#BlazetheTCT Day 1: Meghri to Kapan
Welcome to day 1 of #BlazeTheTCT!
If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll have seen a lot of information about the different projects happening along the TCT– our conservation corps, our volunteer programs, our maps and trail resources, our supporters’ treks.
But over the next two weeks, we want to do something different. We’re going to take you on a journey along the trail itself, following this ribbon through the heart of the Caucasus.
We want to show you what your support has built over the last 8 years – and what it’s like to hike it. And we want to introduce you to some of the people and places that make the TCT special.
Today we’re launching our campaign to Blaze the Transcaucasian Trail. Over the next two weeks, we’re going to virtually hike the TCT, following the 1500-kilometer North-South route that connects Armenia and Georgia.
Each day, we’ll highlight a new 100-kilometer section of the trail and some of our favorite people and places along the way.
Today we start in southern Armenia. Bit by bit, we’ll inch towards the Black Seat coast in Georgia – and towards our fundraising goal of $30,000 to support work on the trail.
We hope you’ll enjoy seeing a peek into the Transcaucasian Trail, and that it’ll inspire you to get more involved in the massive effort it takes to build a trail like this.
Each of the volunteers, hikers, staff, and supporters of the TCT are here because we fell in love with these mountains, these people, and the power and potential that a simple trail can have.
We’ve built something remarkable together, and we are so excited to take it to the next level with your support.
Now, let’s hike to the Black Sea!
Thanks for being here with us and being part of the TCT.
With gratitude,
Meagan & the TCT Team
Day 1: Meghri to Kapan
Welcome to Meghri. There’s no way around this: It’s hot.
You’ve suffered through a 9-hour marshrutka ride to get here, careening along mountain roads as the landscape changes from the wide rings of Yerevan’s Soviet blocks to Syunik’s forested canyons all the way to the Iranian border.
You’re exhausted and sweaty, but as the sun starts to drip down across the craggy peaks ringing the city, your shoulders relax with the sense of having finally arrived. The crackling excitement of an adventure about to begin.
Meghri is a small city, particularly enchanting in the dawn and dusk hours when the heat is gentler. The city dates back to the year 906, and Meghri itself means “honey-like”: the story goes that it was the sweetness of the region’s figs, pomegranates, and grapes (and more recently persimmons and kiwis) that gave the town its name.
Meghri is also the gateway to Arevik National Park– and to the TCT.
Arevik is one of the region’s newest protected areas and one of the country’s least-visited, most underrated destinations – in no small part because until recently, most of the beautiful spectacular wilderness was inaccessible.
There’s a wide network of historical trails criss-crossing these mountains, but the combination of depopulating settlements and newer roads meant that they’d almost entirely faded back into the overgrowth.
Explore the alleyways of Meghri
From high on the narrow, cobbled streets overlooking the valley near the church of Surb Hovhannes, you can see the city’s lush gardens, a beautifully cultivated contrast to the dry and rocky landscape surrounding it.
You duck into the church of Surb Hovhannes and find a series of remarkable colorful frescoes, stretching wall to wall. Perhaps you even notice some elements of Persian architecture too – pointed arches, decorative brickwork – which locals have told us were to confuse invaders of this frontier town into thinking they were still in Persia.
You could happily spend a full day wandering the streets of Meghri, poking into the old churches and fortresses – and hopefully you do – but soon enough there is no avoiding it: you are here to hike.
And even though the blazing heat might make you question your life choices, you find yourself looking at the imposing mountains around the city and wondering how much more you’ll see from above.
So you rise stupidly early and you start to walk.
Hike into the desert of Arevik National Park
The first climb is brutal – it’s what we warn everyone heading northbound. It’s a straight 2000-meter climb in the heat, with only one reliable water source along the way.
But you tell yourself that if you can make it through this first day, you’ll be good. (It’s true, for what it’s worth.)
As you leave Meghri’s outskirts and enter Arevik National Park, the track narrows into a singletrack trail. The path delves into the thorny scrub lining the bottom of the arid valley, strewn with boulders and overgrown with thickets of wild almond bushes.
The walking gets harder from here– steeper and hotter and only sometimes on a trail – but the smell of the juniper trees as you climb makes it worth it.
Admire the newly-constructed trails in Arevik – built by young people from Meghri
Arevik National Park is one of the TCT’s biggest, trickiest trail building projects. In 2022, after years of bashing through the wilderness to map out the old historical trails criss-crossing these mountains, we launched a major trail building effort with our partners Trails For Change, bringing in young people from Meghri to learn about trail building and play a part in their region’s development.
