Ala Archa

Day 15 - Hiking Ala Archa

Today I tried the all you can eat breakfast. It wasn't really a buffet, but the portions were large that it may as well have been. Need to pack sufficient carbs and proteins for the hike through Ala Archa.

To get to the national park, I needed to take the Kashka Suu bound 265 just outside the hostel. The ride was about 45 minutes from memory, going through various villages after leaving Bishkek. Eventually, we reach the final stop, The entrance of Ala Archa national park. As I head over to the ticket counter to pay for pedestrian entry, I bump into Kimberley the French Canadian and Maron a young French woman from the hostel who had just taken a cab to the park. I joined them and together we were dropped off at the base of the mountain trail.

Ak-Sai mountain trail

In a short time, I lost the couple and headed out on my own. It had some steep bits which required some finesse however nothing that couldn’t be handled. Eventually, I got to a signpost that said the waterfall is here. It was a short hike from there to a nice small waterfall however having gone all this way I decided to go further and try to reach the station.

It was getting more difficult and somehow I lost the trail and came across a steep shale ascent. By then it was almost mid-afternoon and I figured that if I continue at the tired pace I’ve been doing, I won’t get down to base by dusk. So I made the hard decision to go back down. Had to quicken my pace due to the clouds and approaching rain drizzle. The thing about mountains is that you can often truly experience four seasons in one day, in a very short amount of time.

Back to Bishkek

At the parking lot, there were only a couple parked cars and no taxis in sight. I rang Nurlan to request a taxi, however as I would have had to wait at least another hour plus a hefty surcharge for national part entry, I decided to just walk the long 12 km to the nearest village and entrance of the national park. About a couple of kilometers downhill, a young Kyrgyz couple picked me up in a done up Mitsubishi Evo.

They were very excited to have met a traveler so we talked about various things during the ride. They left me on the other side of Bishkek due in o the fact my hostel was nowhere near their destination. But still Asian called me a taxi which I took to Taksim restaurant near the hostel for a big bite to eat!

Next: Karakol