Lake Zhasylkol, an earthquake-dammed lake in the Dzungarian Alatau

Lake Zhasylkol is a mountain lake in the Dzungarian (Zhetysu) Alatau in Jetisu Region, in Kazakhstan’s far east, about 378 km in a straight line from Almaty. It formed when an earthquake brought down a rockfall that dammed a river valley, and English Wikipedia describes a path of about 10 km from an apiary along the Agynykatty valley to the lake. This is a remote, self-organised mountain trip, not a day out from the city.

Where Lake Zhasylkol is and what kind of trip it demands

The lake sits on the northern slope of the Dzungarian Alatau, inside Zhongar-Alatau National Park, south-west of the village of Lepsinsk (Lepsy). The nearest regional city with a straight-line figure is Taldykorgan, about 177 km away; Almaty is about 378 km and Oskemen about 530 km, all in a straight line, so road distances will be longer.

Sources do not agree on how far the lake is from the village: Russian Wikipedia gives 15 km south-west of Lepsy, English Wikipedia 23 km south-west of Lepsinsk, and Kazakh Wikipedia about 33 km east of the village of Ekiasha. The last stretch is on foot. English Wikipedia describes a path of about 10 km along the Agynykatty valley from an apiary to the lake, and more than 13 km from the lake on to the Zhalanash ranger cordon.

For a visitor without a car or Russian, this is the hard part. We could not confirm any public transport to Lepsinsk, where the trail starts exactly, or what rules apply in a park so close to the state border. Until the 1980s almost nobody came here, because the border with China runs nearby.

A lake held back by a rockfall

Zhasylkol is a dammed lake: an earthquake several millennia ago sent a stone blockage down from the right slope and closed the river channel. Russian Wikipedia names the dammed river as the Agynykatty; English Wikipedia names the Kikozen, described as one of the sources of the Agynykatty. The lake lies in the Agynykatty valley either way.

The figures below come from English Wikipedia except where noted. The depth is only an estimate, so treat it as a range rather than a measurement.

Water that stays at or below 10 °C even in summer means a swim is a brief cold plunge at most. The lake is small enough to walk along, but we could not confirm whether a shore path runs its full length.

Why the colour changes through the year

The name means green, and locals call it the emerald lake, but its colour depends on the season, the hour and the sky. The streams that feed it start at glaciers, so in spring and summer the water carries meltwater silt and turns muddy, described as the colour of coffee with milk. Once the cold returns and glacier melt stops, the water clears to a transparent blue.

During the day the shade shifts again: turquoise at noon, ultramarine under a blue sky, leaden in cloudy weather. When the glaciers are melting, the lake looks bright green, especially from above. If you want clear blue water, the sources point to autumn; if you want the green, look for a vantage point above the shore.

When to go: June to September

English Wikipedia gives May to October as the travel season, and the climate figures support the core of that window. The numbers below are computed normals for 2011–2020 from the ERA5 reanalysis at a grid point at 1,655 m, not a weather station; that is close to the lake’s own altitude.

July and August are the warmest months, with average highs around 20 °C and nights around 9–10 °C, so warm layers are needed even in summer. April and May are the wettest, with about 85 mm of precipitation each, which makes a forest trail muddy. September is cooler, with highs near 15 °C and nights around 4 °C, and it falls when glacier melt slows and the water starts to clear. From November to March average highs stay below or near freezing.

Forest, marals and wild apples on the way

Dense forest begins at about 1,200 m, with fir, spruce, aspen, birch and poplar, and deciduous groves grow on the lake shore. The area around Zhasylkol holds a large population of maral, the Central Asian red deer, mentioned by all three Wikipedia versions.

The Dzungarian Alatau also keeps a large share of Kazakhstan’s wild apple trees, 49% according to English Wikipedia, including the Sievers apple, regarded as the ancestor of most domestic apples. English Wikipedia also notes the quiet of the place, with little noise beyond natural sounds.

If you are planning a wider loop through the region, the hot springs at Zharkent-Arasan are the nearest other page on this site, about 132 km in a straight line. The Singing Dune in Altyn-Emel is about 232 km away in a straight line, and Kaindy Lake is another page on this site, about 315 km away in a straight line.