August 9, 2022
My parents went back to Israel and I headed back to the trail, but first I had to stop in Jalalabad.
I hitched my way from Osh to Jalalabad, the third biggest city in Kyrgyzstan. It’s part of the Fergana valley and lies on one of the main branches of the old silk road.
From here on I’m continuing my hike, but not alone.
In Jalalabad I met with Shuva. Shuva is a good friend of my brother. They spent a year together in mechina before joining the Israeli army. As I was planning and preparing for this trip I sent out a general invitation saying that if anyone is interested in joining this hike and is serious about it, let me know and we can try and make it happen. A few people contacted me, asking questions and declaring their interest, and at the end Shuva was the only survivor left. We talked a lot before the hike to try and understand if and how we can make this happen. I needed to make clear to Shuva that this hike is not a simple matter.
“If you want to be a part of it you need to make a decision and be ready to put in the effort. This experience could be amazing, the most exhilarating, beautiful, fun, exciting adventure.
But it will also be difficult, hot, cold, painful, will require physical and mental strength, dedication, and will power.”
We talked about experience and attitude; we talked about the gear that is needed; we talked about what it meant for me to create this new route and how we could make it happen together. Maybe I was trying to scare him a little.
At the end of the day, Shuva came to Kyrgyzstan. We hitchhiked together back to Kyzil-Unkor, reached the village and spent the night at a guest house, getting ready to start hiking the next day. We had a 4-5 day stretch ahead of us until we reached the next resupply point, a good amount of time to get used to each other and see how we feel about continuing together.
The trail did not go easy on Shuva. After a long and mellow walk along the valley we reached the mountains and started a serious climb, 2,000M, climbing on an old and mostly nonexistent electric line service road, zigzagging up the mountain.
Hiking alone and hiking with someone are two very different things. When you hike alone you have freedom, complete freedom. You don’t need to answer to anyone, don’t need to care for anyone, don’t need to wait for anyone, you can do anything you want in your way, your time and your rhythm. Hiking with somebody means you have to be considerate, you have to realize people’s differences and be willing to accommodate, be flexible, wait, share, care, be aware.
Hiking with someone gives you perspective, gives you an extra set of eyes, lets you experience the world in a larger way, allows you to share the experience of the trail and the life of the journey, share your thoughts and your plans, share your amazement, your excitement, your fear, your pain, and your passion. It’s always safer hiking with a partner, having someone who will help when you get into danger and someone who might stop you when you do stupid things that will put you in danger.
I knew I wanted to come on this hike and I knew that I’m going to do this whether I’m alone or not. This life is so full of magic and beauty and I’m here, ready to meet them head on.
Still, I have to say, I’m very happy to be able to have someone with me and share the experience with another crazy guy who is willing to walk day after day in these mountains for months.
Shuva was just the guy to come on this trip. He came prepared physically, mentally and emotionally ready to put in the effort the energy and the passion I feel is necessary for a journey like this. So me and Shuva started climbing, 2000 M the first day, climbing up from Kyzil-Unkor back down the other side and then back up towards Kara-Suu lake.
On the first night we slept pretty high up in the mountains with rain coming down on us, the second night we made it all the way to the lake. We pitched my huge 4 person tarp, which for two people is so roomy and comfortable with the entrance directly in front of the water. We made some food and played some music and met a couple of local groups who came to sleep by the lake, including one group of women who put some karaoke music on loud speakers and danced throughout the night.
In the morning we had a choice to make: the hills were steep and impossible to climb on both sides. The lake filled up the narrow valley and we had to find a way along its shore and we heard there is a walking path along the lake on one side, but which one, right or left? Some people told us we needed to go on the right side and other people told us we had to go on the left side. We were already on the right side and we saw the beginning of a trail going part of the way so we decided to give it a shot and started hiking alongside the gorgeous and incredibly blue water of the lake. It was an unbelievable way, fit for feet only, human or animal, but feet only, which was nice after walking a big part of the last few days on dirt roads.
We made it about halfway, struggling with heavy brush, along the side of this long and narrow lake which seemed to be fed by the glaciers melting on the mountains on both sides and looked to me like it used to be part of a long river valley which was blocked at one point by an avalanche and created this lake which is true for many mountain lakes here in the Tian Shan(Ala-kol, Sary-Chelek, Kol-Suu)
At about halfway we reached a Jailo (a seasonal camp for shepherds and their herds). We saw a tent and met a group of men who were sitting around surrounded by their cows and a few horses getting fish out of the river and frying them on a big pot over a small fire. Of course they invited us to sit with them, drink tea and eat some fish which were delicious.They told us that there is no way to continue and the trail we took was leading to their camp but no further. We were thinking: maybe try to continue and see what happens or go all the way back to the beginning and from there all the way across the other side of the River.
