Ala-Archa
Ala-Archa is a national park located just south of Bishkek in the Ala-Too mountain range. Ala-Archa is the Kyrgyz phrase for variegated juniper. A small hotel, restaurant, wellness center, and a few yurts make up the small town at the end of the road where the trailheads begin. Many people spend time with their friends and family here to escape the busy streets of Bishkek and enjoy the fresh mountain air.
Ak-Sai Waterfall Hike
The trail to Ak-Sai begins with a steady incline as it wraps around the slope of the mountain. As you rise out of from under the conifer trees, you are met with an incredible view of the valley with the Ala-Archa river cutting through the rocks below.
A few buddies from my language program enjoying the view. The temperature on this particular day in June was a warm eighty degrees.
The pictures below show the unpredictable weather patterns at higher elevation. Large clouds began to form over the mountain ahead and in the valley behind us.
Looking back at our impending doom looming overhead
The AK-Sai waterfall in the distance
We immediately took a quick lunch break upon reaching the base of the waterfall. I opened up my lunch box and placed it into my lap. I ate my sandwich in one hand while taking pictures with the other. The perfect method for getting those long exposure shots of the waterfall right? I didn’t have time to break out out the tripod because the strong winds blowing at the base of the waterfall felt as if the clouds were already dropping its ice cold droplets of rain.
Most of the group started to split up as we headed back down the trail. I found myself walking alone for most of the descent. I took the time to soak up the wet weather until the rain had washed out my chances of standing up. The trail turned into a difficult wasteland of mud. I attempted to hang onto the tree branches until I resorted to bending my legs to slide on my feet from rock to rock. An improvised tactic I’m sure nobody else used and totally unnecessary. I felt cool thats all that matters.
LOST IN THE PARK
Ala-Archa has many glaciers with teal colored lakes at its higher elevations. A few guys from my program were interested in finding Adygene lake so we hired a Marshrutka driver to take us back to the park for the day. It cost around sixty dollars for transportation there and back to the London School. That morning we hit the local convenience stores and gathered as many liters of water and freshly baked bread as we could fit into our bags.
Marshrutka ride to Ala-Archa
Morale was high. We were practically running up the mountain and doing pull ups on tree branches for the first hour of the hike. We didn’t forget about the tricep dips which we did on this bridge. After our improvised workout, we stuck our heads in the freezing cold glacier water. I’m talking ICE COLD BRAIN FREEZE type water!
Most of the trail runs through a valley where wild horses feed from the grassy fields of rocks leftover from the glacier upstream. The valley has three or four eighty degree inclines which gain a few hundred feet in elevation. They give the feeling that the lake will be visible once you’ve reached the top. False. The last incline is where we made a terrible mistake to keep following the stream. Our phones were without service making the 2gis map inoperable.
Morale was now low. Our paper map was not exactly helpful with where to go at this point. Our decision to take a right instead of a left at the last incline resulted in us venturing at 12,000ft over a land of uneven rocks and boulders. The sound of glacier water running beneath them.
The Eastern face of Adygene peak resting at 14,393ft (above).
We discovered the lake was only a mile away once my phone decided to load the map. However, the rate at which we were hiking would have added another hour to reach the lake. We needed to start our decent in order to make it back to the van. We promised our driver a departure time of six o’clock.
Free Korea Peak resting at 15,550ft
We almost lost a few brave men on the way back down. I discovered my friend Will laid out behind a rock with a few scrapes on his hands. Bro fell hard against the rocks on the way down one of the eighty degree slopes. I suffered a small loss to my toe. The bruise in my toe nail stayed with me for seven months after this hike…
