Syunik Wilderness Expedition

Seven days, six nights, and two of them without a roof: difficulty 5 of 5 — nothing else in this programme is rated that high. The reason is not the total distance but two days on which the track alone decides. The first climbs from Sisian at 1,600 metres to the caldera above the Ughtasar rock carvings, 3,300 metres up and thus the ceiling of the week; the second runs from Goris at roughly 1,385 metres to Sev Lich at 2,666. Both days end at a tent, because up there nothing else exists. What lies between them is tame at the wheel and planned in all the same: the pierced stone rows of Zorats Karer, 1,770 metres up, sit at the end of a made-up road, and that is precisely the point — after a night in thin air, a day without scree costs you nothing.

The approach is trunk road. Out of Yerevan, some 990 metres up, the M2 runs south-east, reaches Yeghegnadzor at 1,194 after 123 kilometres and then climbs onto the volcanic tableland; where Vayots Dzor gives way to Syunik its crest sits at 2,344 metres, tarred all the way to the ridge and still the first spot where a summer day turns. Sisian, 217 kilometres out from Yerevan, carries the first night. On day three that same surface returns, though only after the descent off the mountain: seven kilometres out to the Shaki waterfall — firm but for a short gravel finish, and then eighteen metres of water over a basalt lip — then thirty-eight down into the valley of Goris and on to the canyon rim above Old Khndzoresk at 1,580 metres. That is where driving stops: the cave town and its suspension bridge are reached on foot alone, steep stairs down and, at the end, the same height gain back up.

Day four is the only day between the tracks on which low range rests. Thirty-five kilometres of mountain road run from Goris to Tatev Monastery at 1,580 metres, sealed as far as the gate; if you prefer, you cross the Vorotan gorge in the cableway instead, 5.7 kilometres above a notch cut as much as 500 metres deep. The counterpart follows: tight, steep hairpins in the valley, dropping to Satani Kamurj, which sits at 1,020 metres. What is asked here is not ground clearance but a low gear, engine braking and an eye on what is coming the other way — the carriageway is narrow, and coaches use it. Seventy kilometres or so, a good two hours of actual driving, and by nightfall the vehicle is back in Goris.

What follows is the roughest part. Coarse gravel climbs to the Black Lake across the tableland below Mets Ishkhanasar; the ground softens in places after rain, mobile coverage is missing for long stretches, and the lake lies on a border whose course remains unsettled to this day — whether the drive happens is decided by the morning’s situation, not by a brochure. Day six is the longest at the wheel: back down to Goris and on south into the Shikahogh reserve, where the asphalt ends long before the edge of the forest and old forestry tracks with river fords carry on. Five hours of actual driving over a short distance. Day seven is the way home, 254 kilometres via Sisian and Yeghegnadzor. Two nights on the road belong to the tent, because at 3,300 and at 2,666 metres nothing else stands; the rest follow the comfort class: a wild camp in Frontier, a guesthouse in Expedition, a spa hotel in Signature. The vehicles travel in convoy, six guests at most, and if you drive yourself you have the lead guide directly ahead of you on both track days.