Big Solar Furnace and Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - S
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
793 km
Riding-time estimate
14 h 55
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Parkent it runs 793 km to Parkent; allow about 14 h 55 of riding. On the way it passes Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve - main part, Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - S and back through Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve - main part. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,700 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Big Solar Furnace
In the foothills of the Tian Shan, about an hour north-east of Tashkent, there is a building that looks as if it belongs in a science fiction film: a huge curved mirror, made of thousands of smaller mirrors, facing a field of tracking mirrors that follow the sun and focus its light onto a single point. This is the Big Solar Furnace near Parkent, built in the Soviet era in the 1980s, and still used for research into materials that can withstand extremely high temperatures.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Big Solar Furnace is where the day begins. Next is Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve - main part.
2. Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve - main part
Far up the Chatkal valley in western Kyrgyzstan, where the river runs between the Chatkal and Sandalash ranges of the Western Tien Shan, lies the Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve. It protects mountain steppe, juniper woodland, walnut and apple groves and rocky high country, and it is part of the transnational World Heritage Site of the Western Tien Shan, inscribed in 2016 and shared with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The reserve was created in particular to protect Menzbier's marmot, a small marmot found only in this part of Central Asia.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve - main part comes up 88 km in. Next is Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - S.
3. Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - S
The Western Tien Shan comes down to meet the steppe here, in the far south of Kazakhstan, and the Sairam-Ugam National Park protects a big piece of that collision. Snowy ridges rise above deep valleys with rushing rivers, forests of juniper, birch and wild fruit trees, and high meadows full of flowers in early summer. The park is part of the Western Tien Shan World Heritage Site, shared with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan and listed in 2016, a region known as one of the places where many fruit trees, including wild apples, walnuts and apricots, have their origins. The wildlife includes snow leopards, ibex, bears and the endemic Menzbier's marmot.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Big Solar Furnace. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Big Solar Furnace to Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve - main part
Big Solar Furnace → Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve - main part is 91 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve - main part to Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - S
Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve - main part → Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - S is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - S to back through Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve - main part
Sairam-Ugam State National Nature Park - S → back through Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve - main part is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve - main part to Big Solar Furnace
back through Besh-Aral State Nature Reserve - main part → Big Solar Furnace is 91 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.