I wasn't sure if I would make it through the entire Semiganch Gorge and reach the pass on this day, as I only had about two hours left before it got dark. However, fate intervened when I met a group of university students with a tourist orientation who were also traveling through these regions. Among them was a guy who was originally from the area and had hired a donkey in the village to carry their luggage. When they saw me, they immediately offered to let me travel with them and even loaded my heavy backpack onto the donkey. Thanks to their kindness, I passed through the entire gorge without a heavy backpack, and in the evening, I made it over the pass and found a convenient campsite in the Odjuk Gorge.
The first shots were taken in the village of Dora, just after leaving. There's a bridge over the Semiganch River that I crossed before heading right along the river.
Pretty quickly this village ended and on this bend of the path it completely disappears from sight.
And a path awaits me along the gorge, there are still trees ahead and it seemed that this is a continuation of the village, but no, these are just vegetable gardens.
Here you can see this bend, and the last vegetable gardens, trees and bends, the river was covered.
On the way, we met an interesting place, the locals call it darvoza (gate), on such a road you cannot drive on anything, only on a donkey. That is, it's real right along the way, and no way to go around.
A fork appeared behind these "gates", the Semiganch gorge has several large, almost identical branches. But you still have to get there.
In addition to the larger branches, there are also smaller ones, such as this one which was not even visible at first, until we reached the river that flows from this narrow ravine, located to the right of my path.
This is a photo back, when the rivulet from the gorge has already passed, and then you can see the place that is Darvoza, that is, the gate.
It got closer to the fork.
Already at the fork itself, this photo is to the right, where I don't need to go.
This photo is to the left of the fork, across the river, I just go there.
After the events diverged, nothing noteworthy occurred. We simply strolled along the gorge, admiring the views and breathing in the crisp mountain air. As there isn't much to comment on, I will post several photos here, taken somewhere in the middle of the gorge. The gorge itself is relatively short, around ten kilometers in length, and also quite gentle. Although there aren't any trees, it is still refreshing and cool due to the elevation and the fact that it is still spring. Overall, it was a pleasant and effortless walk, which is always good news.
After crossing the final, picturesque meadow, it became clear that the Semiganch gorge had come to an end. My companions decided to stay at one of the summer camps here, planning to visit the pass in the morning before retracing their steps back down the Semiganch gorge. They still need to return the donkey they've been using..
Here, everywhere, in narrow places and on the river, there is snow, the last kilometers of the Semiganch gorge.
Here we are at the Kumkayakutal pass. The name is quite intriguing, and I had no idea what it meant. Interestingly, the locals don't refer to it by this name, as they don't rely on maps. Instead, they simply know the trails by heart. When I asked several people about the pass, only one person referred to it by its official name. The others, as is often the case, used different names for it.
The end of the Semiganch gorge is also visible.
So I came under the Kumkayakutal pass, you can see the path that leads up, but I'm still on the other side of the river.
You have to go a little further to cross the river, although it is not visible, all under the snow. The path is clearly visible here.
That's actually the end, and it's good that we've only reached the Semiganch gorges so far. We can see that the mountain range is easily climbable. It's a pity that it's already evening and we need to find a place to spend the night, otherwise I would have continued to explore. Besides needing to rest, I'm also considering a hike where the trail will either pass directly along this ridge or nearby. So I still have some time to see what's out there.
Here is the river, so to speak, all under the snow.
It remains only to climb the Kumkayakutal pass.
Several photos from the ascent to the pass.
And finally, it happened, I was on the Kumkayakutal pass and a view of the Odjuk gorge opened up.
Here is such a Kumkayakutal pass, this photo is from the other side.
Further, I was already moving along the Odjuk gorge, on the Varzob side, my next photo review will be about this: All ten bridges of the gorge Odjuk, Varzob, mountains of Tajikistan
