We updated our Fish River information page based on Stingy Nomad’s recent trip report:
Some guide books says this is the toughest hike in Africa …
Fish River is definitely a hike to add to your must do hiking list.
Total distance of Fish River canyon hike 86km, the river itself is longer but due to many shortcuts your walking distance is about 14km less. …
trip report by besthike editor Rick McCharles
Panoramic viewpoint > Rose Valley > Çavuşin > Love Valley > Uchisar Castle > Pigeon Valley > Göreme
For hikers Göreme is probably the best base for Cappadocia. You can literally go off hiking in any direction. It’s got a good variety of restaurants and accommodation too.
On arrival in Göreme someone will hand you a FREE hiking map.
Most wander around with this thing … frequently getting lost. We could find no decent map nor guidebook in 2017.
For 6 days I hiked and cycled many of these trails, often lost, before finally deciding on what I felt was the best hike.
Ask the people at your accommodation in Göreme how to get to the Rose Valley Panoramic viewpoint. They’ll likely recommend a taxi and tell you the price. It’s about a 15 minute drive uphill from town.
There is a small entry fee for Panoramic viewpoint. The taxi may drop you outside the gates.
Here begins the Rose Valley trail. 5km to Caveusin. Most feel Rose is the best hike of all. And I’d agree.
Note that most of the trail signage is in Turkish.
There are many twisting and turning trail options. All are good but the very bottom of the valley might be muddy.
Rose is popular with cyclists, too.
Gorgeous, surreal scenery.
End of the trail is the village of Çavuşin.
If you haven’t yet seen enough Church caves — you might want to visit the World Heritage site Caveusin Kilisesi.
From Çavuşin you need to get to the Love Valley trailhead. Ask in town. It’s about 1km up the highway towards Goreme. (There are shortcuts.)
If walking the highway here’s the turn-off. These pink signs are the best of the admittedly poor and confusing trail signage in the area.
From there you can’t miss it.
Love Valley is the second best trail in my opinion.
Why they call it Love Valley I can’t imagine. 🙂
You can see here how those columns erode away from the valley wall.
It’s about 4km uphill to the end of the Love trail. If not lost you’ll finish at this tourist trap.
Bus tours stop and parade their unwilling passengers through the souvenirs.
Cross the highway and make your way up to the top of impressive Uchisar Castle. There’s a small entry fee.
Exiting on your way down ask for the Pigeon Valley trailhead. Look for these pigeons. It’s not difficult to find.
Some have reported seeing no pigeons in Pigeon Valley. We saw plenty.
Historically farmers built roosts for pigeons in the valley wall in order to later collect their guano.
It’s downhill to Göreme. A nice but often crowded walk.
Looking back to the Castle.
You might spend 4-6 hours including stops on this best hike.
Panoramic viewpoint > Rose Valley > Çavuşin > Love Valley > Uchisar Castle > Pigeon Valley > Göreme
click for larger version
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A shorter alternative would be to loop Pigeon to Love Valley. It’s a 2km walk up the highway back to Göreme, however.
We really need someone to put together a decent map of trails out of Goreme. Hundreds of thousands visit every year and almost all do some hiking.
related – Hike Bike Travel – 21 Photos That Will Make You Want To Hike In Turkey’s Rose Valley
Extreme hiking, scrambling and navigation.
The Escalante Overland Route (OLR) traverses the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, arguably the best, true wilderness in the lower 48. Compared to the millions who visit the Grand Canyon each year, the vast expanse of the Monument below Highway 12 has no trails and few people. Many of the canyons only see a few visitors a year, if any. You are unlikely to see another person on the route. …
Just to be clear, this is Steve Allen’s route. He describes an “Overland Route” in a few terse paragraphs at the end of a 1997 guide book. He presents it more of a challenge than a guide. In the ensuing 20 years it’s remained off the radar, with almost no known completions. In this sense, the OLR is closer to a “revived” route than a new one. Don Wilson, Andrew Skurka and I hope that this trip report will inspire more people to experience the wonders of the Escalante. …
A Very Different High Route – Escalante Overland Route
Zion National Park 2015
A canyoneering route.
… Hours after they entered Keyhole Canyon, dark skies unleashed fierce rains that sent water surging through the chasm, sweeping the seven people to their deaths Monday. …
Final image of 7 hikers swept away in Zion flood
Be careful out there.
Have you been following Peter McBride & Kevin Fedarko?
Epic Grand Canyon Hike: A 650-Mile Challenge (Part 1)
Epic Grand Canyon Hike: Frozen Shoes and Low on Food (Part 2)
I liked the 3rd and final instalment best.
Click PLAY or watch Thirst and Threats in the Godscape on YouTube.
trip report by site editor Rick McCharles
Story goes that ranchers in 1881 got lost in the deserts. Had no water. With their horses failing they spotted the limestone walls of one more canyon. This would be their last chance.
My guidebook author called this “one of my favourite spots in all of New Mexico”.
It has plenty of water year round. A rarity in this part of the world.
I started late in the afternoon as it was only 2.7 miles to the recommended campsites.
The light gorgeous.
Here’s that water that saved the ranchers.
Obviously this canyon floods at times.
I checked out the campsites. Too exposed. It was very, very windy.
Instead I hunkered down in this more sheltered spot.
Having forgotten my bear bag rope, I instead tossed my food bag up into a tree attached to a loose branch. Ingenious improvisation I thought … at the time.
The wind blew it down during the night. Happily my food stayed undisturbed lying on the ground.
Next morning I had the option to try to loop to famed Sitting Bull Falls.
But to save time I opted to backtrack from here, visiting the falls via the front door.
As you probably would guess, the Sioux medicine man Sitting Bull never visited New Mexico.
This is a great hike. Highly recommended. We’ve added it to our list of best hikes in North America.
trip report by site editor Rick McCharles
Note: We were there Jan 2017. Accessibility may change depending on what happens with Trump’s border wall promise.
The nature trail crosses Terlingua Creek, climbs several flights of ramps and stairs and then descends into the canyon along the Rio Grande. At this point the canyon walls loom over 1500 feet above the river below. …
In my haste to get over to the Canyon, I took off my shoes and waded Terlingua Creek.
That turned out to be a mistake. Everyone else found a way to cross keeping their feet dry.
Nobody regrets taking this short hike.
And I did finally get a photo of a desert cottontail. Or is it a small jack rabbit?
The best way to see the canyon is by raft or canoe. Local outfitters offer trips from one to three days in length when conditions allow, and river runners of intermediate or better skill level often go on their own. …
Even better for me would be the difficult Mesa de Anguila hike along the canyon rim. Next time. 🙂
related – Texas GOP congressman slams Trump plan for border wall
“Building a wall is the most expensive and least effective way to secure the border,” Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.) said in a statement …
