There are only a few tour organizers that run treks to the Mt. Kackar (pronounced Kashkar) area in a remote region of eastern Turkey near the Russian border. A shame because this region is filled with green meadows, wildflowers, ghost villages, lakes, densely wooded forests, Georgian and Armenian ruins. Well-established mule trails lead between highland villages and alpine pastures yaylas, and higher level rocky paths through the rugged Pontic Alps along Turkey’s Black Sea coast. The steep slopes and ravines make communication difficult and this isolation has helped to preserve the area.

The Turkish people in the Pontic Alps still wear colorful local dress (women wear brightly colured scarves) and lead a nomadic life. The tribal Laz and Yuruk people move their cows and sheep from the lower valleys to the fertile high pastures where they live for three to four months in summer camps of wooden huts and stone houses with rooms burrowed into the earth. The Laz were seafaring people who speak a language related to the Irish! How strange… And, there are isolated pockets of Armenians and Georgians, both Christian and Muslim, who still speak their own language.

Turkey map
This particular trek was operated by Wilderness Travel many years ago and is unfortunately not in their list of trips this year. You can hope that Wilderness Travel will eventually resume this trip but until then, contact: KE Adventure Travel, Kackar Mountain Tours, Terra Anatolia and Mountain Travel Sobek. MT-S ran a trip similar to this in 2009. Give them a call to see what their future plans are. Mt. Kackar is the highest mountain in the Pontic Alps and rises to almost 12,893′. Our trek was supposed to have an opportunity to climb Mr. Kackar for splendid views to the Black Sea and into Russian but this didn’t happen.
This trip also included a few days in Istanbul, three days to explore and hike in the Cappadocia area before flying to Erzurum for the drive into the Pontic Alps to begin the 7-day trek. The Trek would end in Trabzon on the Black Sea with a flight back to Istanbul.

Perhaps by reading the subsequent entries on this fantastically beautiful and not-that-difficult trek, you’ll understand why it still ranks in my mind as one of the best treks in the world. Envision an isolated Switzerland. Pristine. Jagged Peaks. Meadows rampant with wildflowers. Friendly nomadic people and not another soul in sight but our group. Priceless…