TR (2): Kayaking in the pontic and kackar mountains, Turkey (07/2012)
So, for me summer is finally over, back home and looking for new things to do. I thought I'd share a short report of my second trip to Turkey this year in order to distract myself from the grey skies and the bleak city outside.
Since my friend Chris was spending all summer around Turkey and Georgia and we had had great fun together kayaking and guiding a trip in May (http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...-May-June-2012), it seemed like the right thing to do to fly over for a second time, have a look at what is the left of the Coruh, and check out the other rivers in the area. Yet with the pressure of booking a flight increasing, the team diminished - no vacation here, no vacation there, and Mathes landing a double in the bike park on his lower arm instead of his wheels.
But, finally, at least Mathes recovered and I wasn't all by myself. Still, with Chris being busy guiding, we were rather limited in terms of running harder stuff, especially more continous rivers. In the end we decided to just go easy, save our hucking ambitions for another time and put our priorities on landscape and scenic runs.
Booking a flight was the next challenge - Turkish airlines first confirmed they can transport our boats, then we booked, then they told us that they can only transport boats shorter than 240cm inside Turkey. Hours of waiting in loops on the phone and several fruitless conversations later we decided to take our chances and simply declared both our boats (ZET Raptor and the big Jackson Fun Runner) to be 240cm. Turns out I didn't even have to pay for my boat in Vienna, both boats arrived without any trouble whatsoever, and on the way back none of us payed for the boats. Lesson learned.
Arriving in Trabzon together after meeting up on the stopover in Istanbul, we were instantly picked up by our car rental guys and started loading the boats. Ten minutes later the phone rings, it's Chris telling us we should get going because they are waiting for us at the put in for a second run. We put the pedal all the way down, riding the coastal highway east, and about two hours later we arrived at the Firtina. Tired but really excited to get wet, we got into the boats..
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It's a classic rafting run, crystal clear water, wonderful fast Chilean style class 3 and 4 rapids with holes to avoid or to bomb through. Lining the valley are tea plantations on steep mountainsides.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-d...5/IMG_1693.jpg
http://www.tgrmedia.com/i.ashx?w=800...ap_730X550.jpg
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After the run, we set up camp on the bank of a tributary.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-L...9/IMG_1456.CR2
The next day, we repeated the Firtina, but this time we paddled down into the black sea. Halfway down the river we were invited to tea by very nice local rafters.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-B...5/IMG_1702.jpg
It's an amazing experience to start out in the mountains and, without any flat water or river regulations, paddle right into the warm sea, small waves rolling in, watching the sunset.
After kayaking, well deserved food:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-N...8/IMG_1468.CR2
