Armenian Transcaucasian Route part II – The walk

What a difference a week makes… Now we are consuming miles of trail and having a much better time. Some things changed that I have observed:

1. Trail conditions have improved!
2. Our mentalities have changed. Before we were purists and treated the trail as if we had to follow the exact path. If it says walk through the field of unpleasant plants, then we walk through the field. Now we say that the path is a suggestion and that we are free to deviate. We will continue walking throughout the country, but according to our conditions. It’s quite liberating.
3. We found a daily blog from Moose & Bugs (https://mooseandbugs.com/the-transcaucasian-trail-armenia) describing their experiences on a hike in 2025. We are using their story to help us plan. They also mentioned skipping horrible sections and it sort of gave my brain permission to do the same.

As a result, I will also try to keep daily notes of the tour. Maybe that will help another future hiker. And I will share it with the TCT to help show the problem areas of the trail.

Day 7: Rest day in Sisien. 0km

We resupplied, did laundry, rested, and ate good food. It was a pretty calm day with some walking around the city, blogging, and a bit of stretching. I also bought more socks because I found some synthetic ones! At 7pm I went to buy a schwarma at ASADO, the oven wasn’t on yet so I had to wait 30 minutes chatting with locals in broken English and hand gestures. The store owner and I chatted for a long time using Google Translate and it was fun to share our experiences. I couldn’t understand why we would do this…

We discovered the Moose&Bug blog and they offer a daily breakdown of your TCT throughout the hike. They talk about the horrible bushwhack sections. They mention an alternative to our horrible day one section. This is our most valuable new information. We came up with a plan: if any known bad spots show up, we’ll just walk an alternate route on a highway.

We stayed two nights with breakfast at the Baleni Guesthouse for $62.

Day 8: Foundations – Spandarian Reservoir. 37 kilometers

We had another delicious breakfast before leaving Baleni. We left around 8:15 with a plan to skip the first section which Bugs&Moose said was 5 foot tall hogweed (Angeghakot-Spandaryn). There was a dirt road that ran parallel to the route and allowed us to still maintain a good path. We took it and are very glad we did for many reasons. Most of all, we ended up in the small town of Spandaryn (that was a side hike of the trail that we would have skipped). In that town a group of girls were playing volleyball. They greeted us as we passed. We went to the local market, bought ice cream and chatted with the owners’ daughter. I went to university in Yerevan and spoke English very well. I was home for the weekend and was about to take the bus back for exams starting Monday. As we left, one of the volleyball girls came up on a bike and asked to take a selfie with us. She asked where we were from and left. A few minutes later we sat down to finish our ice cream and she returned. In very practiced English, he said: «You must be tired, can I offer you a coffee?» Of course! He took us to his house, introduced us to his dad and grandparents and sat us outside at a little table. Then he served us coffee and sweets. We had a great conversation and learned that she was learning English on her own through YouTube because she likes to learn. What 13 year old does that? I wanted a chance to practice. She wanted to know about us and her younger sister also came to join. It was a moving 40 minutes.

We then walked another 15km and found a great campsite. It is a small, secluded place next to a stream 500 m from the lake. It is sheltered from the wind and sheltered by small bushy trees. It’s our best place yet. It’s probably cold at 2100m next to a stream, but I’m excited by the sounds.

Excellent double track

As a result, today could have been one of the best trail days yet. Well, I’ll be honest, there wasn’t much trail, more dirt road and double track hiking. But it was easy, we went fast and we didn’t need to stress. I may want to be a purist sometimes, but right now I’m happy just walking around the country meeting lovely locals.

We are also looking at the Gengham Mountains from here and there is plenty of snow. We will travel by bus around them and return in a few weeks. So, 3 or 4 more days and then we will travel by minibus to Sevan.

Day 9: Spandarian Reservoir – Kapuyt. 43km

It was quite cold last night sleeping by the stream. Jetpack says he was cold all night. I didn’t care… I woke up to a beautiful morning. Today was another good day on the trails. The trails were in good condition and the weather was great. The first two thirds of the day were on double track, the last third on single track. We took a little cross country trip but nothing bad. More like crossing a meadow of 6-8″ tall grass to connect two paths. In Gorayk we get ice cream, soft drinks and sandwiches. In fact, I bought 3 sandwiches since there are basically no services for the next 100 km. Still, we got more ice cream and soft drinks at the last small shop in Artavan, 14 km later…

Look at that landscape!

