Song Kol Trek

Trekking to and from Song Kol Lake

The easiest way to visit Song Kol Lake (Son Kol/Kul or Song-Köl ) is to pay for an all-inclusive tour where you are driven to a yurt on the lakeshore from where you can hike or ride horses. There are also horse treks to and from the lake as well. For hiking to and from the lake, there are many options. I first attempted a hike from the east, but found it boring enough to abandon half-way through by intersecting a road and walking back to the highway. For my second attempt, I started in the village of Zhangy-Talap and ended in the village of Kyzart. I found this route to be much more scenic, and with more places to camp and get clear drinking water.

My (reconstructed) GPS track: Download GPX

I didn’t record a GPS track for the entire trip. Rather, I made a series of GPS waypoints and then drew the track manually afterwards. The route is very easy and follows obvious routes up gorges to easy passes and then on the side of the lake the terrain is so easy and wide open you can go anywhere. So I haven’t provided a highly detailed GPS track and waypoints like I usually do. As you can see in my video below, there is often no trail and you can pick your own route.