Day 32: The Forbidding Jagged Mount of False Ararat 24 Comments

This entry was posted in Travel Turkey and tagged 2018 Asia Breathtaking Views Motorhome Mountain Pass Mountains Photography Travel Walks Wild Camping on

We wake just after 6 but by the time we finished breakfast, catching up on news and getting ready it is well passed 9am.  We prepare Vin for the morning rush hour and Craig carefully negotiates the suburbs of Kars. By the end of today, all being well, we should be experiencing our first taste of big mountain scenery in the heart of the Mount Ararat.

D070 Road

In the morning light horses loaded with produce head for the markets. Tractors puff black smoke in to the air as they roar in to action and in the fields figures are at work bringing in the harvest. As we emerge from Kars sprawling suburbs the land ahead of us opens out into a panorama of endless fields of wheat. Like the Tuscan fields but on a vast scale. A slow ascent in the middle of what feels like a wide Turkish prairie edged by a huge canyon, the natural border with Armenia (click to enlarge photo).

The D070 good road becomes bad with loose chipping’s as we start to wind up to the 7,500ft. Closed by snow for six months of the year, this lifeline to the Valley is under repair, the soft top track has wilted badly under the weight of over loaded trucks. We ride in the comfort of Vin but feel choked and engulfed in a dust and debris.  

We reach the peak of the prairie and the road takes an unexpected sharp right. Vin turns on to the D080 at Halikislak the border town. To our surprise the landscape changes in an instant. A complete constant to the prairie and exceptionally captivating. A mountainous and forbidding jagged outcrop of rock. Wildly beautiful and surreal.

Here, on the baron war like frontier, almost any road, track, pass or prominence bears a fortification of some kind. Ranging from fully fledged fortresses to barricaded look out points. Some manned with armed military personnel whilst others stand empty. However, you get a feeling they are empty are strategically located and ready for action, if required. 

Just look at that landscape

The town of Tuzluca is reasonably compact but there is a strong military presence.  Armed cars, trucks and tanks line the street as well as soldiers. Somehow this town doesn’t grab our attention.  Mount Ararat and its ripple of mini peaks is a lot more enticing. We look around and seek a road to high ground to gain a vantage point. It takes time but our efforts are rewarded.

The sinuous outlines of the landscape at sunset is breathtaking. Formed by the volcanic eruption and severe weather into hundreds of thousands of peaks and crests and troughs. It is mesmerisingly beautiful. Though the fine grass is constantly in motion, being flattened and reshaped by the wind, there is an illusion of complete stillness.  

Our Bumble wild camping spot at Tuzluca GPS position N040.030820, E043.686364

Later that evening we checked the map and our altitude. Something didn’t seem right with our location and our gut feeling was right. The amazing peak in front of us was not Mount Ararat at all. It was just one of the many beautiful peaks. Maybe our excitement at seeing Mount Ararat was a little premature but the sunset and mountain peak was pretty dam good.

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