Now, more about this place. We were interested in the so-called "Field of Power," which became the goal of our hike. Yes, with a capital letter, damn it. We decided not to miss the opportunity to get inspired, so to speak, to make our own strength stronger. In the vicinity of this clearing, three rivers - Khavzak, Anzak, and Bars - converge, and the Arg River begins at their confluence. The clearing is surrounded by peaks such as "Dudandon" and "Arkh" to the west, "Calcite" to the north (the nearest peak), and to the north, one can see the peaks of "Energy" and the mountains of "Chimtarga," the highest mountain in the Fan Mountains. The nearest peaks to the east are "White Bars" and "Child." To the south, the clearing faces "Kyrk-Shaitan." In short, it's a spectacular and very beautiful place.
If you climb up the Khavzak River, you can reach a place called "Maslihattpe" or "Hill of Meetings." From the name, it's clear that this is a place for gatherings and conversations, or rather a small hill in the middle of the gorge. According to local legends, elders from nearby villages have gathered here since ancient times to make important decisions affecting everyone. In the 1960s, the "Varzob" Alpine Club had a branch here. From here, climbers set out to conquer the nearby peaks and passes, of which there are many within easy reach. The Alpine Club is no longer there today, but "Maslihattpe" (which is colloquially called "Tepa") is used by climbers and tourists as a base camp or temporary stopover.
Here is a map of the area and our hiking route through the Arg River gorge to the Field of Power.
Mount Kyrk-Shaitan from the fork, where we arrived by car, at the foot of the mountain, the village of Sarytag.
The first photo of the Arg river gorge. Photo from the bridge, it is over the Sarytag river. Ahead you can see the confluence of the rivers, on the right is the Arg, and on the left is the Sarytag river. In the gap, in the distance, one can see the peaks of the Energia and Chimtarga mountains.
This is the same fusion from the other side, and you can see the bridge from where I took the previous photo.
Just beyond the confluence of the rivers, there is a large meadow.
After passing this clearing, we finally come out to the place where the handsome Arg manifests itself in all its glory. The angle of view has slightly changed, now the mountain "Arch" is visible right along the course, and the peak "Dudandon" looks out to the left.
Approaching the river, on the bend, they decided to have breakfast, made a fire. On the left, a herd was driven up the mountain, from there Alabai, very intelligent dogs, came to us, they clearly came to the smell, but did not fit, but just sat down nearby and sit. This type, and I am nothing, I just sit, admiring the river.
Another dog, on the other side of us, lay down on the road. Well, we certainly shared the food with the dogs.
The rocks are red in color, often there are holes, they were left by the Chinese. Already in the 5-6th century, they mined cinnabar here, which they called "Dragon's Blood". In the Chinese manuscript "Shi-tzu" there is a mention of "the mountainous country of Fan, which is to the west of the Kypchak mountains, in the land, which, among other riches, contains the dragon's blood."
Along the entire Arg gorge, but especially the first half of the way, the trail goes through birch groves that grow along the river, among birches, juniper is often found.
Sometimes the trail runs out into higher meadows, where juniper begins to prevail, interspersed with huge boulders. Speaking of juniper, if suddenly someone does not know. Arch, which we meet everywhere here, is not the same. Everywhere in Tajikistan, in the vicinity of Lake Iskanderkul and often in the gorge of the Arg River, you can find three types of juniper: Siyo-archa (black juniper) with orange-red, golden bark and a pyramidal crown that can reach 30 meters in height; Saur-archa (hemispherical juniper) with a spherical crown that grows up to 25 meters; and, finally, Uryuk-juniper (Turkestan juniper) has a brown-gray bark, this particular type of juniper is the most common, it surprises with its vitality and plasticity, growing wherever possible, even on very steep slopes, where it can creep like a shrub, but it can grow into a tall tree.
A large birch fell on one of the bends of the river, and such an impromptu bridge turned out. We used it on the way back. Previously, somewhere here, there was a man-made bridge, but it was apparently washed away.
At first the gorge is very wide.
Gradually, the gorge is compressed, and the trail now goes, now along the pits, now along small meadows between them.
