Mount Aratat & the Wonders of Turkey Expedition Dispatch

July 23, 2012 – Our Inaugural Dispatch from Turkey!

Yesterday we flew from Istanbul to Ankara, the capital of Turkey. We then flew eastward to the city of Van, located on the shore of Lake Van.

It is remarkable to see what has occurred in Van in the short 8 months since last November's terrible 7.1 magnitude earthquake, which leveled the city

New multi-story buildings have already gone up. There are acres of neat tin-box houses where most people live now, many with a satellite dish for television attached.

We drove along the shores of Lake Van for many miles, with the beautiful green water off to our left from the car. The brown mountains along the Iranian border were off to our right.

We arrived for the night at Dogubeyazit, a Kurdish frontier town. It is not hard to imagine the history and commerce that have moved through these arid hills over the centuries.

Mount Ararat rises above us here in Eastern Turkey. This is a fascinating area; a crossroads of many cultures. It is truly a "frontier" - on the border with numerous political, linguistic and religious traditions. This mythic mountain overlooks it all. It’s easy to see why it has been so important in religion and literature.

This morning we waited only a short while for our permits to be issued. One quick stop to pick up some fresh bread for the trip and we were off to meet the mules. Our big bags were loaded on the animals and we had out small packs ready for today's hike. Our destination was Green Camp.

Melick, a local girl, joined us on our journey for a while today. Melick’s name means “Angel”.

We started hiking at 11:00am. After an hour we stopped at Melick’s family’s camp and had tea served by her mother. What an honor!

We arrived at Green Camp at 4:00pm - 10,900 feet above sea level. Just in time for afternoon tea! The snow of Ararat is visible above us.