My 2500 km trip to the East Kazakhstan.
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My 2500 km trip to the East Kazakhstan.
Hi everyone! Today I will make a post about my trip to the East Kazakhstan.
It will be long post with 50 photos and one video in the end of the post.
Participants:
Y60 - 2 units (both RD28t), Y61 - 2 units (both RD28ti), Prado - 1 unit (1KZ).
Goal: Old Austrian road in national reserves area. Length - 60 km
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PS. Google is so sweetie, it thinks that a highway there - 60 km 3 hour. We spent 1.5 days.
Duration - 1 week, 12-19 of June
Please excuse me one more time for my bad English. It is the result of my self-education.
The trip supposed to be held as car tourism but it became rally, so most of the photos were taken from a car on the ride and the quality is not so good how it should be.
If you believe in omens - if the trip started hard, it will continue to be this way.
The first day.
Our journey began not so nice.
First of all, we got late to start for about 3 hours.
Secondly, brand new Super Swamper makes a bang on 125th kilometer of the way. The road was in the middle of the flat steppe so it was a long and tedious. The outside temperature was +40. For a night we stopped later at an abandoned gas station.
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Looking forward to this Alexander, and your English is fine.
The Second day.
After 230 kilometers we started the first off-road part of the way.
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The old and already abandoned road, there was no asphalt, and nobody use it for many years, because new road has been already built that goes near the cities. But this road is shorter to our destination point. The road goes throw the steppe so it was boring, bumpy and long – 300 kilometers.
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There my first failure occurred -knocked out of the rear brake pad, extruded brake piston and emptied brake fluid tank. We totally removed the caliper and blocked the hose and continued our way.
Later, during our ride the Prado’s caravan is unplugging from towing ball and tries to rollover. The experiences of the driver save it. Late evening we arrived to the lake Zaisan for a camp.
There we had one more surprise – the migration season of the moth. There were a millions of them. Slightly rise up the cover of cap with noodles, 5 of them are already there. Move the fork from cap to the mouth, took a few more of them, so, we ate quickly and went to sleep as fast as we could.
Before sleeping we took a few shots of cocktail made by our cook to relieve the stress and sleep well. The recipe: pure alcohol + pure water in proportional 50/50 + one sugar cube. Shake it well and the cocktail - “Red square” is ready. Why the “Red square”? Because if you try to drink it too much, at morning you will have the red eye and the square head.
Day Three.
After 5 kilometers from the camp we went back again to the asphalt road and had a new breakdown.
The big GQ’s lost the breaks. The pipe from master cylinder to the front breaks was frayed with 2 holes. We stopped again 1100 km from home in the middle of the nothing and nearest service station. Then I remembered that many years ago in one TV show I heard that in emergency situation for steel acid etching can be used an Aspirin tablet. We put some Aspirin powder on the pipe around holes and melted it with burner and then put the soldering flux on it. The soldering flux melted quite well and plumbing both holes. Then we brought pipe back to the brake system, pumped it and go further.
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The road again went across the steppe; it was long and not very interesting. Three times during this day we had breakdown of the caravan Suspension. We spent lots of time for it.
By the way, this road goes along the Chinese border just a few meters from it.
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Yellow dunes it is the Chinese territory. The high of this photo point is 1 137 meters.
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By the evening of the third day we drove up to the mountains and at night we arrived at the village Urunhayka on the mountain lake Markakol.
We drove to it in the totally dark so it is no pictures again.
We spent the night, in the camp near village and left half a day next to relax, explore the area and have some bbq. The Old Austrian road starts right after the border of this village.
Note: Old Austrian road - the road in East Kazakhstan which was built in 1914-1916 by Austrian war prisoners captured on the Eastern Front during the WW I. Length – 60 km.
Day four.
In this village, I found the most brutal track which I ever seen.
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This is Hurricane.
It is a heavy military towing truck or launcher platform for ballistic missiles or multiple rocket systems.
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Locals use it for firewood prepares for the winter and as transporter during winter period.
