Kyrgyzstan Song Kol Route (270 km)
Naryn to Kochkor · one way, about 270 km back to the start
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Why this ride
A one-way ride of 270 km, Naryn to Kochkor - roughly 3 h 48 in the saddle. The stops in between: Moldo Ashuu Pass, Song Kol and Kalmak Ashuu Pass. The highest point is about 3,450 m. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Roadbook
- Naryn
start
It is the capital of the province and the last real town of any size before the high pastures, a low, grey Soviet-era place of apartment blocks and a few older buildings, with brown hills rising on both sides and snowy peaks beyond. Winters are bitterly cold, sometimes thirty below, while summers are dry and bright.
The road from here leads to some of the most remote and spectacular country in Central Asia. Song-Köl, a vast alpine lake at around three thousand metres, sits in a high plateau where herders bring their sheep, horses and yaks every summer and live in yurts. The tracks that lead to it are rough, with gravel, steep gradients and fords, and the lake is usually accessible only from June to September, since snow blocks the passes for the rest of the year. Altitude and weather change fast, and a sunny morning can turn to hail by afternoon, so bring warm and waterproof clothing.
Naryn has an old connection with the Silk Road. About a hundred kilometres to the south-west, the stone caravanserai of Tash Rabat, a fortified rest stop thought to date from the fifteenth century, stands in a lonely valley, and the road beyond leads over the Torugart pass, at 3,752 metres, to China. Kyrgyz culture here is one of horses and storytelling, and the epic of Manas, a hero poem many times longer than the Iliad, is still recited by singers. Hospitality is generous, and a visitor in a yurt is offered tea, bread and kumys, fermented mare's milk, which is an acquired taste.
Fuel is available in Naryn, with several stations, and it is essential to fill up and carry extra, since the high country has none. Cafes along the main street serve beshbarmak, boiled meat with noodles, laghman noodle soup and manty dumplings, and the bazaar sells bread, fruit and dairy products.
Check your bike over before you leave. The tracks are long and help is far away, and a calm start makes the rest of the journey easier.
- Moldo Ashuu Pass
scenic · 3346 m
Moldo Ashuu is a high, bare pass on the track that leads into the Song Kol plateau from the south, at about 3,350 metres, and it is the sort of place that makes you feel small in a very good way. The road climbs out of the valley of the Naryn region in dusty switchbacks over rolling hills, crosses a ridge of scree and short grass, and tops out among prayer-flag-less cairns and the wind. There is no town and no hut. Marmots whistle from their burrows and the horizon is made of long, soft brown ridges. Ashuu is the Kyrgyz word for pass, and the Kyrgyz have a habit of naming each one after something about it, which keeps the map honest.
The road is gravel, sometimes graded and sometimes not, with stretches of washboard, loose stones, stream crossings and the occasional bit of mud. It is a proper adventure road, and it needs a bike that can handle it and a rider with some experience of dirt. Weather matters a great deal at this altitude. Snow can fall on the pass in any month, including midsummer, storms build quickly, and the road is closed completely by deep snow from about October to May. Even in summer, the temperature can drop to freezing at night and the wind is hard. Carry warm clothes, rain gear and food, and tell someone where you are going.
The reward is the highland beyond. Song Kol, a high-altitude lake, lies about three thousand metres above the sea and is used in summer as pasture by herders who bring their sheep, horses and cattle up from the valleys and live in felt yurts. These seasonal pastures, called jailoo, are a centre of Kyrgyz life and culture. Visitors can stay in yurt camps in July and August, drinking kymyz, fermented mare's milk, and eating bread, cream and mutton.
Naryn and Kochkor are the nearest towns with stations and supplies, so start with a full tank and a spare can if you have one. Phone signal is patchy or absent. Water from streams should be treated or boiled, and altitude sickness is a possibility for those who ascend too quickly, so take time to adjust.
The best time to come is July to early September. The days are warm, the flowers are out and the grass is green, but the nights are cold, so a warm sleeping bag is welcome.
- Song Kol
scenic
Song Kol is a lake on the roof of Kyrgyzstan, a broad sheet of cold blue water at about three thousand metres, surrounded by treeless grass hills and an enormous sky. It is the second largest lake in the country after Issyk-Kul, and in the short summer it is the heart of the nomadic world. Shepherd families move up from the valleys with their flocks, set up their yurts along the shore, and spend a few months on the high pastures, and the whole plateau is dotted with white tents, horses and sheep. In the evening, the herds come down to the water, the smoke rises from the yurt chimneys and the light turns the hills gold.
There are no villages and no roads in the strict sense, just gravel tracks that link the passes and the yurt camps. Getting here involves one of the high passes, from Kochkor in the north or the Naryn side in the south, and the tracks are rough, with washboard, sand patches and the odd stream to ford. The ride is demanding, particularly if it has rained, when clay surfaces become slippery. Distances are long and the altitude affects both bikes and riders. The lake is accessible only in summer, usually from June to September, and it is frozen for much of the rest of the year, with deep snow on the plateau.
