Along the way, we saw beautiful views of small villages by the river, surrounded by colorful hills...
A village girl harvesting grass(?) for the family animals(?).
Along the way this shepherd family was making kurut, made by draining the water from sour yogurt and forming into lumps to dry in the sun...
An hour's hike up the hill from the end of the road, we found lake Alavudin, the same place Brent and I camped the evening of Day 3 and the morning of Day 4 of our trek. It was still beautiful, and the water was still freezing.
On the next morning we set off on a day hike up to lake Mutny (the same hike Brent and I did on Day 4). Causing a serious case of deja vu, other trekkers with the same tents that Brent and I used had set up in the same spot we did...
Other than the fact that there was less snow, The big difference up at Mutny was that the lake was no longer frozen...
On the last morning, we climbed to the top of Alavudin pass. I looked at my watch at the top and laughed as I realized that it was exactly one month ago (11:45am, July 3 - 11:45, August 3) that Brent and I were here last. The big difference being that, unlike a month ago, we had beautiful weather, and could see the surrounding mountains that were previously hidden by the clouds. Here is me and my sad looking hat at the top...
Lake Kulikalon down the other side (our Day 1 campsite last month)...
A view of Alavudin on the way down...
A panorama from the south end of Alavudin pass (you'll have to click on it to see it at a decent size). If you look closely, you can see Lake Alavudin down in the left corner and Lake Kulikalon in the right (each over 1000 meters down), along with all the mountains that were hidden from view the last time I was here...
When I came here the first time, I never thought that I would be back so soon, but the excuse of helping some friends say goodbye to Tajikistan gave me the opportunity that I find hard to resist.
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