Henry, I’m afraid I don’t know for sure whether diamox can be bought in Bishkek or Karakol (near Jyrgalan) as we’ve never used it. To be on the safe side bring it from home. You could also contact the trekking agency/tour company or hotel that you’re using in Kyrgyzstan and ask them this question. Have a great trek!

Thanks Audrey.

Your article was so much help/inspiration I thought it only fair to give something back !

I made a fair few spelling errors above (typing on a phone, sigh) but would emphasise again that adding a day and camping by Lake 2 would make the hike so much more enjoyable than trying to rush around (or maybe I just hike really really slowly) !

Cheers
Kevin

Kevin, thanks SO much for your comment and sharing your recent experiences hiking the Boz-Uchuk Lakes trek. Thanks also for the notes regarding doing an acclimatization hike, prices (I’ve asked Destination Jyrgalan for updated prices) and the suggestion to extend to 4 days to spend more time at those last lakes.

Really glad you had a good experience and it sounds like you found the perfect level of support with hiring a horse porter to carry your gear, but you didn’t need the guide support as you had the electronic tracks. We had quite a big crew on our trip because it was the first time it was offered and so we had a team from Destination Jyrgalan and a team from a Bishkek-based tour company who was also testing it out. TBH, we usually prefer a more streamlined approach 🙂

Iain, you’d have to talk with your guide/horse handler, but as Kevin responded I think it would be possible to organize. It might mean that the horse handler walks for a bit while you ride his horse, but imagine he would be OK with that from time to time. Otherwise, you can see some of the horse treks in Jyrgalan here: https://jyrgalan.com/tours/horse-trek-tours/

Yes you can Iain.

Is it possible to ride horses at some points along the trail to take a break from walking ? or are the horses only for carrying the camping equipment. Thinking about it, you would then have to take an extra horse to ride !

Thanks, Iain

Two important points to note : for me 2 nights 3 days isn’t really sufficient for this if trekking on foot (I only used the horses to cross rivers on 3 occasions). Especially camping next to Lake 2 of the three Boz Uchuk lakes was awesome (as is much of the landscapes on the way). The trip up to Lake 3 is a must (I saw your photo of you on the high point that overlooks both lakes) though not every porter / guide seems to think so! Hence why I’d suggest an extra day and camping by lake 2. One of the highlights of this trek for me, changing light, reflections and sunset and sunrise. Note there are no real options for staying in yurts on this trek.
Also like you our first night was the coldest ( -3C during the first week of July)! Other nights, even though we were higher, were warmer and all above zero.

An important point to note re. AMS (altitude sickness). Previous experience at high altitude does not reduce your likelihood of AMS at all. If you are 6, 16 or 60 (me!) or have never been to high altitude before or have been high 100 times, the risks are the same. Good news is that 3,500m isn’t really really high though some people may experience bad headaches that are easily relieved by just going down in altitude. However even though I’ve been high numerous times I still did an acclimatisation one day hike to an alpine lake in Jyrgalan (gorgeous views) to around 2,800m. This will help your adjustment and reduce the likelihood of AMS. The Himalayan Rescue .org site has great advice.

Great work you guys, your article helped me loads!
Kevin