History of the Transcaucasian Trail
Two Countries. One Dream.
When British explorer Tom Allen and former Peace Corps volunteer Paul Stephens began exploring the wilds of Armenia and Georgia, respectively, in the 2010s, they were enamored by the beauty and diversity of the landscape and saw the high potential of the region as a world-class hiking destination. They had been living in the Caucasus for several years — Tom in Armenia and Paul in Georgia — and wanted to make it more accessible to others. They each had the idea to create a long-distance hiking trail across the Caucasus. Along with fellow hikers and cartographers, Tom and Paul (separately and completely unbeknownst to each other) made the first steps to turn their grand visions into sustainable, well-trodden hiking paths. When Tom tried to buy the domain name transcaucasiantrail.org, he couldn’t do it — because Paul already owned it. The two got in touch, realized they shared a general overall vision, and partnered to make it happen.


Their goal was not only to create the region’s first long-distance trail for hikers to enjoy, but also to use that trail as a means of: improving access to historic sites and protected areas and raising their profile, helping to ensure that the natural and cultural heritage of the Caucasus can be enjoyed by future generations. and putting remote towns and villages on the radar, bringing much-needed income for the local people whose livelihoods rely on tourism.
Creation of a Trail
With support from the Royal Geographical Society and Land Rover, Tom and his small team, including their vehicle fondly named Georgina, spent most of 2016 exploring Armenia and Georgia, finding viable routes, and putting roads and valleys on the map. Paul was doing the same in the Greater Caucasus of Georgia, and literally putting the country on OpenStreetMap.



Tom’s Transcaucasian Expedition was a success!
Volunteer trail crews began working on the TCT in 2016 in Svaneti, Georgia and in 2017 in Dilijan, Armenia, creating the first sections of the TCT. After many years of hard work since then, 1500 km of hiking trails have been connected across Georgia and Armenia. A thru-hike across the two countries — though still immensely challenging — is now possible!



The very first TCT volunteer trail crews in Svaneti and Dilijan.
Expansion to Azerbaijan
The vision of the TCT included expanding the trail all the way across the Greater Caucasus from Georgia into Azerbaijan — but it took several more years to find the right people and make that happen. In 2020, Nazrin Garibova — a recent college grad with previous experience on trail crews who was born in Azerbaijan and raised in the U.S. — offered to help. Nazrin launched the project in Azerbaijan in 2021 and spent the next several years mapping old trails across the country, developing community relationships, and building the now-vibrant team of TCT staff and volunteers.

Nazrin and a shepherd during a summer 2021 scouting mission.