Adventures in Asia: Ile-Alatau National Park, Kazakhstan

Almaty is on the doorstep of an incredible mountain range, and the Ile-Alatau National Park is actually technically within the city limits. You can see the snow-capped mountains right from downtown.

A municipal bus takes you from downtown up into the park and it is easy to get to several trailheads. So, today I decided to hike up to Kok Jailau.

At breakfast my credit card declined, and I found out it has a daily maximum number of transactions. Good to know. I was short of cash now, and realized my daily limit would reset at 9:00 Almaty time (midnight in Toronto), so I waited a bit until then, then tested the card by placing a delivery order for groceries. This worked well, and voila, a picnic:

Once packed up, I caught the bus and rode upwards and out of the city. The trailhead is a short walk up a side road from the bus stop.

Here is the really impressive sign at the trailhead. The trail can take you right to the top of Kumbel peak, but my goal was Kok Jailau, a meadow at 2,230 metres above sea level, or a climb of about 600 metres over about 5 kilometres. I started out just before 10:30.

Just like the trailhead, the trail is well-signed.

It is also very steep, at least at first, but well maintained, with stairs in the steepest places.

It was a truly glorious day for a hike and the scenery was spectacular. 

At some spots you could see Almaty way down below.

At noon I reached Kok Jailau, where things really open up into a large, undulating meadow.

I climbed up a few minutes more to where there is a waterfall next to the meadow, and sat in the peaceful shade here to eat my lunch.

After lunch I descended a little and then climbed to an outlook, where you could look down on Almaty easily. In some ways it is actually too high to get a good view of the city!

After a pleasant forty-five minutes, I began descending the way I had come.

It took me an hour to get back down. The stairs are even more helpful in descending than they are for climbing. This photo gives a sense of how steep certain sections are!

Shortly after 14:00 I was at the bus stop . . .

. . . and by 15:00 back in the centre of Almaty. Unfortunately I began feeling very poor on the bus ride, and I assumed I was suffering from dehydration and heat stroke because it was a hot day. I rehydrated well at a cafe, but began feeling worse so returned to my hotel room. For the next two hours I went between the bed and the bathroom; obviously, something I had eaten did NOT sit well, and I began to suspect the carrots I had bought and eaten during my hike. I think I probably inadequately washed them and perhaps a fertilizer or pesticide was not making my insides happy. It was a miserable couple of hours, but surprisingly I bounced back extraordinarily well around 18:00 and decided I felt well enough to go back out. There was not much left inside me anymore, anyway! Having so enjoyed the Arasan baths last night, I headed there again . . .

. . . and then had a nice final dinner in Kazakhstan. I was hungry now, but I tried to keep it light and healthy. 

Very early tomorrow morning I will be flying to Amsterdam and closing out my adventure across Central Asia. Roughly, this was my something-like-3,000 kilometre overland route over the last ten days--Ashgabat to Khiva all by car and Khiva to Almaty all by train.