Day 2: Ala Archa National Park

I was feeling more alive after a night’s rest and headed down for breakfast to become acquainted with my fellow travelers. All Aussies with one American man, a friendly bunch that I was instantly happy and comfortable to be travelling with. Today our Bishkek guide Rus would led us to the outskirts of the city to Ala Archa National Park for an introductory trek to approximately 2000m. I was grateful for this opportunity to get the legs moving and the blood flowing following the long journey to Kyrgyzstan. Rus made it clear that he was not a hiking guide, explaining that usually his tourists are retired and seek gentle strolls through the national park. He laughed as he was faced with a group of young enthusiastic hikers, kitted out in all the gear and suggested that he would just remain in the coffee shop and let us crack on unassisted. Luckily, we would be joined by a mountain guide for the main expedition as Rus outlined his distain of climbing hills.

Ala Archa National Park was established in 1976, named after the vibrant river that flows through this section of the Tian Sian mountains. Surrounding the car park there were various coffee shops, ice cream vendors, and gift shops in addition to ski lifts to higher ground. It felt like an alpine ski village. The hiking trails were all sign-posted and Rus suggested we complete the trail to the waterfall, which cascades from the rugged mountains at around 2000m – a perfect opportunity to begin gaining some slight elevation. I hiked and chatted with Patrick, a recently retired cross-country skier and biathlete who grew up in Alaska and now works as an environmental engineer in the Lake Tahoe area of California. The surroundings were beautiful with deep gorges, raging rivers, and the horizon revealed snowcapped peaks, serving as a reminder of what lay ahead of me. The National Park is home to wild ibex, brown bears, lynx, grey wolves and the snow leopard. I knew I wouldn’t have the opportunity to see any of these wild animals, but sometimes it feels like enough just to briefly share their territory. I always love the notion that even if I haven’t had the privilege of witnessing a wild animal, they have been secretly watching me through the gaps in the trees, not willing to compromise their elusive, mysterious reputation.

After 3 hours of gentle uphill hiking, we arrived at the waterfall and gathered on the rocks below to eat our packed lunches provided by the hotel. We dived into the brown paper bags excitedly like school children, swapping goods and comparing juice flavours before completing the hike down back to the car park. The afternoon sun beat down and the 30 degree heat made me long for the high mountains, where I know such temperatures would not be reached. We enjoyed ice creams before clambering onto the mini bus to take us back to Bishkek. Here we began to prepare for an early morning flight to Osh which is the nearest city to the Pamir mountains, the setting for the remainder of the adventure. We met for dinner and sampled more traditional food including boorsok (small pieces of fried dough), kymyz (a sour fermented made from horse milk) and manty (dumplings filled with mystery meat and onions). Something told me that I would just have to embrace the horse-based products in the coming weeks!

Following dinner, we said our farwells to Rus and thanked him for sharing Bishkek with us. He explained that our mountain guides would meet us in the hotel lobby at 4am, where they would handle the remainder of the our time in Kyrgyzstan.

The thrill of adventures and the thread of excitement that they have provided in my life so far has remained unbroken. I’ve trudged through dense jungle vegetation, ran down active volcano slopes, fought with my tent in high winds, collapsed on a countless number of rocks, attempted to unfreeze my eyelashes and avoided conflicts with grizzly bears and poisonous snakes. All these memories collectively make me who I am and provide me with a constant sense of purpose.  The memories flooded my head as I drifted on the edge of sleep, as that entwinement of excitement and apprehension for the coming days surged through my veins. My hazy and hypothetical aspiration to travel in the mountains of Central Asia had transformed to an adventure with a definite and purposeful shape and I was excited to see what it had to offer.