#2 - Ak-Suu Traverse Trek
Karakol, Ysyk-Köl, KyrgyzstanLength: 58.0 mi • Est. Multi-day
The Ak-Suu trek is much better hiked east to west than the reverse. When you approach from the east you cross a series of passes, glaciers, and lakes, that are seem to be almost intentionally ordered so that you start off stunned by the beauty of the Boz-Uchuk lakes, but are then incrementally more awed by the view from the first pass with the yawning valley below, and after that surprised repeatedly that each pass and valley is measurably grander than the one before it. You're genuinely surprised with each pass you crest until you get here. After dragging yourself up the last 200m of loose scree, breathless in the thin 3900m air, you lurch over this pass and are assaulted by the spectacle of this massive emerald lake cradled beneath a raw spine of peaks, and fed by a colossal glacier that seems to be lazily oozing down the mountain into the comfort of its pristine azure bath.
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