Onguday is a long, low village in the valley of the Karakol River, a place of about five thousand people that has served for generations as a stopover on the Chuysky Trakt. It is the largest settlement along the road between Gorno-Altaysk and the high south, which means fuel, shops, cafes and guesthouses are available here, and in the Altai that makes it a place worth remembering.
The valley is broad and open, with the river winding through grassland, and the mountains stand back on both sides, bare on the sunny slopes and darker where larch grows. Riding through feels spacious after the narrower roads of the north. From Onguday the highway continues south over the Chike-Taman Pass, a famous stretch of tight serpentine bends that climbs the slope in a few steep switchbacks, with views back over the valley. It is the kind of ride that makes people grin inside their helmet. North of the village, the road climbs toward the Seminsky Pass, with long gentle bends in good condition. Early mornings and evenings are best, since the light is low and the traffic quieter.
Onguday is a good place to think about the long past of the Altai. The region is full of petroglyphs, standing stones and burial mounds left by nomadic peoples over thousands of years, and the Karakol valley has several sites that archaeologists have studied. Local Altai people, the Altaians, have traditionally been herders, and you will see flocks of sheep and horses on the hillsides. The names of the surrounding places, many of them Turkic, tell their own story of movement along the valley.
The nature here is a mix of steppe and taiga. On the lower slopes you find dry grassland and scrub, on the higher slopes pine and larch, and in the valley bottom willows and poplars along the river. Hawks and eagles are easy to spot, and in summer the air smells of dry grass and warm earth.
Practical advice: fill the tank here, buy food and water, and check the bike, because the road ahead is long and the next serious supplies are in Kosh-Agach far to the south. A warm layer is wise, as temperatures drop fast in the evening, even in July.