The main fall
A 24 m drop in a fan of spray.
Arina Pan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Arina Pan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mamatkazy — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Elaman.toktoshev — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Arina Pan — CC BY-SA 4.0
Barskoon Waterfalls are a cluster of falls in the Barskoon gorge, in the Terskey Ala-Too above Lake Issyk-Kul's south shore, about 20 km up the valley from Barskoon village. The main fall plunges about 24 m over a sheer ledge on the Sharkyrak, a side stream of the Barskoon river, throwing out spray 10 to 15 m across; some 150 m below, a second fall drops 12 m. The falls have been a protected natural monument since 1975. In the Middle Ages a Silk Road track climbed their valley towards the Bedel Pass and China; today its road serves the Kumtor gold mine. Kyrgyzstan's national encyclopedia records a visit by Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, in 1962, and a bust of him and his helmeted face carved into a boulder stand by the road. The cascades carry folk names: Tears of the Snow Leopard, after a legend of a mother snow leopard weeping for cubs that fell from a cliff; Champagne Splashes; the Elder's Beard; and the Bowl of Manas, a hollow said to mark where the epic hero scooped up water. Spruce and juniper surround them. A short, steep path climbs from the road to the main fall; closer views of the upper falls take about 90 minutes of rocky climbing. Yurt cafés open nearby in summer. The falls lie about 100 km by road from Karakol, two hours each way, and day trips often pair them with Skazka Canyon, 40 km away by road. Heavy mine trucks use the gorge road, so drive with care.
A 24 m drop in a fan of spray.
A bust and a face carved in rock.
About 90 minutes of rocky climbing.
Barskoon gorge, about 20 km up the valley road from Barskoon village
Partly: marshrutkas run from Karakol's Southern Bus Station to Barskoon village in about 1.5 hours, from 100 som, but the falls lie another 15 to 20 km up the gorge. A private taxi from Karakol costs about 3,500 som one way, per Karakol's tourist office, and rides back from Barskoon are scarce after 5 pm.
Not for certain: folk etymology links it to bars, a Turkic word for the snow leopard, while another view traces it to Barskhan, a medieval town on Issyk-Kul's south shore first recorded by the 9th-century geographer Ibn Khordadbeh.