We first visited Kyrgyzstan back in 2018 and we absolutely loved the country so we were excited to be back. This trip we’re spending some time around Naryn as we haven’t been there before. We did a little stroll through town and checked out the bustling market. It was great to see the old men still wearing their traditional Kyrgyzstan hats which I think are made from felt. They’re black and white and stand tall, almost like a top hat. We needed a chill day after our 19 hour border crossing but the following day we set off on our first adventure.

We were heading to Salkyn Tor national park to hike Ak Tash (meaning white stone). To get there we caught a shared taxi to the edge of town and then we waved our hand out to any car that drove past. This is something we love about Kyrgyzstan, every car can act as a taxi. Free hitching is fairly rare from our experience and when a car stops you agree on a price. It’s always reasonable and helps to cover fuel costs. A young guy pulled over for us and asked for 200som, about £2. We agreed on £1.50 and were on our way. While speeding down the road the driver began scrolling on his phone and watching videos, they’re reckless drivers in Kyrgyzstan. Then he began a FaceTime call and aimed the camera at us, giggling like mad to his friend while showing him the two tourists in his car. His giggle was very contagious so we were all laughing and when it was time to get out we went to hand him the money but he wouldn’t accept it which was very sweet. As soon as we began the walk we spotted two golden eagles in a tree who flew off and showed us their impressive wing span.

We were doing a 13km loop walk over a pass, gaining 900m elevation. The route started out as a gravel road, that led through the dense forest. It was so nice being surrounded by greenery after the desert style dusty mountains of Pakistan. Gradually the path narrows and we had a couple of river crossings, luckily the water wasn’t too deep but it was so unbearably cold that my feet were in agony until I thawed them on the grassy bank. A local was riding his horse our way and stopped in the river for it to have a refreshing drink.

The river began to bend to the right and it was at this point that our map suggested our trail went alongside it but there was only one path which led steeply uphill. It was a narrow track, probably made by a bloomin’ goat and when I say steep I mean almost vertical. We couldn’t stop to catch our breath as we had to keep the momentum going to get up. Once at the top there didn’t seem to be anywhere else to go as we had rocky cliffs and an extremely narrow ridge. I looked at my map and of course, this wasn’t the trail which meant we had to backtrack down the treacherous route. There was one silver lining though, the view was fabulous from up there, we could see right up the valley with the meandering stream and pine forest covered hills.

I was quite happy to give up and walk back but we persisted a bit and eventually found a rough trail on the other side of the river. It didn’t match what my map said but it was a faint path leading in the right direction. I guess this national park is rarely visited because occasionally the track would just vanish and we’d be bush whacking our way through prickly plants. The bushes became more common the further we walked and it was a pretty miserable route. By this point we seemed to be on the right track according to my map but then it would just finish again and we’d have to improvise.

We were heading towards a sort of amphitheater of mountains and to the right were steep grassy hills which is where we needed to get to, the pass was somewhere up there. There was absolutely no trail by this point so we decided to just go straight up which was brutal as it was so steep and still bushy. Tracks started appearing every few meters but none of them led us in the right direction and as we made our way higher up we could see the hill was riddled with tracks, all made by cows! The culprits were at the top of the pass so we just kept aiming for them and eventually after four tough hours we made it to the grassy pass. The view the other side was interesting as we could see the desert style badlands with orange hills eroded and shaped by rain.

We had a picnic at the top, watched some wild horses on the opposite mountain and then plucked up the courage to make our way back down. We were pretty nervous because we didn’t know what the trail would be like, I couldn’t bare the idea of route finding through shrubs the whole way back but thankfully this side was much easier to navigate. It still didn’t have a path the whole time but it was much better.

Lower down there were groups of cows lounging on the lush green meadows which was lovely to see. It’s something we really love about Kyrgyzstan, yes they eat meat but the animals live a good life, in summer they’re taken up to these beautiful pastures. They roam freely up on the hills and it’s much better conditions than many meat farms around the world.

It took about 2.5 hours to get back down to the main road which was surprisingly quiet for a hitch hike ride back to town. Luckily a truck came by and they offered us a free ride back to Naryn, hooray!