In these places the snow can be up to 3 meters in height.
The village
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The lake Marcakol
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This is one of the highest lake I've ever swimming
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When we were preparing for this trip, people told us that this road was already abandoned for a 40 years and no one drives there except crazy offroad expeditions like us.
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Useless photo but it so dynamic
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One guy from the local off-road club said that two years ago it took a whole week to drive down this road (60 kilometer). After rainy spring the ground was slippery like soap and there is one broken bridge from 4 on the way.
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The first bridge we passed without any problems, but 3 another bridges were gone.
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Have you got a picture of all the cars and caravan?
Alexander, these photographs and your documentation are really interesting - keep them happening please.
Hi Apollofish! I'll post in the end as final photo.
Day four, continuing
Later we enquire that they were broken last winter by the ice motion down the river. The water level in the river more than a meter, the water temperature is 5 degrees. I don’t know the flow speed, but as you will see on video the cords is tightening hard. To be honest, I was really scared. Drive back - 1500 km, no any circuit road and my shorty couldn’t drive throw this river without snorkel. As you can see I was the only car without lift, 33’ tires, snorkel and lockers in our trip because we didn’t expect so much of problems with bridges because one of our guys already had trips on this road a few years ago when the bridges were still there. The most lifted GQ went to the other side of river and found a passage to the road from the bridge on the other side. It was already dark so we decided to try our passage in the evening.
We expected that in the morning the water level in the river would fall a bit, but we were not so lucky, it was the same. The first one who forced the river (name Kara-Coba) was the big GQ, as you can see he had no problem with it. Next were the GU and no problem again. The next one was long GU with 3 tied straps attached to each other long enough from shore to shore to transport me. As you will see in video the river is very fast and a lot of big stones lay on the bottom of it.
Preparing my car for the passing throw the river. All doors sealers where lubricated with the silicone and the doors from the side of the stream is sealed by adhesive tape. Ventilation air scoopers also sealing with adhesive tape. Outside air intake is closed. Praying.
On the other side of the river two tied together GU, for a case if my engine will stuck they can pull me out from the river even with blocked wheels or etc.
The most mass of the water flow is flowing under lifted trols but in my case it hardly hits my shorty in the right side. We started our moving together after command by radio. I didn’t remember how it was but I remembered, when car jump into the river it immediately began to bearing by heavy downstream. I was a big lucky because on my way there is no big stones which I can catch by axels or oil pan. Several times the water flowed through the hood. When I already stop on the other side I immediately ran to inspect the water in the air intake. Half of the box with the air filter was filled with water. The water-hammer effect was quite near. After inspecting the bottom of the car, I realized that I was lucky again to overcome this path without damage.
The last one of us – Prado with caravan was left on the other side. Guys decided to pass it like me because we were afraid that that the light weight caravan could pop up and pull the car down the stream. The long GU went for them and stuck in the middle of the river. His engine went into emergency mode; it is continued working, but it is not forcing more than 1 400 rpm. Driver climbed on the roof with a hitched strap and started throwing it to us. If strap touches water it will be immediately wrested out from arms and carried away with the flow. Only when 3 guys try to hold it a few seconds and another one try to fix it with clevis we made it after a few rounds. Then we towed it to the shore. Water level in the car was up to the seats the engine is steel working rough and then completely stall. The Prado where transported without any problems with GQ support. On shore we change oil and oil and fuel filters. A short time afterwards we start the engine with enough power to drive ahead.
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The next bridge was broken again but in this place river was wider and shallow, so we clear some bushes and make our own ramp to the river. For our safety I was transported on strap again but this time there is no any marks of water on air filter. Then we forced this river in 2 more times in shallow places without any problems.
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Then the mountain plateau is begun, and we climb to the pass.
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Along the way, we were lucky to see the highest mountain of the Altai mountains – Beluha, Its height - 4509 m. It is very rare that she would not be covered by clouds. It's a white twoheaded peak on this photo.
