Charyn Canyon
A red-rock canyon about 150 km long, its Valley of Castles section often compared to the Grand Canyon.
About
The Charyn river has cut a deep gorge through red sandstone, leaving towers, arches and ridges shaped by wind and water. In the Valley of Castles, the cliffs rise like ruined fortresses, glowing orange and red in the low sun.
A walking trail leads down from the viewpoint to the river bank, about 3 km, where a grove of old ash trees grows in the shade. Take water and sun protection, because there is almost no shade on the way back up.
History
The canyon was formed over millions of years as the Charyn river, fed by snowmelt from the mountains to the south, slowly cut through layers of sedimentary rock, with wind and seasonal flooding shaping the odd rock forms. It stretches for roughly 154 km along the river and reaches depths of up to about 300 metres. The best-known section is the Valley of Castles, a gorge a couple of kilometres long with towering pinnacles and walls. In the nearby river valley, the Charyn ash grove shelters relict ash trees that survived from an earlier, wetter period of Earth’s history. The area was made a national park in 2004 to protect the landscape, and the canyon has become one of the main destinations for visitors from Almaty. For people in the region, the canyon is also part of a larger landscape that includes steppe, nomadic pastures and ancient burial mounds.