Silk Road Trekking Dispatch

August 5, 2009 – Trekking High Above Aluddin Lakes

Today is only the third day of trekking in the Fann mountains. I think each member of this group would tell you it’s similar to those days that we were touring the famous cities of the Silk Road, Tashkent, Bukhara, and Samarkand: each day is so full and so different.

On the first day of trekking when we left the lodge, the trail was quite gentle and we ascended through the first juniper forest where we enjoyed stopping to visit the local families. In particular, one experience was memorable when a young girl served our group fresh goat’s milk yogurt. I remember Jim saying it was the finest yogurt that he had ever tasted. After enjoying the yogurt we made our way to Kulikalon Lake. From Kulikalon Lake we had an arduous steady descent over a pass at 3,880m (12,730ft). This was as equally demanding as the climb up and it brought us to Aluddin Lake (another beautiful Fann mountain lake). We hiked slightly above the lake to make our camp last night.

I think the group was really pleased to learn this morning that this would be a two-night camp.

An update of what everyone did today:

Charles, Vera, Mike and Cathy did a short hike down to the lake below our camp and Charles discovered a new lake that he described as being Mediterranean blue.

Leila stayed at camp and had a yoga class with the Tajik donkey guys. These guys work with the donkeys to carry the loads. They were interested when they saw Leila doing yoga one day. It was great to see four of these guys laid out in the meadow doing yoga. They were naturals!

Linda, Nancy Lee, and Annette hiked up 750m to Mtunoje Lake, each with their own Uzbek guide. They went up in a high rocky trail area as there is not much shoreline around the lake. It is very rugged with only snow and glacier above.

The rest of the group, Ken, Paul, Alex, and Jim went with Berg Adventures chief guide Theodore who is the old master of the Fann mountains. Guide Nicolai accompanied them as well.

The lunch served today included fresh french fries which were the most popular item to have. The cooks on the trip are Svetlana and Tatianna. The two women prepare wonderful meals, fresh salads, and a lot of really good nutritious foods that will help us with our trekking.