Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB

Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/)

- Northern and Central Asia (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/northern-and-central-asia/)

- - Bartang valley (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/northern-and-central-asia/bartang-valley-105956)

We just rode through Bartang and the water level is extremely high in the moment. Nobody around in the upper part but a few cyclist. The three river crossings before Gudara were a complete mess with huge rocks and very strong current. Drop your bike and the engine is flooded. The "crossing" before Gudara, the road is flooded by the Bartang river with at least 50cm of strong current. We had to get the motorcycles through one by one with 1 person spotting in hip to waist deep water. If you'd drop your bike towards the river side, it most likely will be gone forever.
More south in the little village of Basid, a flash flood came down the night before and we had to wait 4 hours while they were trying to clear it with a bulldozer. They destroyed 2 cars while trying to pull them through the stream and they got stuck in the middle with flooded engines. They finally put our bikes in the shovel of the bulldozer to bring them to the other side. So be careful in the moment. It's very hot and the snow melts like crazy what leads to extremely high water levels.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myrkskog (Post 647201)

We had to get the motorcycles through one by one with 1 person spotting in hip to waist deep water. If you'd drop your bike towards the river side, it most likely will be gone forever.

A great adventure isn't it! The picture of me in reply #2 in this thread is probably from this place you describe. But it was mid-September 2019, so much less melt-water in the river :thumbup1: My line was as far away from the river as possible. My buddies went through before me, so were able to advise the smooth line, and take the picture :D

We (me and 2 buddies) also only saw 3 cyclists (one pair and one solo) coming the other way during the whole time. We were riding S to N.

I think your spot is in the lower section? The section before Gudara looked like this for a long stretch.

https://i.ibb.co/YwKSVyH/IMG-20250723-WA0003.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myrkskog (Post 647205)

I think your spot is in the lower section? The section before Gudara looked like this for a long stretch.

Could well have been. I remember a long section of sandy "beach" :Beach: was next to the water that could we be what's in your picture. In mid September 2019 the water levels were much lower (as they will be every year). It was very cold (close to zero C) at night, so relatively speaking, there wasn't that much melt water coming into the river during the days.