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The plato climb was changing to the forest mountain road. The top of the our pass - 2 137 meters. As always to the all beautiful places we came at night.
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When we back to asphalt at night we stopped by a police patrol. They check us for hunting guns cause is a protected area where hunting is forbidden, and they ask us where are we are from and then said that we are crazy to drive on that road.
This is was our first night in beds not in tents. We spend it in the deer’s farm.
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The fifth day.
After looking to the deer’s and checking the machine we moved back home across the country. Monday is near so work is waiting for us. The road back was already on the normal asphalt roads and again at night. In the darkness, we drove throw a very beautiful places and blamed ourselves for that, that we find only one week for whole trip. During the road back home the flushed engine is completely dead. We tow it to the nearest city to the nearest workshop and there we are divided. Broken GU and Prado stayed to wait for repair and 3 patrol is drove back home.
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The sixth day.
Our road back was not without surprises again. Pipe from the pump to the nozzle is broke right in the middle. We reached to the nearest village with 5 L bottle under the hood of drained diesel from the broken pipe, find a welder and go ahead. We spent the night in the same abandoned gas station.
The seventh day.
Just a 130 km from the home we were covered with a very strong dust storm and then we stuck in great traffic jam after it. I came home at 2 am, and in the morning went to work.
So I can say that we had a great ride full of adventures.
Our video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-382TkwawF0
Finish!
Thank you for a fantastic video and photos.
A few great photo of this road from internet:
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Agree some of the best roads and trips are where no one has been before.
Awesome countryside. love the asprin fix you must do a demo lol
Wow! Thanks so much for the photos and write up. What a beautiful part of the world.
>>>tappin from tassie
That is one of the best things I've read! Very funnyQuote:
Originally Posted by Wine_maker
>>>tappin from tassie
Great write up on your trip. Thank you very much...
Edit : Yeah that first river crossing you guys were pretty brave. Those shorties were floating in some sections. Great Video of your trip....
Must of been bad they had fly netting on their hatsQuote:
Originally Posted by taslucas
Moths that is
Brilliant write up..
What a brilliant track and group you had..
I'll be watching that video when home on WiFi that's for sure..
So did you recive any damage from any of the river crossings?
Pretty frickin funny.... god that was brilliant, sort of "Long Way Round" type stuff.... I have so many questions and would make awesome stories around the camp fire here in the High Country !!Quote:
Originally Posted by taslucas
Bloody brilliant Alexander, thanks for sharing it with us mate Attachment 64556
What an adventure. Got to love that limp mode, especially when you are in the middle of a river. Excellent write up and pictures, thank you.
I am wondering if shaking the branches over your food is a Kazakhstan tradition? :)
Alexander thank you very much for sharing these amazing pictures and video. I've said it before you live in a beautiful country. You are much braver than I am, never would have attempted that river crossing.
I'd recommend your next modification is a snorkel, could save you some pain if you continue to do these types of trips.
I'm sure you would have loved to have an extra few weeks to complete the trip.
Thanks again.
I think it's good idea to make it.Quote:
Originally Posted by threedogs
By the way, that guy steel driving with this fixed tube.
During this ride I've got a few scratches on gearbox oil pan, bent right rear chrome bumper and bent body bush place.Quote:
Originally Posted by biggqwesty
With drowned GU situation not so good. As we found later because of outside air and river water temperature difference there where vacuum in the fuel tank and during time we try to rescue it, it sucking in the water in to the fuel. So that was the reason why it completely stuck when we back to the road. Owner still have some problems with fuel pump after rebuilt.
LOL! No, Mate everything is simple, when we began to slicing the meat there were so many flies and insects come in so that only shaking the branches could help.Quote:
Originally Posted by mudnut
Brilliant video
Awesome Alexander,
Great read and thanks for sharing your adventure with us
Good pictures and a good read, looks like a good trip.
Well done
Great read, amazing photos, thanks for sharing!
Wow, your photos and story are both so amazing!