Trekking to amazing beautiful Darashkol lake.

In the local Altay language Darash means ”beautiful” and Kol means ”lake”. It is totally right! Just imagine the emerald water of this lake surrounded by high mountain peaks, glaciers and cascading waterfalls, falling out of the lake.

The height of Darashkol is 2,200 meters above the sea, length – 890 meters, width – 330 meters. But these figures can’t tell you anything about azure water of the lake that reflects the hight crystal glaciers and fragrant cedar forest. Pictures can tell you more but remember: this place is worth visiting to see it by your own eyes and breathe this fresh air.

 

The road from the nearest village to the lake takes 3-4 days of trekking. During all the way you will walk near clean mountain river Kucherla and you will see amazing landscapes: fields, forest, big glacier lake.

If your travel occurs in the last days of the summer you will have chance to enjoy wild berries.

What you should to have for this route?

• The first thing is time. One week for this route is a minimum but I recommend you to have at least 10 days to enjoy surroundings.
• The second one – you should have a backpack, sleeping bag and comfortable trekking shoes. It is summer route but sometimes night temperature is about 3-5 C and you will feel better if you have warm sleeping bag.
• On the way to Darashkol you will cross a wade and a lot of small rivers. If you have rubber boots, it will be very useful here.
• It’s possible to rent a horse in the village with local guide but horse route finishes near Kucherlinskoe lake and the rest of the way you will have to walk (about 12 km that are the most difficult).

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Remember, if you don’t have equipment you can rent it here.

So, route to Darashkol is not so difficult and doesn’t require great trekking experience – you should have base equipment. It takes 7-10 days (about 40 km one way) of mountain trekking and a lot of amazing landscapes all the way.