The weather is the main hazard. Storms with hail and lightning can sweep across the open plain, and temperatures at night can fall below freezing even in July. Be prepared for all conditions and carry warm clothes, even if the afternoon feels pleasant. In the thin air, the stars at night are astonishing, with the Milky Way across the whole sky and no light pollution at all.
Staying in a yurt camp is part of the experience, and local families offer beds, meals and horse rides at modest prices, arranged by community organisations or simply by turning up. The food is simple, with bread, jam, cream, noodles and meat, and the drink of choice is kymyz, which is an acquired taste. Horse riding is a good way to explore the shore, and locals will happily lead you. Eagles and other raptors circle overhead, and in the marshes at the edge of the lake, waterfowl nest in summer.
Plan your tank and carry extra from Kochkor or Naryn, and bring spare tubes, tools and food. Phone signal is poor, so travel with others if you can.
The place is a window onto a way of life that is changing but still alive. Be respectful, ask before photographing people, and leave no trace.
- Kalmak Ashuu Pass
scenic · 3447 m
Kalmak Ashuu is the northern gate to the Song Kol plateau, a pass of about 3,450 metres on the track that climbs out of the Kochkor valley, and it is the one that most riders take when coming from Bishkek or Issyk-Kul. The name means something like the pass of the Kalmyks, and tradition links it to the Oirat peoples who moved through this region centuries ago, though like many Central Asian place names the origin is half legend. The road leaves the valley floor and climbs in a series of long switchbacks across dry hills, past clusters of yurts and flocks of sheep, to a saddle of bare grass and rock with a great view to the south over the plateau.
The surface is gravel for most of the way, sometimes smooth and sometimes badly corrugated, with sections of loose stone and short rocky steps. It is the more popular of the routes to Song Kol, so it is generally better maintained and busier, though still a serious road after rain or snowmelt. Streams cross the track in places and the water can be deep in spring. The upper section has some steep, exposed bends where care is needed, and the weather at the top can turn quickly, with strong winds and sudden snow. In winter the road is closed and heavy snow lies on the pass until late spring.
From the top you look across to a wide upland of grass, with the lake glinting in the distance, and on a clear day the Tien Shan ranges stand around the horizon in layers of blue. The air is thin and cold, even in summer, and the silence is broken only by the wind and the whistle of marmots. It is a place for taking pictures and taking breath, in either order.
Fill the tank in Kochkor, which has stations and shops, and carry spare fuel for the plateau, since the round trip to the lake and back is long. A small shop or tea stall may appear in the villages on the way up, but do not count on it. Carry water, snacks and a warm layer, and a repair kit for the bike.
Altitude can cause headaches in people who arrive from low ground, so it is wise to spend a night or two at moderate height first. Start early, since afternoon storms are common and the descent is better done in good light.
- Kochkor
finish
Kochkor is a flat, windy, high-valley town at roughly eighteen hundred metres in Kyrgyzstan's Naryn region, and it is where riders turn from the pavement to the dirt. It sits in a broad valley between the Kyrgyz Ala-Too and the Kyoktu range, with sheep and horses in the fields around it and the long line of the mountains marked by snow in all but the hottest months. About two hundred kilometres from Bishkek, it is the usual gateway to Song-Kol, a high alpine lake at over three thousand metres where herders bring their flocks in summer.
The town is known for its felt. Women's cooperatives here make shyrdak and ala-kiyiz, the colourful felt carpets that cover the floors of yurts, using techniques that go back centuries, and a visit to a workshop is a good way to understand how closely the culture is tied to the animals. The wool is washed, dyed, rolled and pressed by hand, and the designs, spirals, horns and tree-like patterns, have meanings. A community tourism office in the town arranges homestays and rides.
The road from Bishkek is the pleasure of the journey. It follows the Chu River through the Boom Gorge, a narrow canyon with red rock walls, and then crosses the plateau past the western end of Lake Issyk-Kul, a huge blue lake ringed by snowy mountains. The pavement is generally decent, though trucks and rough patches are common, and cattle and horses wander across without warning. Weather can change quickly, and in spring and autumn snow can fall even on the lower passes. The Song-Kol road, beyond Kochkor, is gravel, steep and closed by snow outside the summer months, so check conditions with local guides before you go.
Kochkor has fuel and basic shops, and it is the last reliable place to fill before the mountains. Carry spare fuel for the high tracks, along with warm layers and food. Try the traditional bread, baked in a clay oven, and a bowl of fermented mare's milk if you are curious. Summer is the best season, with long evenings and wildflowers on the high pastures.