Altyn Arashan

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To finish off the mountains of Kyrgyzstan I headed into the Altin Arashan valley south of Karakol to pay a visit to the natural hot springs there. The 3.5h hike to get there was very nice, following a river through pine tree covered mountains.

Most of the mountains in Kyrgyzstan are bare, so the pine trees were a nice change in scenery.
The six-house-village of Altin Arashan.
The little shed with the blue facade contained a newly tiled hot spring pool (40 degrees). Great to heat up and then cool down in the freezing (5-10 degree) river!
Hiking down I couldn't resist taking one more dip in the river before having lunch.