent or sleeping bag.
We were pretty lost without the daylight, and realising it wasn’t safe nor doable to proceed any further, my boyfriend and I made our way down a muddy ditch ladened with delightfully thick dung.
After finding a spot away from all the animals, we ‘slept’ al fresco nearby the river. We didn’t have a tent or sleeping bag so we piled on as many items of clothing as we could.
The whole scene was like from a comedy movie. We bickered most of the night about why neither of us had any outdoor wildness or suvival skills and vowed to learn how to light a fire when we returned home (obviously we have yet to do this!). If there was a book titled ‘what not to do in the wilderness’, I’d be able to write it.
Needless to say we didn’t actually sleep, it was too cold so our bodies wouldn’t allow us. We simply huddled together wishing for the morning to come so the ground could thaw and we could see once again.
I can only say now that I’m warm and rested, that we ended up in an amusingly desperate situation all because I was unwilling to sleep another night in a yurt and I wanted a shower. The reality ended up being zero sleep and using cow dung for a pillow. My poor boyfriend. He just wanted a beach holiday.
Day 3: Finally reaching Altyn Arashan Village
As soon as the stars faded and the morning light broke over the mountain tops, we sighed in relief that we made it through the night without freezing to near death or worse, encountering a pack of wild bulls.
We were shocked by how muddy most of our belongings had gotten. In a bid to stay warm we tried to wear every item of clothing we packed, including wrapping several t-shirts around our feet. To say I was looking forward to finding a washing machine and shower was an understatement.
We couldn’t quite figure out the safest way to cross the river without getting too wet. Just as were about to take off our hiking boots and roll our trousers over our knees, we spotted two shepherds nearby on big, strong horses. We called out to them to see if they could direct us, but instead they whipped us on the back of their horses and carried us over their back like two knights in shining armour! Haha.
After that, reaching Altyn Arashan was easy and didn’t take long. We spent the rest of the day dipping our feet and resting our body in a 40-degree hot pool. Bliss.
We couldn’t face doing the 15km out to main road that day, so we spent the night there and did it the following day, so instead of it being 2 nights and 3 days, we extended our trip by another day.
Despite the mishaps, the hike to Ala-Kul lake turned out to be the best hike of my life, and some of the greatest views I’m sure I’ll ever see in nature.
For adventure and nature lovers, Kyrgyzstan truly has it all.
Further reading: What’s Sleeping in a Yurt in Kyrgyzstan Really Like?
2 Responses
Hi,
Thanks for the details.. may I know which moth of the year you guys had this trip ?
Hello Muhasin! This trip to Ala-Kul Lake was taken in the first week of September. It’s a great time of year to go.