Boom Canyon is located 112 km from the city of Bishkek and serves as a unique natural gateway leading to Lake Issyk-Kul, Central and Inner Tien Shan.
The word "boom" is not Kyrgyz. In ancient Turkic, it means "steep high rock, high cliff."
Boom Gorge connects the Issyk-Kul basin with the Chui Valley. The Chu River flows through Boom Gorge between winding ridges, creating impressive meanders. In the middle part of Boom Gorge runs the administrative border between Chui and Issyk-Kul regions.
The Chui, lower part of the gorge is a narrow canyon, squeezed between high rocky cliffs. The length of Boom Canyon is 22 km.
In the Issyk-Kul, upper part of the gorge, more tranquil forms prevail. The mountains part, revealing a floodplain overgrown with vegetation of the widely spread river. Gradually, the ridges of the mountains recede into the background. The Chu River turns away from the road. Ahead lies only desert, over which the blue band of the water surface of Lake Issyk-Kul is visible.
The origin of Boom Gorge is one of the most intriguing geographical mysteries of Tien Shan. It is directly related to the geological history of Lake Issyk-Kul and the Chu River from the time when the altitude of the lake and river was significantly higher than it is today.
Boom Gorge has not always been as we see it today. The great Russian traveler P. P. Semenov Tyan-Shansky, on his way to the western shore of Issyk-Kul in the autumn of 1856, passed through Boom Gorge with his expedition. He masterfully described what Boom was like at that time:
“When we entered the gorge, it soon narrowed so much that it was impossible to continue along the right bank of the Chu, where we were, because the stone cliffs of enormous height fell into the river almost vertically. We were all forced to wade across the turbulent current of the river to its left bank, along which we continued our journey, but then a similar obstacle forced us to cross back to the right bank.
The day was already leaning towards evening, the sky was covered with gloomy clouds, and soon dark night fell. Only occasionally did a full moon peek through the clouds, illuminating our path a little. Our forward movement was extremely hindered by the fact that our path could not necessarily follow right along the riverbank, as in some places the bank cliffs fell into it completely vertically, and we had to climb up the side walls of this stone corridor, characterized by the name Buam (to the Altai people, Bom), along dangerous paths that circumvented the sheer cliffs from above. Of course, we had to make these detours on foot, leading our horses by the reins, unpacking the pack animals and carrying their loads by hand. In some places instead of these detours, we walked, where it was possible, fording the foot of the cliff, against the turbulent current of the river through the rocks that filled its bed, with the constant danger for each of us of being swept away by its raging waves...”
Only 22 years later, in 1878, a wheeled road was laid through Boom Gorge. At that time, it was narrow, uneven, winding along the bed of the Chu River.
The development of the economy and culture of the Issyk-Kul and Naryn regions necessitated the construction of a railway through Boom Gorge.
The construction of the railway was carried out under difficult conditions over several years. The first train passed along the new road to Issyk-Kul in May 1948.
The section of the railway from the city of Bishkek to Lake Issyk-Kul, approximately 180 km long, is very picturesque. In the future, with the increase in tourist traffic to Issyk-Kul and Central Tien Shan, this section of the road may become very popular for travel, where tourists will be able to observe the enchanting nature of Tien Shan from the cars of an exotic train.
In recent years, Boom Canyon has become a true Mecca for rafting enthusiasts. Here, in the middle part of the gorge, several tourist companies have established a camp offering rafting on the Chu River. Right from the camp, aeolian castles can be seen - landscapes of rare beauty resembling whimsical sculptural forms and fairy-tale structures, painted by nature in bright reds and warm yellows.