The last 12km after Artabán was quite interesting single track up to 2500m and back. We saw two wild goats and really appreciated the new llamas and recent trail work. We found a nice flat camping spot 100m from a stream and a natural stone arch. The road feels much better for us. Maybe it was just the first three days that got off to a rocky start on the road.

All the smiles today

I’m worried about the Jetpack’s feet. He’s getting quite a few blisters. It’s a common problem for her, she has a lot of wet grass and that doesn’t help. We have stopped twice a day to take off our shoes and let ourselves breathe. In that sense, I am very happy with my feet. I feel my knee, there is no pain but a slight sensation.

Day 10: Kapuyt – Jafarkend. 44km

Today we woke up early to the birds singing. We ate, packed, and were on the road at 6:40 a.m. It was another good day on the trails. Well marked and obvious trails. Much of it was dirt roads and double track. A long, silly 7km semi-straight dirt road of gradual ascent. We spent much of the day in arid, mountainous grasslands that reminded me of where I would hunt with Riley in eastern Oregon. We kept scaring the chukar partridge (a bird we hunt) and that always reminds me of Riley. I miss that dog.

The terrain was very open and we could see for miles. Pretty cool. We saw a fox stalking a chukar but unfortunately we scared them both away before we could see the result. We finished the day with a descent into a cool river canyon. There are steep walls that appear to have a bighorn sheep and a sign here by the river. It feels like a desert. Our camp was near the stream, next to a bunch of bee hives. It’s not the best place to camp, but it’s flat enough and close to the water that we can fill up in the morning before the long dry spell.

We’ve been talking about how we rounded a curve at Tatev (143km) and haven’t hated anything on the road since. It’s still pretty difficult at times, but in a good way, it’s not an insult to whoever created this trail. It’s a much better experience and I’m glad we agreed to take alternatives. Today we took two short walks on dirt roads because they seemed more pleasant. I like to feel the freedom of doing that.

*From Kapuyt the main dirt road is marked and the red line follows the stream. The red line seemed bizarre so we took the highway. It was very easy to walk.

Day 11: Jafarkend-Yeghegnadzor. 31km

Another top-notch day on the trails. In fact, the first 15 km were my favorite of the entire ride so far. The rest of the Gnishik canyon was great. Very nice views all the way. It is a 10-kilometer mountainous stretch without water. There are wild goats and mouflons in the canyon, and despite hearing rockfall that was probably coming from them, we were never able to see any. Noravank Monastery was a very worthy trip. The trail there and back was small but in good condition. It is beautiful, well preserved and had excellent informational signs in English. The only negative was that we left at 9:30am and the restaurant and kiosk didn’t open until 10am so there were no cold drinks or food for us.

Noravank Monastery

From Noravank, the next 4 km were amazing, newly built trails. The TCT has been working seriously and it shows. They built a beautiful trail with chain railing for the steep sections. We passed through the longest and deepest cave in Armenia, but it is closed to tourists, so we cannot do caving. Then the trail work was done and we had a weak trail going down to a dirt road (it looks like there is a plan to complete this section this year). The last 15 km were on exposed dirt roads and it was hot! I was finally able to use my umbrella.

Check out those awesome new trails!

New trail with chains when it is too steep.

We arrived in Yeghegnadzor in time to catch the 3:30 bus. We had ice cream and drinks and waited at the bus stop looking for minibus 555. 15 minutes later a big bus slowed down 50 meters from the road, a guy quickly jumped out and as we grabbed our bags and ran after him they drove off… We’re still not sure if that was our bus. But a group of locals were chatting around a minivan. The driver asked us “Yerevan?” We said yes. He would take us for five dollars each. Sounds like a deal. We then proceeded to wait 40 minutes for another person to arrive. With two stinky hikers and five other passengers and some strange detours, we were driven for an hour and a half to the outskirts of Yerevan, next to the metro line. We got on the crowded subway heading downtown at 6 in the afternoon in the heat. It was a long day and we were grateful to get to our room for the first hot shower in many days. Now eat some good food, take a day off, refuel and find a ride to Sevan.

*@329.7km, the trail ends abruptly and FarOut says to go right, after a bit of cross country following the red line we realized that the perfect trail continued to our left. They join back together, so no big problem, but they look to the left…

Day 12 – Yerevan. 0km

Rest day in Yerevan. Resupply, eat good food, and figure out the rest of our travel logistics to get back on the road. I also bought some proper sports socks that cost over $1! My feet will thank you since rain is forecast.

*Photos of me from Jetpack

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