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Yeah, I know, it’s not like me to write such a bombastic headline. but we just got down from the mountains, and it was incredible.

We arrived in Karakol (the small town not too far of Issyk-Kol) with the night bus from Bishkek (hourly at least untill 11:00PM, 7 hours, East bus station, 255Som + 40Som for luggage). one thing important about the bus, make sure you get a recit for paying for the luggage, or the driver will charge you. he charges more than the cashier, of course. the bus ride is no joy-ride, as the driver never stops the radio, or playing with the passengers lights… pretty annoying.

Getting into Karakol at about 5:00AM we weren’t sure how safe it was, but it was OK. we got to Yak Tours Hostel by foot, left our stuff and ran off to the Ak Tilek bazar to catch a ride to Jeti-Oghuz. trusting the Lonely Planet we looked for the noon marshutka to the Jeti-Oghuz sanatorium. we asked everybody, not the taxi drivers, the old ladys, nobody knew anything about this marshutka. we ended up on a marshutka that dropped us at the Jet-Oghuz junction(25Som), where we caught a shared taxi for the sanatorium(100Som). I’m sure you can do it cheaper… the trail up from the sanatorium is a jeep road (a taxi can take you all the way up to the valley of flowers, half way up). we spent the night about an hour away from the starting point to the Archa-Tor pass.

The next day we went up to the pass, miscalculating our navigation and thinking it’s the next valley. we caught up to our mistake pretty quick, and, on the way back discovered the trail was marked.

Tip: the starting point for the climb to Archa-Tor pass is marked with a big white sign (says something about keeping it clean) by some tour agency. there is a small arrow just up on a Rujum (pile of rocks, made to mark the way). the way up to the pass was relatively wasy, and the trail is pretty obvious. we had to cut the climb to two, spoending the night, a little over half way.

The 3rd day we climbed the rest of the way up, and down. the climb down was also beautiful. one important thing, the pine forest on the way down to Karakol valley can be vicious if your not on a trail, keep to the main ones to avoid mud slides. from there we wnet down to the small forest that marks the valley that climbs up to Ala-Kol. Karakol valley is the actual reserve here, and is supposed to be paid for. at the entrance. no one was there to collect (250Som). spending the night on the long trail up to Ala-Kol, we didn’t have enough water to boil our noodles, a hungry night.

The way up to the lake was longer than we expected (about 5 hours straight climb), but really magnificent. the lake was incredible as well.

After3 nights of rain, snow and frozen grass, our night at Ala-Kol was the first dry one. we woke up, and started the not-to-long way up to the Ala-Kol pass. 4 Polish guys we ,met the day befor told us it was impossible to get down to the other side, as the snow was too steep. they headed back down where they came from. well, it was steep. really steep.. it took us quite some time to decide wether to go down or not. but, as you can see, we did. it was the best fun I had in years, sliding down that hill…

A long way down took us to the Altyn-Arashan hot spring area, where you can find different pools of hot water, some hotels, and that’s it. meeting Yak Tours manager, we got directions toi a small cave with hoty water, free of charge. see how to get there.

Now comes the fantasy-coming true part. you know that day dream you conjure when trekking, about someone who’ll be happy to share some food, and maybe a ride with you? well, in Kyrgyzstan, you always hope for a great ride back, as transport here can get problematic, especially in the mountains. so, fantazys sometimes do come true. 3 Americans we met up at the Yak Tours cabin invited to have lunch with tham (”they make too much food anyway”), and afterwards we joined them for the ride back to Karakol. one of them even took us all the way to the hot pool. Tim, Chuck and Bruce, if you guys are reading this, you should know how much we appreciate what you did for us. sometimes, a small thing goes a long way.

So thats how we ended up back in Karakol. writimg this in the post office internet cafe, which is much better than the other one (Art Gallery Dali) that charges per MB.

Important note: The way from West to East (Jeti-Oghuz to Karakol to Altyn-Arashan) is much easier than the other way around. the Ala-Kol pass did not look possible coming from the other side. the guys at Yak Tours will tell you different, so that you will use their hostel in Altyn-Arashan. don’t believe them.