Hello, today I would like to tell you about my most dusty hike along the upper reaches of the Yuzuruk. Actually, this trip took place in mid-September, but I was ripe for writing a post just now. Probably, there is some symbolism in this - the fact is that these days Tashkent was covered with an unprecedented, apocalyptic dusty haze. Yes, the term "dusty haze" is used by our Hydrometeorological Center. On below video from YouTube you can see what happened in Tashkent last days.
It began last Thursday, and it was only by Sunday that the dust had more or less cleared away. At the peak, the concentration of harmful substances in the air was 30 times higher than the maximum permissible values. It was only on Sunday that the air cleared more or less. What the pandemic and tough quarantines could not do in a year and a half, this dusty haze was able to do it in one day - all of Tashkent citizens were wearing masks. Moreover, they wore masks not on their chins, but completely covering nose and mouth. Of course it is joke, but it was a terrible three days - the dust creaked on my teeth. Despite the tightly closed windows and doors, dust still seeped into the apartment. We had to hang wet towels everywhere, place containers of water and constantly spray water from a spray bottle in order to somehow humidify the air.
And as luck would have it, these days it was not possible to escape to the mountains. I had to sit in four walls and constantly wash my nose and throat. All the same, there is a slight dusty smell in the office and at home. I feel that we will rake the consequences of this haze for a long time.
But back to my story. In mid-September, I went for a walk along the upper reaches of the Yuzuruk, located not far from the Syurenata Mount, already known to you.
The hike was very easy. I would say it was a pleasant and easy walk, if not for the dust. Unfortunately, the local hills are very convenient for grazing and numerous flocks have completely trampled the ground, turning it into a dusty powder.
So, not too early in the morning we left Tashkent in the direction of Yuzuruk. The weather was fine - the sun was shining, the autumn rains had not yet begun, but the summer heat had already receded. Therefore, it was very, very comfortable to walk. Almost all of our route ran along a well-packed path, so we walked quite quickly and briskly.
By this time, the "boyarka" ripened in the mountains - this is how we call the Pontic hawthorn, the fruits of which resemble tiny apples in shape and taste.
Therefore, in one of the groves, and having found a tree with the largest fruits, we stopped for a short gastronomic pause. After eating a tree, we moved on.
Soon we descended into a small valley surrounded by mountains - here is the wintering place for local shepherds and herb pickers.
They arranged their winter quarters well - they built a house, set up a small vegetable garden.
We had a small snack under the shade of the trees and moved on.
On the way, we came across a lone donkey eating a bush. He stood so well against the background of a cloudless blue sky that I could not resist and took several photographs.
Having disturbed the peace of the poor animal, we continued on our way. After walking for about one and a half or two hours, we came to the slopes of very gentle hills. It was nearly lunchtime, so we stopped under the trees and laid out our food. The guide said that we were going very fast, ahead of schedule. I didn't really want to go back to the city, so we decided to sleep for an hour or two under the trees. I don't know about the others, but I dozed off and, perhaps, even snored.
But then the midday sun began to bake and we grunting and groaning began to collect our belongings.
Further the road went down and we twisted our numb necks walked along the path, enjoying the surrounding views.
Unfortunately, the clouds of dust rising under our feet spoiled all the fun.
This was the color of my tracking shoes at the end of the hike ...
And initially they were like this ...
When I returned home, I washed them with difficulty. And despite my efforts, they never managed to return the original look. I bought them on the eve of the hike and this was one of the reasons why I signed up for an easy hike to Yuzuruk - I wanted to carry them before more difficult hikes.
By the way, a few words about Yuzuruk - I thought that the translation of this toponym is quite simple - "yuz" in Uzbek means "hundred", and "uruk" is actually translated as apricot. Those, the place is called "One hundred apricots". However, when I was preparing the post, it turned out that mainly Kazakhs live here and "Yuzuruk" is the Uzbek version of the Kazakh toponym “Juduruk”. But what he means I never found out. According to one version, "juduruk" is translated from the Turkic languages as "fist". So the origin of the name of this place was not so obvious and still remains a mystery to me.
This year turned out to be not the richest in travel, but I really hope that I will have time to get to the mountains in November while the weather permits. Well, if it does not work out, then I will already open the winter season in December :).
!pinmapple 41.412994 lat 69.678608 long Along the dusty trails of Yuzuruk, Tashkent region, Uzbekistan d3scr