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Kyrgyzstan
Day Four: The Middle Chon-Kemin
A visually nice riverside camp on the Chon-Kemin.
David Lew and Egor Voskoboynikov make the move to the right to catch an eddy above the commonly portaged rapid.
Rok Sribar running the crux moving to the right side earlier.
Rok again, staying right down the lead in rapid.
I hop in with Gimitry and we head downstream a good ways as the guys will be paddling another 15km or so from where I took out. We don't have to wait long as the river is about as fast as the road.
David, Michal and Rok in anice mellow section.
They said the lower part was actually harder because as the gradient lessened, the some big holes started to appear. We take our drying gear and filtering water before loading up and heading out.
We drive back down the Chon-Kemin, in route to Issyk Kul, an endorheic saline lake, second largest saline lake in the world.
On to Day Four, Naryn Shuttle.
Day Four: The Middle Chon-Kemin
A visually nice riverside camp on the Chon-Kemin.
It's
a true joy of logistics to camp at take out and
then just put on the next day right where you took off. Or in my case,
portage from camp as I was not feeling the first rapid of the day. I'm
a big fan of pool drop rivers and the Chon-Kemin is the antithesis of
pool drop.
While the site looks nice, it was marred by copious amounts of garbage and shit tickets everywhere, a damn shame.
Looking upstream at the first rapid of the day, a half kilometer of non stop action.
Egor Voskoboynikov in the lead, Rok Sribar and Michal Kuthan in the mix of a morning wake up rapid.
Egor and Rok in the midst of it.
Good morning Mr Sribar.
Michal Kuthan in the morning light.
David and Egor take a technical left line through the lead in crux.
While the site looks nice, it was marred by copious amounts of garbage and shit tickets everywhere, a damn shame.
Looking upstream at the first rapid of the day, a half kilometer of non stop action.
Egor Voskoboynikov in the lead, Rok Sribar and Michal Kuthan in the mix of a morning wake up rapid.
Egor and Rok in the midst of it.
Good morning Mr Sribar.
Michal Kuthan in the morning light.
David
and I put in at the bottom of the rapid, and when we put on the river
continues with non stop action for about a mile before mellowing out to
grade II, where we cover quite a bit of distance in quick time, to eddy
out at our previous campsite. Here the river gets steep again, and
there is a normally portaged rapid. We scout around the corner and I'm
just not feeling it and decide to take out at our prior campsite. The
rest of the crew will continue on, running the lead in to the portage
while I take capture some images.
David Lew and Egor Voskoboynikov.
David and Egor take a technical left line through the lead in crux.
David Lew and Egor Voskoboynikov make the move to the right to catch an eddy above the commonly portaged rapid.
Rok Sribar running the crux moving to the right side earlier.
Rok again, staying right down the lead in rapid.
I hop in with Gimitry and we head downstream a good ways as the guys will be paddling another 15km or so from where I took out. We don't have to wait long as the river is about as fast as the road.
David, Michal and Rok in anice mellow section.
They said the lower part was actually harder because as the gradient lessened, the some big holes started to appear. We take our drying gear and filtering water before loading up and heading out.
These
USSR era portable housing units are still a common sight and in use.
They were the standard building for road workers and others at the
time, and sold off cheap later. They came as a trailer like this one or
could be loaded on railroad cars. Amazing how a design aesthetic can
evoke a culture and time, these things just scream Soviet to us
westerners.
We drive back down the Chon-Kemin, in route to Issyk Kul, an endorheic saline lake, second largest saline lake in the world.
The
roads there are a wild mix, sometimes two lanes of dirt and other times
six lanes of paved road as they are in the process of being improved,
though it seems the improvments are happening about as fast as the
deterioration of other sections. It's never more than a kilometer or
two before the road surface changes. It takes us a few hours and we
find a campsite on Issyk Kull, with a nice sunset and balmy
temperatures for the evening. A rough esimation of where we camped by the lake.
On to Day Four, Naryn Shuttle.