Ocean and I completed the Tashkent International School Mountains Level 1 hike on Wednesday. We have three days off of school this week due to the Eid al Fitr holiday. My friend Robin Marsh and I started the Adventure Program at our school and the idea is to get students off their devices and challenging themselves in the great outdoors of Uzbekistan. Ocean is a strong athlete and hiker and likes to get outdoors. Not as much as I do, but she is a good daughter and sees how much I enjoy spending time with her.
We left early on Wednesday morning after setting up camp outside the village of Nevich in the foothills of the Chimgan National Park. We made a long, slow ascent along the river and along the top of ridges, looping around to the other side of the canyon. The views were spectacular on the top with wildflowers coloring the green hillsides and with blue skies and white mountain peaks, it was a majestic day. Uzbekistan in the spring rivals the Alps until the hot suns turn it brown and dusty. Most of the 15-kilometer hike was refreshing and easy.
The last portion of the hike felt more than a “level 1” hike. We walked a big loop in the mountains and were about 1-2 kilometers from our campsite. We could see our tents as we made our way along the ridge. The final portion of the hike was to cross the Nevich River and finish where we set up our tents that morning. We dropped down a pretty steep hillside (photo above right) down to the banks of the river (photo above left). We chose a crossing where there were no rapids but due to the rains on the previous day, the water was a little too deep to cross safely. That meant climbing back out of the canyon to the ridge and finding an alternative path back to our campsite. The sun was setting and so we had to hustle to make it back up to the ridge. The mountains of Uzbekistan do not have marked trails so you need to find shepherds and livestock trails to follow. We did find a well-traveled path over the next ridge and down to our campsite. We arrived back in the dark with headlamps on, but by the time that happened, we were on a flat path near the tents.
We were all quite tired at the end of the day and the campfire and dinner were just what we needed. We all slept well and packed up and returned back to Tashkent safely the next day. The drive from Tashkent to Nevich is only about 90 minutes on a bus.
Another interesting aspect of the hike was this abandoned Soviet space program research station located just outside of Nevich. The TashKBM (Tashkent Machine Building Design Bureau) was built in 1969. Scientists developed drilling equipment and soil intake devices to use in their space program. I hope the government or private entity can restore it as it would be an interesting museum and be a good pairing with the nearby Solar Furnace complex, closer to Parkent. I would love to explore inside!
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