Caspiantrek

When C enters he is shaken and in pain, I examine his calf muscle. The bite is obvious but it is not too bad. I sterilize the wound and cover it up with some gauze. We spend a rough night with the shepherds. Dogs barking and little room. After breakfast we ask for directions and the head shepherd puts us on the right track. We start our trek into the unknown. The landscape is amazing and the weather is mild and serene, the sky is blue and the forest is a fresh green colour of Spring. After a few hours we are on the highest ridge. We have the mighty mount Siyalan at 4250m to our left still covered in snow, the dense oak forest of Beleskooh protected area in front of us and in the horizon the blue line of the Caspian sea, the largest body of inland water on earth. Lady S is overwhelmed with emotion and goes to a corner crying. We rest for a good while on this ridge contemplating the beauty and the eternal wilderness of this valley. Now I know exactly where we are. I did a loop in this va...

Al takes his trousers off and finds a spot where the 9 meter wide river gushing down is divided into two almost equal parts by a small boulder that slows the rapid flows somewhat, he crosses successfully but is complaining of the cold waters. C, the German is second, he decides not to take his trousers off and hits the water with his bare feet, looking a little unsure I follow him closely. a few meters close to the other side Al stretches out a wooden stick, C grabs the stick but for some reason loses his balance and falls backward.I push him onto Al and he is home safe. I take a deep breath and return to get S the tough lady from London whose backpack must be the heaviest of us all. She steps into the water only to slip, she falls and the rapids would have washed her away had I not aggressively pulled her hand towards the middle and onto the other side where Al was standing. She is shivering with cold. At least we are all safely on the other side. I go back a third time for C's bo...

Option 1 It would be possible to do 4 days from Lake Ovan to the Caspian hinterland via Khashechal summit( 4120 m). However, if you are to walk from the lake itself you really need 5 days of trekking plus the day to get there and to get to Tehran ie 7 days in total. If you wish to walk it in 4 days ie 6 days in total then you need to leave out the summit. Option 2 Another option would be to start from Garmarood, where the ridge is lower and the summit you can do is off the path and is 3600m. There is a dirt road that you will have to cross 3 times on foot and there will be some cars passing from May until October but this will be a short stretch. You may end either in Maran or in Yuj. The main differences between the two are the crossing of a road which is absent from the first trek, and the fact that the first trek goes through some of the most pristine Hyrcanian forests terminating at 900m ASL but in option 2 the trek ends above the forest line at about 2200mASL and th...

I will try and keep this a secret. A semi-open secret. The route is mindblowingly beautiful. It is not for the fainthearted. You need to be fit and strong mentally and physically. There is no luxury. Nature can be harsh and indifferent to our suffering yet it can be soothing and protective at the same time. I was adamant that I wanted to go down that trail on the other side of the valley. I had seen it a few years back from the distance. I had seen the continuation a few kilometers from a different valley and I wanted to join them up. There must be a way one can walk. The locals were not sure. Al, another local I trusted for new routes was not so sure it would get us anywhere either . What the hell if it doesn't but there must be a way out I said, we could always come back. We had started our trek a day earlier in Garmarood , we took the lesser known trail from Zeresk and we spent the night with the mighty Ms Malaki in Piche Bon . So far so good. There were 4 of us. Al, I, 2 guest...

Recently launched Instagram for enjoyable photographs of the Alborz mountain range including the Alamut Valley https://www.instagram.com/alamuttrek/