Jailoo Hopping to Song-Kol Lake

Day 1: Kochkor — Sarala-Saz jailoo — Iri-Suu jailoo After early breakfast, leave Kochkor for Sarala-Saz jailoo, 1.5-hour drive. Meet a guide in Sarala-Saz jailoo. After lunch in a yurt, start trekking towards Iri-Suu jailoo. Stay overnight in a yurt before the Buchuk pass. This day you spend crossing wide-open pastures till Iri Suu area. Have dinner in Iri-Suu jailoo, and then take an evening walk over the hill into the beautiful Kashka-Suu River valley, where you can eat wild rhubarb and watch the alpenglow on the southern mountains. Horse time: 5 hours Trekking time: 5 – 6 hours Day 2: Iri-Suu jailoo — Sook valley After breakfast at Iri-Suu, gear up for a long day through nearly-empty country. Begin by traversing the western end of the Kochkor Valley through scrubby dry terrain. After crossing the fast Karakol River, climb 1000 meters over the Buchuk Pass (3400 m). On the other side, after a brief break for lunch on the trail, descend into the beautiful Sook Valley. Wild onions cover the high cold ridges, while lower down whole hillsides of wildflowers bloom. Eagles soar and marmots cry and scurry about. At day’s end, ford the Sook River and climb the green Kichi Saryk Valley Overnight stay in yurt. Horse time: 5 – 6 hours Trekking time: 6 -7 hours Day 3: Sook valley — Kolduu Suu jailoo After breakfast at Sook, detour to the next valley west, the Kum Bel, for the best approach to the 3 600 m Kum Bel Pass. From the pass, follow a ridge eastward and upward to the peak, 3656 m above sea level, with breathtaking 360 views and sheer drops to the north. Continue east, testing your walking skills down scree-covered hillsides, and eat lunch in a sheltered notch. Descend at last into the Kolduu Suu valley, and follow it down between dandelion-covered mountains to your yurt, in Kolduu Suu jailoo. Horse time: 5 – 6 hours Trekking time: 6 – 7 hours Day 4: Kolduu Suu jailoo — Kilemche jailoo After breakfast in Kolduu Suu, head south to the Kochkor — Jumgal road. Follow the road a short ways east to the Kyzart Pass, then strike south again. Within sight of the road, cross Kyzyl- Kiya jailoo, an enormous, relatively flat sea of grass. Continue over the Chaar-Archa Pass (3 061 m) into the Chaar-Archa Valley and eat a tasty lunch by the racing river, with views of holy 4400 m Baba-Ata Mountain. Sated, ford the river and follow the trail over verdant hills to Kilemche Jailoo. The name means “like a carpet,” and this swathe of grass covers whole mountain ranges, with shadings as subtle as any shyrdak (shyrdak is a Kyrgyz felt carpet). Dine and sleep in a yurt, naturally. Horse time: 5 hours Trekking time: 6 hours Day 5: Kilemche jailoo — Batai-Aral After breakfast at Kilemche, spend the morning climbing to Jalgyz Karagai pass (3400 m), over the Song-Kol Mountains and into the lake’s basin. The morning climb affords wonderful views of Kilemche jailoo, and the pass itself is rocky and exciting. From the pass, Song-Kol is still distant, but as you traipse down the slopes, it gets larger and larger; the mountains on the other side get higher and higher, until finally the lake fills most of your field of view and the southern mountains tower above it. After lunch at Jaman Echki, follow the lakeshore east to the yurt at Batai Aral. Upon arrival, meet your host family of Kyrgyz shepherds. Meals and overnight are in a yurt of shepherds. Horse time: 5 hours. Trekking time: 6 hours Day 6: Batai-Aral — Kochkor Spend the day enjoying refreshing and well-earned rest at the lake side. Watching and/or participation in everyday life of shepherds: milking mares; making national milk products like kymyz (a fermented mare’s milk) or airan (a sour dense milk product); tending cattle. Eat a delicious lunch here, stroll along the lakeshore, and hope the legendary Song-Kol weather is kind. Afternoon transfer to Kochkor. 3 hours driving.