to Charyn Canyon: a lot of work to see a canyon

August 25, 2016

It’s a cold morning in Kegen, we can only imagine this place in winter. The road drops down to a river, then starts a long gradual climb into a mountain range. At about 15km we reach a high point and start a 20km downhill to the flat Kazakhstan prairie. We pass through Akcar, the last village and shop.

We have a choice to make today; either take a direct route towards the Chinese border, or a detour of about 50km to see Charyn Canyon. Since we do not want to rush through Kazakhstan in four days without even seeing one major sight, we feel like we have to make the effort.

The road first descends down the river upstream of the canyon, then climbs over a ridge before going back down to the canyon. Tomorrow we’ll have to do the same thing on the downstream side. After about 65km we reach the turn-off and start about 10km of a sandy road to the National Park. Our plan is to camp at the river and by now we don’t really have a choice. There is no water on the plateau where the viewpoints are, the river is our only camping option.

Will has given us directions but we still struggle to find the right road. The easiest is to follow a smaller road to the right immediately after the entrance station. After about 500 meters there is a sign that only 4x4 vehicles should attempt the descent. It is steep! It is rutted and rocky! We need to walk each bike down together for about 200 meters, then it flattens out a bit and we can ride again.

The canyon is very beautiful though, with nice rock formations, balancing rocks and chimneys. Down at the river are some trees and of course the water we need to camp. The camping area is not quite what we expected. There are two “eco camps” on either side of a parking area. One side has thatched huts, the other side yurts and a nice looking restaurant. The “eco” part must be the public toilets which are some of the worst we have seen. Kazakhs men don’t seem to aim well.

A group of Germans is camped at the parking area and this seems to be the only flat place along the river. We do the same and enjoy the beer we carried here. There are two nice shelters, one taken up by a large group of young Kazakhs, the males seem to be enjoying the vodka a little too much but the girls are friendly and spent a lot of time taking selfies of themselves in front of our bikes and tents. Not sure what is up with that. It is nice to have a shelter, table and bench to cook on but the German group is not very social. So we retreat to our tent early and read the new books we were able to exchange in Karakol. Then a singing contest breaks out between two groups, Rachel gets out of the tent and sings a camp song "Just a boy and a girl in a little canoe" then retreats back into the tent.

The road drops from the mountains onto the Kazakh prairie.

Crossing the Charyn River for the first time.

Statue at the summit, next downhill again back to the Charyn River.

Turn-off to Charyn Canyon. 10km to the entrance station, then another 4km into the canyon.

A tight squeeze, guess this keeps the larger vehicles out.

The Charyn River. A large can of beer and potato chips are our rewards.

Today's ride: 79 km (49 miles)
Total: 21,035 km (13,063 miles)

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