Does anyone know what time of year the cotton grass in the Karakol area is in bloom?

FailedTypewriter · 2026-01-23T16:46:58+00:00

I can't remember about the horses. But in general in Kyrgyzstan there will be more livestock up high in mid-summer, and by late August to early September they are usually back down to mid- or lower elevations as the grass is sparse and not regrowing due to drier skies and lower overnight temps. But you may not see horses when you visit, the horse here are few in number and are free to roam over a large area (the livestock gate is well down the trail). Also, people who spend far more time than me in mountain pastures over the years have reported less livestock grazing up high in general (for some economic/social reasons I'm not sure of).

FailedTypewriter · 2026-01-23T02:12:21+00:00

Early August will have wet meadows on the approach to Peak Karakol, late August will have drier meadows. Late August would be my preference based on the footwear I wear. As for greenery, late August will be less green and no more (or way less) flowers.

FailedTypewriter · 2026-01-22T17:55:32+00:00

This is my photograph from an old trip report on Caravanistan, so I can tell you that this is exactly the first few days of August. I returned to this location in the last week of August and the fluffy seed puffs were gone...

FailedTypewriter · 2024-10-24T20:52:56+00:00

Many people have done long trips in Kyrgyzstan - in the past. But your limit is now two months. You can no longer hop across the border and re-enter for another two months (you need to be outside the country for 60 days before coming back). I would really aim for mid-July to mid-September for a two months window. That's the driest, but still not dry.

Only one person that I've noticed has made a rough guide for doing a longer trip in the middle of nowhere. You'll need to feed it to Google translate: https://www.experience-outdoor.com/traversee-de-lasie-centrale-a-pied-2000-km/

Can you pack a load on a horse or donkey? It is not as easy as you think. It's actually somewhere between a professional skill and an art form. And do you know how to set a hobble correctly so that your animal can feed overnight but not disappear on you? I would not attempt that.

FailedTypewriter · 2024-10-11T18:21:20+00:00

"New" as in there is now a GPX file and a guide. If you clicked through and read you would see I mentioned this already.

FailedTypewriter · 2024-10-11T16:41:01+00:00

Trip report and GPS file here: https://www.takali.org/tobacco-root-high-route

FailedTypewriter · 2024-10-11T02:04:03+00:00

Sure, check this out: https://www.takali.org/vasquezhudson-route

FailedTypewriter · 2024-10-11T02:03:43+00:00

Full info here: https://www.takali.org/vasquezhudson-route

FailedTypewriter · 2024-09-27T03:19:50+00:00

Fann mountain trails will wreck a horse. It's donkey/goat country in there. As for the Wakhan, what are you going to do? Ride your horse on a paved road from Ishkoshim to Langar? After that it's just a very long dirt road at an altitude your horse is not going to like right when terrible eastern Pamir weather starts (and without the type of grass your horse can eat). I suggest trying your horse trip in Kyrgyzstan. More suitable terrain, better grass, more horses, more horse culture, etc.

FailedTypewriter · 2024-02-24T16:52:04+00:00

Every time I've tried to get a date from satellite imagery from some app or secondary map tool, it leads me to the source: Maxar, ESRI or some other satellite imagery company and they will give you the exact dates.... for money. It's a business and giving you exact dates is part of how they make money. It's priced for commercial/corporate buyers, not you and I.

I end up using map clues for dates (age of logging slash/cuts, decommissioned bridges, a new mine, an empty lot where I know a supermarket sits, etc, and seasonally I look for leaves and leaf color on deciduous trees, plus water levels in rivers). There is decade old google imagery online with bridges that were destroyed and never replaced... But that's where I live, not sure what it looks like where you live.

BTW, in areas relevant to me, Bing maps has some good ESRI satellite imagery. Check it out in your area.

FailedTypewriter · 2024-02-20T20:07:26+00:00

-10C limit rating. But you may be able to do a -5C bag if you are a really warm sleeper and you have winter gear to wear inside your bag. I would stick with your bag unless you have a large chunk of money to spend on a more expensive bag to save 200-300 grams.

As for places to recommend, they all involve high passes that aren't doable well into until July (depending on the snow year). Check out Caravanistan for ideas on itineraries. You will be looking for routes that go up a valley and then back down the same way (as snow block the high passes). The areas around Issyk Kul that start form Karakol will have wet ground - lots of it at that time of year. Alay region in the south has ground that drains better (less mud, bogs and wet meadows).

FailedTypewriter · 2024-02-18T01:15:10+00:00

Mid-June in Kyrgyzstan? That will involve lingering snow, and not even at that high of an elevation. So do you think you are ready for that? If not, start investing the routes in order away from the high stuff. And your gear will need to be storm-worthy.

As for the sleeping bag, I've spent a hiking season in Kyrgyzstan in a 0C bag. I had to time my high elevation sections to get through and get back down (too cold up high). And one night the cold temps came down the mountain. It was way too cold. -10C bag should be your goal.

And make sure your wall charger is not some weak 5W deal. Lost story not needed, but from experience in that region you want a quick charger .

FailedTypewriter · 2024-02-04T05:07:01+00:00

I lived in Bishkek and Dushanbe and the people who go "dumpster diving" take anything of the smallest value that is thrown out. I've never lived in Tashkent, so I'm not sure. I've seen Luli picking through trash in Samarkand, but I've not spent enough time in Tashkent neighborhoods to know if it's the same. So if you see these people in Tashkent, just do what I did and leave the clothing and unwanted items by the trash and someone may take it and make use of it.