That’s how we met Caucasus Conservation Corps crew member Nvard, who joined TFC and became a professional trail builder after falling in love with trail work and the mountains during her volunteer project. She’s passionate about her hometown of Meghri and told us what an impact the TCT has already had on the city.
“A few years ago, there were barely any guesthouses in Meghri – just a few,” she told us on a visit to Georgia earlier this summer. “Now, after TCT, there is one in every village nearby.”
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- CCC crew member Nvard in Tbilisi.
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- Nvard and other TFC crew members working on the TCT in Arevik National Park.
Get ready to go off-trail
The trail keeps on getting better year after year, but we still have a ways to go before it’s fully connected. In the meantime, the rugged wilderness of this section means that it’s, well, polarizing.
In some sections, you inch through the tangled bushes at one kilometer per hour. Some hikers tell us that Arevik was their favorite part of the trail. Some hikers tell us it was their least favorite part of the trail. As for you? Well, you’ll have to go try it and tell us afterwards. (No, really. Tell us what you think.)
After a long, steep, and incredibly tough first climb, you eventually reach a panoramic viewpoint atop a rock outcrop opposite the craggy peak of Mt Berdakar (2,164m), also known as Mt Kaladash– and from here you can see all the way down the valley to your starting point of Meghri, some 1,400m below.
From here, you can relax with easier walking on a jeep track for a while, soaking up the views of the peaks across the border in neighboring Iran.
Find traces of history in Arevik’s wilderness
The next few days in Arevik National Park have a particularly wild magic.
As you trace the mix of historical trails, newly built tracks, and the line on the map across an open hillside, you occasionally stumble across small settlements – some abandoned entirely, some with only one or two residents.
You poke your head into the semi-ruined 17th-century churches along the way. Perhaps you meet a park ranger, or the occasional shepherd, or even a viper (keep your eyes open!).
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- A semi-ruined 17th-century church in Arevik National Park.
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- Church interior.
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- Sunset in Arevik.
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- Camping in the highlands near Arevik National Park.
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- NOT a pile of cow dung, although it’s easy to mistake it after so much time walking in cow territory.
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- Coffee at a shepherd's hut, a little emotional about the shade after being invited in by the only person we’d seen in days.
Follow trail flags through Skikahogh State Reserve
As you make your way across the hillsides and trace the boundaries of Shikahogh State Reserve’s wild forests, you’ll spot pink trail flags where we’ve marked sections of the TCT for future development (and to help hikers navigate in the meantime).
This is a multi-year project that you’re actively helping advance by hiking and supporting the TCT!
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- A pink trail flag along the future TCT.
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- A trail crew working on the TCT in Arevik National Park.
Summit Mt. Khustup
And finally, after some long tough days, you reach the grand finale of this section: the dramatic Mt. Khustup at 3,210m, the second highest point on the TCT across Armenia.
It’s an unmistakable and legendary peak with a certain gravity to it, visible from far away and dominating Kapan and the surrounding area.
You check your watch, you check the weather, and decide you have time for the short, non-technical scramble to the peak– which we think you’ll agree is well worth the detour and the effort. The dramatic cliffs are unlike anywhere else on the trail.
And congratulations – once you’ve reached Khustup, you can breathe a sigh of relief at having officially traversed one of the most difficult sections of the trail!
That’s not to say the TCT ahead is without its challenges, but for a little while, you can relax into following trail markers and enjoying some of the fabulous guesthouses and hospitality in the villages along the route.
Recharge with some local hospitality
You’re a smart hiker and so you take our advice to end this section at magnificent Hilltop Camping Bekh.
This is a relatively new campsite overlooking the city of Kapan whose hosts have already become legendary among TCT hikers for their enthusiasm and hospitality.
Pitch your tent in their garden and learn from hosts Sona and Vahagyn, who know a staggering amount about Armenia’s history, geology, and language.
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- Welcome committee at Hilltop Camping Bekh. (Photo: Hilltop Camping)
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- Host Sona with the trail running team who recently established a Fastest Known Time on TCT Armenia. (Photo: Hilltop Camping)
And now, it’s time to rest up.
Because this is only the start of the journey… and we’ll see you tomorrow for another section of the TCT!
We hope you’re enjoying coming with us on the trail and meeting some of the people and places behind it.
Over our 15 days of hiking the TCT, we’re aiming to raise $30,000 to blaze new sections of the trail and to continue our work on key sections like Arevik National Park to make these spectacular areas accessible.
If you’ve enjoyed the trail in the past or are dreaming of hiking it someday, please join us to make these efforts possible! Donate $15 or more and share with 15 friends today to blaze the TCT.
Thanks for all your support, and happy trails – we’ll see you back on the TCT tomorrow!
– Meagan & the TCT team
