the ‘Hike to Furmanov’
When you Google on ‘peak Furmanov’ you’ll find various sites that give full detailed descriptions, photos and gpx trails to help you to find your way to get to the ‘peak Furmanov’ - The below is a short extract from http://caravanistan.com/travel/kazakhstan/almaty/hiking/peak-furmanov/
quote:
Overview of the route
- Length: 14 kilometers
-
Duration: 7h (4 hours + 3 hours)
- Difficulty: medium (some minor climbing at the end)
- Start and finish: Medeu skating rink
- Lowest point: 1.609 m
- Highest point: 3.029 m
- Best time: June – September
- Gpx trail, altitude profile and pictures
We went to the peak together with our small guys of 1 and 3 and that slowed us down a bit - it took us about 5 + 3 hours to get there and back starting from the closest parking spot.
The place is not as quiet as you might expect, especially during sunny summer weekends, when you’ll probably encounter every now and then people searching for berries, other hikers or campers.
who’s Furmanov?
The peak was named after Dmitry Furmanov (1891-1926) who was a Russian commissar, poet and writer who spent a part of his life in Almaty. Not only this peak is named after him, but also one of the main streets in Almaty carries his name. A small bio can be found here: http://www.sovlit.net/bios/furmanov.html
getting near
You can get there either by car or by public transport.
By Bus
For 80kzt (0,40 EUR) bus nr. 12 will bring you from central Almaty to Medeo. From the bus stop, simply follow the waypoints to walk in about 2.5 km to the furthest parking spot.
Timetables for the bus can be found here. Currently they start at 6:30 until 21:00 on working days and till 23:30 on weekends with an interval of 20 min during the week and every 10minutes during the weekends. But better to double check yourself on the day of travel to avoid a nasty surprise that for whatever reason timetables have changed.
By Car
From Almaty center, go all the way up to the Medeo skating rink, around the roundabout and then take the right turn as indicated by waypoint ‘turn from the main road to the park’.
Just follow this road until you come across a toll barrier with a guard. This is the park entrance. Pay the guard an entrance fee of 1.000kzt (for the car) and you can continue another 2.0km by car to the indicated parking spot.
Alternatively you can park just before park entrance or – when it’s quite busy – at the Medeo parking center.
to get to the cache
The walk to the cache and back is ~3.5km and takes about an hour from the closest parking location. You will have to climb approximately 200m.
There are a few ways to get there. We’ve indicated two. See also the trial and waypoint overview map in the pictures where the trails and waypoints are indicated.
The easier route
When you have arrived at the parking location, take the wide gravelish road going eastwards that will bring you around the hill avoiding the bit more hillier trails.
When arrived at waypoint ‘up to the ridge’, follow the small trail up that brings you to the ridge where the cache is located. The waypoint is marked with a pyramid of stones.
When arrived at the ridge, go left (SW) where you’ll find the cache after ~90 m.
The more interesting route
Following this trail you will walk alternatively in the fields and the woods and have the chance to get some nice views over the city on good days, find some berries or flowers and drink some pure mountain water.
From the parking location, walk the road that goes first a bit back to the north west (towards park entrance). After approximately 90 m continue to the right (East) to pick up the trail that will bring you to the cache location.
At waypoint ‘two options’ you have the choice to continue the current trail that will bring you to the fresh water point or to divert to the right (South East) to climb the hill from the south side. Both ways are interesting and we would suggest making it a round trip to do them both.
the cache
The cache itself is a small, plastic round container with a diameter of approximately 10 cm. Inside you’ll find a small logbook and a pencil.
We do recommend - if time allows - not to stop at the cache but to continue further uphill (eastward) towards the peak as far as you can to get the most beautiful views over Almaty and its vicinity.
Have fun and enjoy the area – we for sure did when hiding this cache!