Day 37: Muddy trails

We had a bit of a sleepy start this morning! After having a bigger hiking day yesterday and then staying up much later than usual, it was after 10am when we woke up! So we sprung out of bed and readied ourselves for the buffet breakfast 🍳

We were warmly welcomed into the breakfast area by the guesthouse owner, and then we saw Max, Shaina, Aria, and Finley sitting at a breakfast table. They were in the middle of some crosswords, which seems to be another of their activities they’re keen on. Their plan for today was to enjoy the sauna, and have a “homework day” with their girls. This sounded lovely - particularly the sauna part - but this wasn’t something we could enjoy, as we had too many kms to conquer 🫡

Breakfast itself was as usual, amazing! Omelettes, crepes (which I covered in sugar hehehe), lots of different armenian goods, fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, and to our delight, apricots in syrup! I took some of this syrup and promptly poured it into my tea - YUM 😈

A short time later, packed and ready, we left to check out. As we were leaving, we were again stopped by our host who reiterated how happy we was to have hosted us (we were his first ever NZ guests!!). He asked us very earnestly how he could help us now. After we explained that we were hiking, he looked at our maps and said he was unfamiliar with the town we were planning on camping at. He also said that the weather today would be rainy, so why not just stay another night here? 🤷🏼‍♀️🤣 We thanked him profusely but declined; we wanted to continue the hike, rain, hail, or shine!

Turned out our host was very right about the weather! We hadn't even made it 10 meters before our rain covers and jackets were being hastily put on! We then walked back up to the monastery where we’d first entered Gosh, this time taking a left, and headed for Gosh lake, our first stop (and first big climb) 4km away.

The American family at the guesthouse had warned us that the route to Gosh lake was very muddy. We were keen to see how it stacked up to some of the other quagmires we had trudged through. In all honesty, we’d say it had a normal amount of mud for a forest hike in spring, and it wasn’t sticky mud, so it wasn’t too bothersome.

At one point we came to a picnic shelter. We had passed plenty of these by now, but this one made us laugh - someone had carried a fridge up here and set it up alongside some kitchen cabinets. It didn't work of course, but points for entertainment!

Entering the forest provided some cover from the increasingly heavy rain. It was beautiful to look ahead, and see the clouds and mountains poking through the curtain of vibrant green and dark brown that surrounded us. As per usual, we had a few wrong turns and detours along the way. One of these detours meant we passed some wicked gnarly trees! The type where the whole inside has rotted away but the outer layers are still growing, making it look like some fantastic beast. 🧌

We then came across a large group of pigs and piglets rooting around in the leaf litter along the path. The piglets among them were extremely cute and highly curious. Their parents kept a very close eye on us when we walked close by their young! As we went deeper into the forest the trees grew bigger (AND BIGGERRRR! #Binklebonk, iykyk). It was epic standing under such a massive canopy of trees, their trunks like the pillars of a cathedral.

By the time we made it to the lake, it was raining hard. The lake was full of loud frogs and very picturesque. It had tall reeds growing on the edges and big trees overhanging it, and there were millions of ripples from the raindrops on its surface. We had only gone about 4 of our 17km for the day, but as this was going to be our only shelter from the rain, we stopped for our usual lunch of salami, cheese and tomato sandwiches.

Thankfully, over the course of lunch the rain eased up a fair bit (not what the forecast had said), and by the time we were ready to continue onwards a small layer of fog had started drifting over the lake - and it was getting cold! Hoping to avoid any approaching dementors, we left!

It was actually from here onwards that the real mud trails began. The ruts in the track from 4WDs were huge and full of squelchy mud, and if it wasn’t squelchy it was thick, tacky mud that sticks to the soles of your shoes and builds up into heavy clumps. Needless to say, it was pretty slow going for a while there!

Over time we ascended and started coming out of the dense forest. Here, we gained views of the nearby mountains and an old ruined village, and although it was no longer raining, the sky was still a heavy grey above it all.

Ahead a little ways and across more infuriatingly sticky mud, we spied a ruined arch on a hill. We immediately threw our bags to the ground and bounded up to it. We say we “bounded” because after dropping such heavy packs, we felt so light, but our legs still thought the extra weight would be there, so we felt as if we were bouncing through clouds!