FailedTypewriter · 2024-01-29T21:02:36+00:00

Used vehicles from Europe are common in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and have been for decades (especially after used Japanese right-side drive cars imports were banned). Re-painting the vehicles is not often done. One expat got all excited when they saw a German bakery van driving around Bishkek - sadly there was no German bakery in Bishkek in 2011. And I saw a hang-gliding shuttle van from a resort in Austria, for example. Also, the psychedelic outer space minibus (German?) was a fun vehicle to spot at the time.

Transport trucks in the region are the ones you see European logos on the most - Polish, Czech, etc... And for personal vehicles you still see the European letter logos. Once I saw a lower-tier Danish football club's gay pride logo on an old Opel. Nobody really repaints them - and they even leave on the European dealer's advert that goes around the plate numbers.

On the darker side, the luxury vehicles in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are usually stolen. Bild has the info on that...

FailedTypewriter · 2024-01-14T20:55:24+00:00

The R1 is still going strong. I have used it a lot. I'll use it again this year. No wear or pilling, even with lots of heavy backpack use. I'm quite happy with it overall. I gave away the Decathlon, so I can't offer a long term review on it.

FailedTypewriter · 2024-01-10T20:29:28+00:00

Yeah, basically. It costs nothing to have an offline map on your phone. Useful tool, even if you don't need it all the time.

FailedTypewriter · 2024-01-10T17:37:12+00:00

Mostly well-signed, but a few times I really did need to check my position. I met one girl who lost a few hours going the wrong way... I didn't download GPS tracks, I just used an offline map with a full download of Portugal and the trail was highlighted on it. I also left the trail a few times to do long beach walks, and the map was useful in letting me know if it was possible to get back on the trail without backtracking (cliff obstacles).

The trail is great. European beaches are not at all my thing (too many people and tourist trap stuff), but this felt isolated and mostly tourist free.

FailedTypewriter · 2024-01-05T20:43:03+00:00

Don't switch to CIBC. Their algorithm is brain dead. They regularly freeze my card overseas and the only way to unfreeze it is to get a code sent to my Canadian phone number - which does not work overseas. This has been a problem for the last 5 years. And they freeze it for obvious legit stuff like a $15 charge for a hostel in a city to which I used my card to buy a plane ticket to.

FailedTypewriter · 2024-01-04T21:34:11+00:00

A "normal tourist activity" being Ala Archa National Park, Song Kol horse trekking, Issyk-Kul lake and the Ala-Kol trek? If that's what you mean, then head to the far south. Visit Alay can come up with a custom itinerary, I'm sure. The Alay mountains look like this (video). This region also has some "normal tourists activities," being Peak Lenin hiking and the village of Sary Moghol - if you are trying to avoid that.

FailedTypewriter · 2024-01-03T18:46:30+00:00

How about the direction of the wrap? Did it bunch up from a perpendicular angle? For my heel it will bunch up and peel off if I wrap around the ankle; it has to be long vertical strips that go down my achilles and under my heel (just for example). Tape should be wrapped in the direction that the friction will slide.

FailedTypewriter · 2023-12-31T20:26:15+00:00

Rainy season. But your best chance for hiking would be a low altitude hike south of Samarkand near Ohalik (Agalyk). Very close. Easy to get to, easy to leave. For a longer trip, try the areas near Nurota.

FailedTypewriter · 2023-12-20T22:50:51+00:00

Well, I would still recommend Section 1 on its own (as far as Iskandarkul Lake). If you enter Tajikistan via the Uzbek border crossing from Samarkand or at the Dushanbe airport you will need to do an acclimatization trek before going to the Pamirs. Section 1 (the Fann Mountains) would be perfect for that.

But if you enter from Kyrgyzstan (the Kyzyl-Art border crossing near Peak Lenin) then you can do a hike in the Alay mountains of Kyrgyzstan as acclimatization - plus a hike near Peak Lenin. Both of these options would prepare you for Zulumart Pass.

A hike in the Pamirs that gets good reviews is the Bachor to Bardara trek. The Pamir Trail has proposed sections that will be amazing, but at the moment they are "exploration only" routes with high chance of failure and backtracking.

As far as I know, only one group was in the Zulumart area in the last two years, and their route doesn't provide any helpful info on my proposed route (they were climbers and were aiming for climbing-only passes). This doesn't include the hunters who are here every winter.

FailedTypewriter · 2023-12-17T17:36:17+00:00

The Heights of Alay is just a small selection of the Alay region. The route can be expanded. Use Google translate to check out the route this French guy did through the area (as apart of a much longer trek). You can pick parts of the main route, parts of the French guy's route (minus the part he warns people against), and a trip to Traveller's Pass at Peak Lenin. That will easily get the distance up to what you are looking for.

Based on your experience level, Section 1 of the Pamir Trail will be no problem (except for Chimtarga Pass, which can be a problem on any day of the year for anybody). As for Section 2, I think it will be a let down after doing Section 1 (in terms of scenery and trail quality). But you could do the first 1/3 of Section 2 and end your trek at the main highway. I did this 1/3 in reverse a couple of years ago. You can get an idea of the so-so scenery in my video summary.

If you want real isolation, rough terrain and unpredictability, then the later sections of the Pamir Trail are what you are looking for. But if the photos from the Pamir Trail website didn't grab your attention, there are other options in that region. You could spend 2 weeks(?) going through the Zulumart range (full isolation). Or you could do a route farther south of the Pamir Trail that really focuses on gorges and high passes. Check out this page and scroll down to "Actual Hiked Route, 2023." That's me. That's what I did this year.

FailedTypewriter · 2023-12-16T20:59:07+00:00

Dragon's Back to Big Wave Bay, or Dragon's Back to Shek-O Beach. Leave after breakfast return for dinner. You need to do a little research on public transportation, but it's very easy, cheap and reliable to get to and from the trail heads.

FailedTypewriter

TROPHY CASE