Mountain Travel Sobek offered a trek in 1999 called “Lost Valleys of The Turkestan Range.” Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakstan, Pakistan and Afghanistan…so many “Stans.”

This tour began and ended in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, visited Samarkand and the trek took place entirely within Kyrgyzstan, once part of the former Soviet Union. Kyrgyzstan has been called the “Nepal of Central Asia” but only a handful of people have ever visited, let alone trekked through Kyrgyzstan. This would be a unique trek on a circuit through some remote and spectacular valleys in the Turkestan range. The valleys have names like Aksu, Karasu, Orto-Chashma and Karavshin, none of which I’d ever heard of.

We’d hike though alpine meadows, cross glacier-fed rivers and these valleys are frequented by Kyrgyz herders and nomads who still spend the summer in remote camps. Reading through the new 2009 catalogs, I noticed that Wilderness Travel offered a trek into Kyrgyzstan in July 2009 called “Trekking in the Celestial Mountains.” With this, I felt compelled to write about this spectacular trek, include photos and maps that will, hopefully, encourage you to visit Kyrgyzstan. Unfortunately, Mountain Travel Sobek isn’t running this trip right now, but one never knows what will be scheduled in the future…

Kyrgyzstan mapA few other operators to contact are: Adventure Center (on the side bar), Intrepid Travel (bookable through Adventure Center), GAP Adventures,, Geographic Expeditions, and MIR (a big presence in Russia, etc.). I only recommend tour operators that we’ve used or have faith in.

For once, ex-Marine (husband, Steve) didn’t go berserk when I suggested signing up and, gasp…even thought it sounded interesting! Put down a deposit before he changed his mind and started planning…

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