Kyrgyzstan
Konorchek Canyon
Two-million-year-old sandstone castles hiding a dead volcano between Bishkek and the lake.
Sandstone columns rise from the canyon floor like the ramparts of a city that never existed. Konorchek is dry, windswept and shadeless, two million years of erosion sculpted into towers, arches and hoodoos that glow copper and ochre in the afternoon. At the centre of it all sit the remains of a dead volcano, like a punchline the landscape was building towards.
Konorchek hides just off the Bishkek–Issyk-Kul road: the trail starts at the little red bridge in the Boom Gorge and follows a dry riverbed into the maze. Wind and rare water have worked the red sandstone and clay for up to two million years, and the formations have earned names: the Skyscraper, the Bobsleigh, the Fairy Tale, the Aeolus castles. Deeper in stand the weathered remains of the Segizkan-Shokny volcano. The country is desert-dry, the walking runs from a two-kilometre taster to an eleven-kilometre out-and-back with a few easy scrambles, and all of it fits inside a day trip from the capital. Go after rain and the riverbed route can run with water; go in high summer and carry more than you think you need.
Couple
The canyon is near-empty, the light is theatrical. Pack a picnic, walk until the right sandstone tower presents itself, and eat lunch in a landscape that looks like it belongs on another planet.
Friends
An easy day trip from Bishkek that feels disproportionately wild for the effort involved. The canyon loop suits a group that wants to explore without committing to a multi-day trek, and the dead volcano provides genuine bragging rights.
- Wind and water have carved the red sandstone for up to two million years, leaving formations with names like the Skyscraper, the Bobsleigh and the Aeolus castles.
- The weathered remains of an ancient volcano, Segizkan-Shokny, stand inside the canyon system.
- The trail starts at the little red bridge in the Boom Gorge and follows a dry riverbed into the maze.
- Walks run from a short canyon taster to an eleven-kilometre out-and-back, all inside a day trip from Bishkek.
A picnic carried from Bishkek, because the canyon offers nothing but wind and rock; the guided days bring lunch with them.
Cold food unpacked somewhere along the dry riverbed, with twice the water you thought you would need.
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