National Geographic features an article, by Mark Johnson, about this year’s opening of the 514-mile (827 km) Armenian portion of the Transcaucasian Trail (TCT).
Eventually, the TCT will comprise a 1,800-mile (2,897 km) network linking Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.
Here’s the statement:
Despite its small size — just over 11,000 square miles (28,490 square km) — Armenia packs a wealth of scenery, wildlife, and early Christian history into its craggy terrain. It’s a hiker’s dream, with landscapes winding through the Caucasus Mountains from the arid Aras Valley, at the Iranian border, to lush forests rolling into Georgia.
But until recently, it was impossible to hike across the whole of this nation at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. “I remember looking out at these mountains and thinking, “my God, I really want to explore them”, says Tom Allen, a British adventurer and trail developer, who first visited the country in 2008. “But there were no hiking maps of the country, Google Maps was basically blank, and the Soviet military maps were classified”.
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