***See Strava activities for more photos and their relative position on trail
Section A: Lake Arpi - Stepanavan
52.11mi
It was 11:31am by the time I hit start on my watch. I got a taxi from the former Armenian capital and second city, Gyurmi, after a long breakfast at a cafe. The drive was over an hour and with a newish car and ever worsening road conditions, the driver was noticeably perturbed. Uttering what I can only assume were Armenian curses and on the verge of voiding the fair around half way, I remain thankful he persevered. The fare was booked through a local ride hailing app and I'm pretty sure he won’t be accepting any similar fares anytime soon.
In the taxi I briefly spoke to another English hiker planning to start the trail the following day. He mentioned catching me up and I neglected to mention my FKT intentions. He never caught me up, although we did hangout in Yerevan afterwards.
Day 1 was pretty cruisey. I met a herder and we sat and ate together. We spoke freely with neither understanding the other. He was very proud of his horse and I had a quick ride under his insistence and was glad not to have fallen off given that I've never ridden before. I camped by a quiet stream. Day 2 started without a hitch until I wandered into a herder camp around 10am and spent most of the morning drinking vodka accompanied with lamb, cheese and pickles. I took selfies with the children for them to show their friends at school and staggered on my way. I arrived in Stepanavan early on day 3, resupplied with my staples of the trip, salami and noodles, then off I went.
Section B: Stepanavan - Alavardi
45mi
This section was cruisey until I arrived at the Debed gorge. Above the gorge there was a lovely breeze. On the walls of the gorge the heat was quite extreme at times. On night 3 I camped on the wall of the gorge near Tsater among a patch naturally growing cannabis plants. I heard the jackals singing for the first time as the sun set. The next day the heat was becoming a problem, I struggled to drink enough water and my garmin watch was so hot it started to malfunction, this is why the day is split into two sections. I arrived late in Alavardi, ate in a local restaurant and stayed in a cheap guestroom so I had the best chance of rehydrating myself for the following day.
Section C: Alavardi - Dilijon
56.65mi
I left Alavardi early to get as much of the initial, steep climb done before the heat set in after the trauma of the previous day. After passing a MIG fighter jet proudly displayed in Sanahin, the designer came from the town, I entered the mountains.
After seeing no other hikers thus far, I met three others in quick succession. There was a German section hiker followed by a pair of English guys thru hiking NOBO. The two Brits mentioned particularly aggressive livestock guardian dogs ahead which I dismissed foolishly. There were three of the aforementioned dogs and they continued to bark and nip at my heels for over a mile out of the camp before giving up and joyfully trotting home. I made it to Dilijan on the morning of day 7, quickly resupplied and headed straight out into Dilijan National park.
Section D: Dilijan - Sevan
40.78mi
I spent the night at the lovely Lake Gosh. There were many signs mentioning bears and wolves in the park. As the night set, the forest came alive. Late, loud grunting and sniffing noises surrounded my tent. I was unable to shoo away their creators. I eventually got up to be faced with boars who finally decided it was time to leave for the rest of the night.
The next day was cruisey and I walked to Sevan. On the way I was accompanied for a few miles by a trio of friendly dogs I named Floppy, Jackal and Cal. In Sevan I met a pair of German section hikers who had also walked with the trio the previous day before the dogs turned home. It was on this homeward journey they met me and had another brief adventure. In Sevan, I had a lovely meal in a local restaurant and stayed in a cheap guesthouse. I resupplied late ready for the next stretch.
Section E: Sevan - Yeghegnadzor
98.77mi
I left Sevan with a particularly heavy pack. The food carry was long and nicely coincided with the longest water carry of the route. Water ended up not being a problem, for the first section of the climb into the Gegham mountains, numerous farmers passed in tractors along 4x4 tracks offering lifts, which I declined, as well as water and even icecreams. I spent the night of day 9 at the Azhdahak Campsite watching the stars. I was mostly completely alone until I arrived at the Crossway campsite in Yeghegnadzor on day 12. I resupplied with my usuals in Yeghegnadzor and ate as much real food as I could at a local restaurant before bed.
Section F: Yeghegnadzor - Sisian
98.72mi
The first section was super hot, super dry and super steep. All compounded by a large food carry. In this section I tried resting during the day and walking into the night to much avail. As the sun set, vipers would increasingly populate the footpath and bears would commonly be spotted in the forested sections. It was also in this section I had my first running with pine martens. These jokers, while admittedly quite cute, were possibly the most problematic animals of the trail. At night they would routinely attempt to steal my limited rations. When shoo’d away they would also hiss as if I was the problematic neighbour.
On day 15 the heat nearly ended the trip. I stayed at the campsite in Artavan after 11mi’s hiked, by far the shortest day of the trip. I was fed dinner by a local grandmother and her food combined with copious amounts of water got my legs moving again and kept the trek going. Although it was a close call, my heartrate was through the roof. My memory of the next section isn’t the clearest after the heat exhaustion and I made no notes. My adventure hat which had been on many trips with me blew away near Sisian as a final kick when I was down. RIP hatty!!
At midday on day 17 I arrived in Sisian, ate a full pizza and resupplied.
Section G: Sisian - Kapan
60.16mi
Leaving Sisiian the end was in sight and everything felt on track again. The trail was hot but not too hot. There were more towns than I had expected along the route and consuming more calories made some of the difficult sections feel easier than they possibly were. I arrived at the hilltop campsite Bekh at a reasonable time on day 19. The owners were lovely and I ate as much as I could of their homecooked food as possible to get myself set for the last push. By eating more from convenience stores in the last section I had some spare noodles combined with a couple of dehydrated meals I had carried as emergency food for the whole route. This meant I didn't need to resupply in Kapan.
Section H: Kepan - Meghri
54.94mi
The last section was pretty slow and dry as highlighted in other hikers write ups. I had two days for the FKT and I just happily hiked all day trying to savour the last of the trail. I arrived in Meghri so dehydrated that my lips hurt to smile but I had done it and that was all that mattered. A Serbian man took my finishing photo and I went to a local convenience store for a couple of bottles of beer. I drank them quickly on a park bench before walking to my guesthouse and sleeping.