Then two things happened. The first thing is a horse suddenly appeared. He apparently got loose and the entire group of guys, maybe 8 or 10 of them plus me and Shuva, went to surround him and try to catch and tie the horse down The second thing that happened after the horse was safely captured was that the guys offered to take us across in their boat. After giving us some fish for the road we said goodbye and hopped on a tiny makeshift tin rowboat with one of the guys who rowed us across. There was a hole in the bottom that kept flooding with water and forcing us to use a small cup and scoop the water out during the crossing. After maybe 20 minutes on the water we made it to the other side.
We climbed up the loose rocks trying to find the trail, got on it and kept on walking. We made it across the Kara-Suu lake, then further up to the smaller, Kapka Lake, lost our way a couple times, found it again and made it to the far edge of the lake.. Up up the valley we go, passing through three separate isolated yurts, having some bread and tea in one of them with the family, and decided to keep pushing up the mountain. We climbed higher and higher as the sun was getting lower and lower, disappearing behind the mountains, then reappearing and setting again and again as we climbed.
That day I caught the sunset again and again and again, having it fill my heart with every glimpse until it said it’s final goodbye just before the top of the pass. I got to the top of the pass amazed, awed and filled by the beauty and the effort of this day, dancing to old Black Eyed Peas albums, (I forgot how much energy these songs give me on the uphill). I was waiting for Shuva to join me on the top of the world. When he did, the last bit of light was still in the air, showing us the valley on the other side of the pass.Thinking about a place to camp, we realized we can’t stop: we have no water!
So, What do you do when the sun goes down and you have no light? What do you do when it starts raining, snowing, when the trail gets too hard or too cold or too hot?
I keep walking.
And so we kept walking.
Down to the valley below walking in the dark for about an hour until we found water and filled up, then kept walking looking for a reasonable flat area where we could set up the tent without sliding down the mountain. The entire way was slanted and we could not find a single spot until we reached a herd of cows.They claimed the only flat spot available, and with all due respect to these cows, we drove them away very nicely and set out our tent for the night hoping they don’t step on our head accidentally in the middle of the night.
The next morning we rose to a beautiful day and kept going down leaving the high mountains and into the low hills. We climbed up hillsides with no trails, trying to keep the right direction while looking for paths that exist on the old Soviet maps and might have existed at some point in the Soviet past. Slowly and surely we made our way down, talking, eating and playing music with the local nomads, trying to stay clear of their big and angry dogs, which never attack but still are kind of scary.
I got a bottle full of Iran, the yogurt-like drink and gave a bottle of water to a guy riding a donkey who seemed very thirsty. When we encountered the first village we had seen in days, we refilled our water by a spring to which we were led by the little kids of the village while Shuva was playing with them and trying to teach them how to do cartwheels.
Spent another night with the cows and found our way down to the road the next morning.
According to plan, the next stretch is going to be a long one, and in order to prepare, rest and resupply we decided to stop in the town of Kazarman. We got to the road and waited and waited and waited and waited. This road connects the area of Kazarman to Jalalabad and Osh and looking at the maps it seems like a pretty substantial road and we figured we will find a decent paved road and a quick ride into town. We got to a dirt road with no cars on it, then way in front in the distance we saw some electric poles and a truck driving by them, so we figured, okay we’re on the wrong road we should go over there, we walked another hour and reached that other road, it was smaller and less developed even than the one we were just on, so we went all the way back and kept waiting.
A few cars with tourists went by and didn’t stop and a couple of local cars that were full of passengers and didn’t have room for us, and then a big cement truck. The truck stopped, the two guys in front were very happy to meet us and we started driving.
I’ve had some slow rides in my life but this one was definitely up there. A few hours later, driving the dirt road at a speed that seemed like we could have walked faster and after a good conversation and a long and tiring way we reached Kazarman. Kazarman is the biggest village/town in the area, located at the bottom of a huge flat valley, alongside the Narin river, the largest river in the country. We spent a few days in town, trying to do research and preparing for the next leg of the journey, planning for 10 days of straight walking with no chance to resupply.
But for now, food, beer, ice cream and rest.