In one of these glades, we came across a picturesque hut, stuck to a large stone. A business plan was born right away: You need to dress somehow authentically, sit on a pebble in the lotus position. Place a poster next to it, preferably in English (you can tear off more of them) with the inscription "The Ashram of the Fan Guru will bless your further journey (negotiable price)". Below is a postscript, "And who will pass without blessing - I will damage the boots and the evil eye on the backpack, it will be 50 kg heavier" ... :)
From the stone with the hut, my companions went further along the path, and I decided to climb the slope.
I wanted to get to the snowfield, which is visible further in the photo and was visually close. On the left, a snowfield, which seemed a little thinner to me closer to go to it.
The ascent from the hut turns into a small plateau, marked on the map as Togaypista tract. The previous photo was from the southern edge of the plateau, this is from the northern edge.
Interesting objects met here. For example, dried juniper looks like the devil's pitchfork from the movie "Romance with a Stone". And, by the way, now it is clear why this type of juniper is called Siyo-archa (black juniper). Maybe lightning struck her, and she was burned, it is not clear, in general.
I also liked a small, cozy grove with a stream, which is huddled against the slope between two tongues of snow and snow.
Here is the stream, thanks to which the grove appeared. The stream feeding the Arg River runs just from the snowfield past the grove.
Snowball, really touched the snow, otherwise it could be ice. Most likely, this is an avalanche that has recently descended, has not yet melted.
It is necessary to testify that I just got there, and did not take a closer look.:)
I began to descend from the plateau to the path, and an amazing valley-hollow with two large flat fields opened. This valley is covered from all sides by mountains, very cozy and beautiful...
After passing the valley, I come to the river, a bridge is thrown across it. The bridge is made of scrap materials, birch trunks are strewn with stone, a very colorful bridge. Despite the seeming simplicity, it is very reliable, I slightly jumped on it to check, a good bridge.
Immediately from the river, the path rises upward and after a while leads to a juniper forest, where juniper is mixed with large boulders. Therefore, the trail goes to the juniper for a long time, gradually the juniper thinns, but at the end, when approaching the clearing, it begins to grow densely again.
This is the goal of our campaign "Glade of Strength". This is a view of the clearing from above, from the cave, which I will talk about below.
Everything looks simple and usual. So I thought there would be heavenly tabernacles or a sabbath of witches, as a last resort ... In fact, if, as it is, you can't see and feel it with your ordinary eyes, that's what I was told. Well, let's take your word for it, but where to go if you don't see anything. This is a photo of a glade to the south, overlooking the Kyrk-Shaitan.
A little to the right, you can see a large boulder that lies in the clearing, the top is a spur running from Dudandon.
Photo from the center towards the mountain Arch.
Here already overlooking Mount Calcite.
If you walk to the edge of the clearing and look to the right, you can see the gorge of the Anzac River, a little higher, literally a few tens of meters into it the Bars River flows. Now the Bars River is hidden from us by this ledge to the right. Having merged, Bars and Anzak, already here flow into Havzak and form the Arg River. That is, we walked along the entire Arg River, from beginning to end. But no, from end to beginning, it will be truer.
Interesting things to be found in this "Glade of Power". For example, trees are very unusual, here is a birch, all the trunks are one tree.
And there are many of them, but I did not shoot everything.
I was also interested in the cave that can be seen on the eastern slope, I did not take it off the clearing, because from there it is hardly noticeable. But having climbed up to it, I realized that the opening of the cave is large enough, you can enter the truck.
Since the rock in which the cave is located has a reddish tint, I would venture to suggest that it was cut through by the ubiquitous Chinese. Although by the spring inside the cave, a natural rock collapse can be expected. The cave is not deep, just a stone bag, there is a spring, and the crevice narrows and goes deep into the rock.
And finally, the most interesting thing is the view from this cave. View of the "Glade of Power".
View with birds on the mountain "Arch". And here it is not clear who scared whom, as it turned out, they nest in a cave, under the ceiling. While I was running over it, they sat quietly. When I also became quiet, I sit admiring these views. Then they will fly out of the nest, and even with such a noise, I almost got hit by surprise.
At the "Glade of Strength" among these twisted, multi-stemmed birches, we made a fire, had lunch, rested and moved in the opposite direction. I would like to add to all of the above that the photos will not convey all the smells, sounds, sensations, clean tasty air and dazzling living beauty of the Fann Mountains. It's really just good to be here. If you have the opportunity, be sure to visit the Fann Mountains in Tajikistan.
PS Based on this trip, a story was written: "The Cave of the Mountain Spirit - Short Story"
