Kaçkar Mountains National Park: Glaciers and Lakes Above the Black Sea

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1. What is Kaçkar Mountains National Park?
2. How do you get to Kaçkar Mountains National Park?
3. When is the best time to visit Kaçkar Mountains National Park?
4. What is the history of Kaçkar Mountains National Park?
5. What is Kaçkar Mountains National Park famous for?
6. What can you do at Kaçkar Mountains National Park?
7. Frequently asked questions about Kaçkar Mountains National Park
8. What do the official records say about Kaçkar Mountains National Park?

What is Kaçkar Mountains National Park?

Kaçkar Mountains National Park protects the highest part of the mountains that run along Türkiye’s eastern Black Sea coast. Declared on 31 August 1994, it covers 52,970 hectares of granite peaks, glacial valleys, lakes, forest and summer plateaus on the border between Rize and Artvin. Its highest point, Kaçkar summit, reaches 3,932 metres.

The 2002 inventories of both provinces describe the range in the same words: lying between Rize and Hopa, with sharp glaciers visible all year, deep-blue lakes, forests in every shade of green, rushing streams and a thousand kinds of plants and animals, it looks like a natural park. They note that it is one of the rare places in Türkiye where traces of Pleistocene glaciation can be seen together with present-day glaciers.

The northern side, facing the Black Sea, is wet and densely forested; the southern side, facing the Çoruh valley, is drier and sunnier. Walkers move between the two over high passes, sleeping in plateau villages and camps.

How do you get to Kaçkar Mountains National Park?

From the north (Rize): The inventory calls this the easiest approach. Drive from Trabzon or Rize along the coast to Ardeşen and up to Çamlıhemşin, about 75 km from Trabzon via Rize according to the inventory, then continue 17 km to Ayder. A road continues from Ayder to the plateaus of Aşağı and Yukarı Kavrun. For the western peak of Verçenik, the approach is from Çat and Başhemşin. Rize–Artvin Airport at Pazar is the closest airport.

From the south (Artvin): The southern route starts in the Barhal (Altıparmak) valley above Yusufeli and climbs to the villages of Yaylalar (Hevek) and Olgunlar. The old town of Yusufeli was flooded by the reservoir of the Yusufeli Dam in 2022–2023 and its residents moved to a new town nearby, so check current road conditions and transport before you set out. On this side, Erzurum Airport and, via Artvin, Rize–Artvin Airport are the nearest airports.

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When is the best time to visit Kaçkar Mountains National Park?

The inventory names August and September as the best months for summer climbs, and February and March for winter ascents, which are for experienced mountaineers only. In July the plateaus are lived in and full of flowers, though snow can still lie on the highest passes. The inventory stresses the difference between the seasons: climbing in summer is as easy as climbing in winter is hard. In winter, snow fills the valleys, covers the plateaus and buries the houses, and the slopes of the glaciers are always prone to avalanches. Whatever the month, expect fog on the northern side, often building by midday.

What is the history of Kaçkar Mountains National Park?

The Kaçkar have been grazing land for centuries. Shepherds from the Rize valleys and from the Çoruh side drove their flocks up to the plateaus each summer, and the inventory notes that the sharp rise in height over short distances produced a chain of plateau settlements whose way of life is now one of the region’s main attractions. These settlements, it says, impress visitors with both their harmony with nature and their architecture.

In the 1990s the state recognised the range for both conservation and tourism. Ayder became a tourism centre in 1987, the national park was declared in 1994, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s mountain tourism project ranked the Kaçkar, at 3,932 metres, among its first-priority high mountain areas. Plateau tourism and trekking have grown steadily since, and helicopter skiing has been offered from Ayder since 2004.

What is Kaçkar Mountains National Park famous for?

• Glacial landscape. Cirques, moraines, glacial valleys and small glacial lakes near the summits, with snowfields that last through the summer.
• Lakes. Büyük Deniz Gölü, at 3,384 metres, is described as the highest glacial lake in Türkiye; Tober, Ağsar and Verçenik lakes are also popular goals.
• Wildlife. Brown bear, lynx, wolf, roe deer, wild goat and marten, with golden eagles and vultures overhead, and an important bird migration route.
• Plateau life. Summer villages of stone and wood where families still bring their animals up from the valleys.

What can you do at Kaçkar Mountains National Park?

Climb Kaçkar summit from the north. The inventory describes the northern route: final preparations in Ayder, then by car if you wish to Aşağı and Yukarı Kavrun, an hour and a half apart on foot. From Yukarı Kavrun a two-hour walk reaches Öküzçayırı (Boğaçayırı), around 2,900 metres, where you camp. Kaçkar Kavrun, the highest peak, rises to the south of the camp and is reached in a 7–9 hour climb.

Climb from the south. The southern route runs from Yusufeli through Barhal and Yaylalar to Olgunlar and on to the main camp at Dilberdüzü, an easy five-hour walk from Yaylalar. The summit is north of the camp and cannot be seen from it; the inventory notes you have to climb the hills south and southwest of the camp for half an hour to see it. The round trip to the summit takes 9–10 hours, and in August and September crampons and ice axes are not needed.

Cross the range. A trans-Kaçkar trek from the Rize side to Artvin takes about five to seven days. Other classic routes include the Çat valley via Elevit, Tirovit and Palovit, and the Barhal valley across to the Altıparmak peaks.

Climb Verçenik. The inventory describes reaching Ortaköy from Çat in about four hours, camping at İşmer plateau, and climbing Verçenik (about 3,710 m), which rises close to the camp. The route passes the ruins of Zilkale and the village of Kolona.

Walk the plateaus. Without going high, you can walk between Ayder, Pokut, Sal, Elevit and Amlakit, staying in guesthouses or camping.

Frequently asked questions about Kaçkar Mountains National Park

What do the official records say about Kaçkar Mountains National Park?

The Fırtına Stream to the west of the Kaçkar Mountains and the Hemşin Stream to the east are covered by rich flora. This vegetation has the character of a karstic flora, and both the lower and upper flora contain endemic species. The Kaçkar Mountains are one of the rare places in our country where traces of Pleistocene glaciers can be seen together with present-day glaciation. In this area, together with many glaciers, there are glacial lakes, glacial valleys, cirques and moraines.

The geological structure, made up generally of granite and granitic rocks, shows the deep effects of the Alpine orogeny. The Kaçkar Mountains, also rich in fauna, are home to the wolf, bear, boar, fox, wild goat, deer, marten, jackal and wild fowl. In the Kaçkar Mountains the rapid increase in height over short distances has led to the appearance of plateau settlements, and plateau culture has thus come to the fore as an added value. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Rize Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)