c u on top - satyabrata dam

  Tahtali Dagi as viewed from Beycik Village Lycian Way or Trail, as it is commonly referred to, is Turkey’s longest distance hiking trail of about 540km, beginning at Fethiye and snaking all the way into Antalya. It is divided into several stages, where you can join in or leave at several points if you don’t have the time or inclination to do the trail in its entirety. If you are in good shape, I believe the entire length can be done in 3 to 4 weeks. Most of the trail goes along the coastline and forests. As my main reason to go on this trail was to hike to the summit of the highest peak Tahtali Dagi or Mt Olympos (2365m), I opted to do the stage from Beycik to Goynuk.   Day 1 – I took the morning bus from Antalya main bus station to Kumluca, and got off at the highway near Ulupinar (in front of Kayalar café) and paid 55 TLR. Started off at around 10am. From here on till reaching Beycik mosque, covering a distance of around 9km in 3 hrs, it’s mostly a dry dirt road, with ...

  Lake Deniz Considering the fact that I travel around the world, specifically looking for peaks towering above 4000m, I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that Turkey has an amazing mountain range near the Black Sea, where the highest summit nearly touches 4000m and is referred by the locals as the Turkish Switzerland. This happened just the previous month where I was going to guide an international group to the top of Turkey, aka Mt Ararat, the oft claimed resting place of THE ARK. I have been to Turkey twice before, on both occasions merely leading groups to Ararat and taking a flight out. But this time I had several weeks to spare after Ararat and I pondered if there was any other mountain worth exploring and climbing in Turkey. Google came up promptly with Kaçkar Range. I found one blog by a solo guy and his pictures sealed the deal.   Flowers everywhere  Post Ararat, my climbing partner and friend, Kiki from Greece and I headed for this little known elusive ...