Trip to Kok-Zhaiyk valley from Bosteri.

“After breaking camp, we crossed several rivers and spent about an hour on the Chulpan River, and then set off again and by 3 o’clock in the afternoon we reached the Jety-Oguz River, where we stopped for the night. Here we met many men, women and children, and with them were several horses and bulls and three yurts. These were Boginsky captives, released by the Sarybagish, who had fled from the fields and irrigation ditches annexed by them from the Boginsky after their defeat.”

P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky. “Journey to the Tien Shan”. 1856 - 1857.

Walks in Kok-Zhaiyk valley.

Kok-Zhaiyk valley is located at an altitude of 22,550 meters above sea level, in Jety-Oguz gorge, on left bank of river of same name, 5 kilometers southeast of Jety-Oguz resort, on northern slope of Terskey Ala-Too mountain range in Jety-Oguz district of Issyk-Kul region. 
The small Kok-Zhaiyk depression, located on the left bank of the Jety-Oguz River, arose before the Quaternary. The Kok-Zhaiyk valley is a well-developed place for tourists, where nature and tourism infrastructure are in close proximity, which is very popular among tourists.
A yurt tourist town is organized here annually, offering a variety of services, including horseback riding excursions to the highland zone and neighboring valleys. There are more than ten yurt camps, guest houses and shelters for tourists in the tract, which offer various services for tourist leisure.
First of all, this is a jailoo, where livestock graze, where you can taste kumys and ayran, get acquainted with the camping life of nomads who move from their homes to this fabulous place for the summer. Surrounded by planted firs, just above the tract, there is a large yurt camp.
1.5 kilometers northwest of the Kok-Zhaiyk valley, on one of the left tributaries of the Jety-Oguz River, there is a waterfall called Maiden Braids. A path has been laid to the waterfall, the walk here takes about 1 hour, you can also take a horse ride.
The waterfall is surrounded by Tien-Shan firs, the tops of which reach the height of the beginning of the fall of the water. It seems that the waterfall is in a rocky, vertical cirque from the eastern wall of which streams of water break off. The height of the fall along the inclined rock wall reaches about 40 meters, the width of the water flow is from 5 to 10 meters.
The waterfall impresses not with its power, but with the beauty of the falling stream, the water seems to run along the rock and with enough imagination you can see the girl's braids. On the way to the waterfall, you can enjoy the picturesque views of the left bank of the Jety-Oguz valley.
The Kok-Zhaiyk tract is located in the mid-mountain forest, meadow and steppe zone, there are mountain forest and meadow soils, Tien Shan spruce with rich shrub undergrowth, and grass-grass lawns. In the valley, at an altitude of 2100 to 3100 meters above sea level, forests grow on the more humid northern slopes and in deep shaded places.
Light spruce forests of the park type are very colorful against the background of the eternal snows of the ridge. Trees are mostly rare, bright flowers are colorful on the lawns. Among them, tall aconite stands out. In the vicinity of the Kok-Zhaiyk valley grows the Tien-Shan spruce - a rare in its beauty relict tree species, preserved from the Miocene period.
Rarely slender spruce trees stand, their drooping branches form a narrow cone of the crown and are somewhat remotely reminiscent of cypresses. On steep mountain slopes facing north and northeast, on gravelly coarse soils, dense mossy spruce forests are found.
On such steep slopes, you can find individual mighty trees of 40 - 60 meters, the trunks of which exceed 2 meters in diameter, and their age reaches 400 years. The undergrowth is made up of shrubs: rose hips, honeysuckle, black chokeberry, rowan and currant.
Mountain and forest dark-colored soils, including mountain chernozems, are rich in humus. The spruce forests of the Kok-Zhaiyk valley alternate with tall-grass subalpine meadows. 1 kilometer to the west of the main part of the Kok-Zhaiyk valley, in the forest, in the 70s of the last century there was a base of geologists, consisting of a group of temporary wooden houses.
Previously, the road ended in a clearing, 1.5 kilometers before the confluence of the right tributary of the Telety River with the Jety-Oguz. 2.5 kilometers to the southeast of Kok-Zhaiyk is the Atdzhailau tract on the eastern slope of the Jety-Oguz gorge.
Approximately 1 kilometer to the northwest of the main clearing in the Kok-Zhaiyk valley, at an altitude of 2324 meters above sea level, there are 4 houses, which are called "astronauts' houses". It should be noted that these houses have nothing to do with cosmonauts, since they were built in the early 90s of the last century by local entrepreneurs from the tourism industry, who intended to provide services to tourists.
We have not seen the cosmonauts' houses, but cosmonauts have been to these places. In the early 1970s, as part of the program of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems, cosmonauts Eliseev, Aksenov, Rukavishnikov and Lebedev lived and trained in the Jety-Oguz gorge. They lived at the Jety-Oguz resort, and went to the Kok-Zhaiyk valley for training. 
Geographical coordinates of Kok-Zhaiyk valley: N42°17'35 E78°16'16

Authority:
Alexander Petrov.
B.I. Rukavishnikov. "Lake Issyk-Kul and the Terskey-Alatau Ridge". Moscow, "Physical Education and Sport", 1970.

Photos by:
Alexander Petrov.