Turns out the arch on hill is the ruins of an old church. It pretty much only has that single wall left standing, but it still has that special aura that holy buildings seem to emanate - even long after they stop being used. We stayed there for a while, looking at the surrounding forest, chatting, and admiring the mountain views. We were in such a beautiful area, within a beautiful country.

After another hour of hiking, and another wrong turn with a STEEP correction (I think roads that steep are illegal in NZ - thank heavens!), we were getting close to the town of Geghatap. This was where we were hoping to set up camp - that’s if it hadn't been claimed by farmers. We hoped, with no farmers present, maybe a building was still standing with a solid roof? Or at least some flat ground for our tent - we were moving through a big valley and there was nothing flat in sight!

We examined the ground as we walked looking for car, cow, dog or human tracks that might indicate locals. There were some, but it wasnt very conclusive. Then, turning a corner we saw the beginnings of the town...we sighed. There were cows everywhere - all over the flat ground we’d hoped to pitch our tent on. Moving further into Geghatap, it was obvious this was now a farming outpost. One shed was clearly more modern, and we both thought we could catch the whiff of cow-pat fuelled smoke... What we had expected, but not what we had hoped.

We walked on slowly, the cows were on and around the track and didn't seem in the mood to move out of the way for us. Getting closer we saw there were also heaps of pigs amongst the cows. The calves and piglets (all very cute) looked at us with intense curiosity, and the adults again with weary eyes.

At one point a young bull stopped on the path in front of us and stared us down. We stopped and waited to see if he would let us continue. He continued staring and then decided to show his dominance by urinating - he stood and peed for what seemed like an age, never breaking eye contact! Then, once he felt as though he had impressed us enough, he turned his head and walked off.

Aproaching a house-shack, we saw some smoke rising from the chimney. We then saw the big dog at the same as they saw us. Oh! Crap! He stood up and barked a bit, but thankfully (and very surprisingly) didn't seem interested in doing more than alerting everyone to our presence.

We slowly walked on past, eventually seeing a farmer and another dog down a hill. We waved at each other, and he called off the other dog who had started making it's way towards us barking and growling. Thank you! 🙏

So with no chance of pitching tent there, we kept on going, now hunting for a suitable camping spot. Unfortunately for us, it did seem like the location of Geghatap was chosen for it being the only flat land in the area. As we walked on, we started pointing out potential candidates. A flat patch of the 4x4 track we were on (not ideal, but if we had to…). A small flat area of stones (which we would have to clear). We weren’t coming up with any winning options! Checking the map we saw that we were getting close to the next big climb section, so we were running out of space 😣

Just before the climb, we came to a side track that led town to the nearby river. Further down was another path leading to a lovely sheltered and flat-enough area... perfect! Literally what we’d been hoping for! It was a little bit sloped, but we angled our tent so our heads were at the top, and made do!

As rain was threatening to bucket down once again, pitching the tent and making dinner was a hurried affair. The rain never reached us, however, so we got to enjoy watching the sky darken as the air cooled around us! Then, Ben whipped the second half of my birthday cake out of his bag! What! 🤣 FEAST!!!!! We also boiled some more water for some of the delicious mint and thyme tea I’d got from the hotel back in Dilijan. What a time to be alive!

After this we attempted to catch up on the last few days of writing for penguins - we’d fallen so behind! There was no reception at camp, however, so we trundled back up the path towards Geghatap until we found a little 3G. We tried to upload the post, praying to the cellphone gods to grant us a steady stream of reception. They didn't really oblige, or at least not with much speed, but it did eventually upload. Thank goodness for that!

As we stood there with the sky growing ever darker, a long white shape slowly crept along the valley. It was a low fog cloud snaking it's way up the river - beautiful, but unsettling to watch. It was like watching the ghost of a giant dragon drift past. As we made our way back to our little tent, we wondered if it would cloud over much more or stay clear. We hoped for some cloud, as that meant we’d be warmer overnight! ☁️

Wow. Only 2 days left to hike! We are now only 30km from Sevan 😳 It feels strange to be at this end of the hike, but we are both looking forward to the adventures that will come after 🥳🩵🫡Read more