Kaindy Lake

Kaindy Lake sits at 2,000 m and measures roughly 400 m long. A 1911 earthquake triggered a limestone landslide that dammed a narrow gorge, and the impounded water gradually inundated a standing forest of Tien Shan spruce. The trees have not fallen — cold mountain water slows decomposition — and their bare, pale trunks still project above the surface, while submerged branches remain recognizably green. The water is an intense blue-green from dissolved limestone. The unpaved track from Saty crosses several stream fords and takes 50-70 minutes each way; do not attempt it after heavy rain without local knowledge of crossing conditions.

A turquoise lake of standing dead spruce, dammed by the 1911 Kebin earthquake, the pale trunks still rising from water that barely reaches 6 °C. The final 12 km of track in is forded and runs high in June snowmelt.

The path from the parking area descends through dense spruce forest and opens onto the lake after about 20 minutes on foot. The water is a luminous blue-green — the colour comes from limestone dissolved in the glacier melt — and the drowned forest is immediately apparent: dozens of bleached spruce trunks lean at odd angles, their branches long gone but their trunks preserved by water that rarely exceeds 6°C. The lake is 400 m long and roughly 30 m deep. A trail circles part of the shore and rises to a viewpoint above the eastern end, from which the full geometry of the submerged grove is visible. There are no facilities at the water's edge. Allow two to three hours to walk the perimeter and take in the viewpoints before returning to the parking area.