looks like a nice places
i just checked some satelite maps and it seems there might be two possibilities, one more north and one more south

but on both tracks there are sections where i'm not sure if its possible to pass
the water level might also be a problem, does anybody know what's the best time? I will be there in July...

@colebatch
might it be possible for you to share the track?

i can share the track (see attached in garmin gpx format - use GPS Visualizer to convert to KMZ google earth format), but then I ask anyone who rides it to email their actual ridden track and send me some key commentary regarding the track on wcolebatch (at ) gmail .com or on this thread.

It would certainly be useful for future adventurers.

Walter

Attached Files

Barskoon Enilchek Charyn.gdb (29.7 KB, 336 views)

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thanks for the track
it looks like it might be possible, but it all comes down to the water depht
I'm really keen to try it, if you make a little fuel depot it's also no problem if you have to turn around after 70% of the track

@estrybos
when are you going to be in that region? I would prefer to not try it all by myself...

The last couple of weeks I spend many hours updating and adding to OSM including for this area. It is amazing how many other tracks there are, but most of them dead end at farms. I did not see see a second thru route. Let me know where you may have found a second route.

There are two side trips from the "main" Kara-Sai - Inylchek track: to Uch-Koshkon (N41 49 53.6 E78 39 37.7) and beyond, eventually dead ending and going South from Kara-Sai, also dead ending. I found a couple of interesting looking tracks that are now added on OSM.

Fuel remains a problem for motorcycles unless there is somebody in Kara-Sai is willing to part with fuel. That would open some opportunities.

Besides fuel and water crossings the tracks themselves may be a problem as well, they could be real rough. Some look like they are used very infrequently. Going thru dry river beds full of big rocks can be really challenging as well and there are some places where you have to follow them for some distances.

I hope to be in the area late August - early September to poke around. My main travel target area this summer is the Pamirs though since i missed it in 2012. I edited / added a lot around the Zorkul Lake area. If that does not work out due to permit issues the area South of Barskoon it will be. That dead ended for me in 2012 as well due to a washed out bridge.

Who has gotten a permit to go beyond Kara-Sai and if so where?

From Inylcheck supposedly a permit it be asked for somewhere in Karakol, has anybody done so?

KP

And I guess if you are going to go that way, and can take an extra 90 km worth of fuel again, then the 45 km detour to Lake Petrov at the end of the Petrov Glacier right next to the Kumtor mine, might be worth doing:



Here's the track (actually a dirt road) for that:

Attached Files

Petrov Lake Road.gdb (1.0 KB, 338 views)

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Did anybody hassle you after the big "DO NOT GO PAST HERE" sign for the mine at the turnoff to the South for the back road to Kara-Sai? (N41 52 22.7 E78 06 07.5)

I found another good source for KG maps: Üch-Koshkon Map - Kyrgyzstan - Mapcarta

Mapcarta shows all kinds of tracks that I have not found anywhere else. You need to be zoomed in quit a bit but then they show up.

KP

Hi, the discussed track Inylchek-Karasay I travelled in august 2013. As Chri8 wrote, there is no drivable road/track, only fragments! In my opinion it's impossible with motorbikes. Some critical points:

1. crossing Terekty river
Not the big river, but with strong current. A russian bike group before us were not able to cross it, so we avoid it and used the road south of Inylchek and crossed Sary-Djaz river on a rope-cage (behind the hot springs).

2. crossing Uch-Kol river
Big river with strong current. Passable only during dry weather (low water level). We had a long rainfall two days before and were not able to cross this river without a boat. We used an Alpacka Raft.

3. last section blocked by landslides. It's the most difficult part, because only footpathes (animal/horse tracks) pass over. At the end we saw an alternative track on the other side of Uch-Kol river, but to reach it, it's necessary to cross Uch-Kol two times additional. See below, I attached some photos and one map of this section.

Attached Thumbnails

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Scandinavia, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia and Central Asia by bike: www.lonelytraveller.de

That is great feed back from somebody who actually has been there. It sure looks like you had your share of a true adventure.

I am not surprised by the section you show as virtually impassable. The only thing visible on sat photo's is a river bed and possibly mandatory crossing of the river. (or go, as you seem to have done, up on the hills and find cow tracks)

What is shown across the river are the maintenance roads for the power line. Besides having to cross the river twice the power line "road" also looks very problematic in places. It also seems that track dead ends where the power line eventually crosses the river again.

Again, thanks for your post.

thanks for the info, looks like it's worth a deture

i think they just use the normal google maps files, am i wrong?

thank you very much for this info!
are all your pictures from the last section (3.)?
this looks not really rideable, but the riverbed is quite wide at this point...so maybe if there's not much water you could take the riverbed

or take some truck tubes


bu that doesn't sound like a good idea if you riding only by yourself
nevertheless, i hope i can check it out in july

What I showed on the photos is only the difficult section, where we pushed our bikes over landslides and hills on animal tracks. Only the first one was taken before, when we crossed an eroded point on the wasted road.

The fragments of this old track are drivable on many kilometers, but there are also many points with deep erosion channels, sometimes like little canyons. To climb or round them was not easy as well (see below photo 4). Also the Uch-Kol nibble on some sections (photo 3). And going through the river bed is not the fun because of big stones (photo 2).

It would be interesting, if someone can find a way to pass this valley with motorbike, but as I wrote at the beginning, it seems impossible in my eyes. We needed 5 days from Sary-Djaz river to the end of Uch-Kol valley. In that time we didn't meet any people. If you try this, think about the way back! Because we planned to continue along the Chinese border to Torugart, we had food for two weeks (our fuel ) and no time pressure.

Attached Thumbnails

 

 

 

 

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Scandinavia, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia and Central Asia by bike: www.lonelytraveller.de