Baghaberd is a 12th century fortress located 14 km outside of Kapan. Baghaberd became the capital city of the Kingdom of Syunik in 1103 after Kapan was destroyed. Thousands of Armenian treasures and manuscripts from all the monasteries of Syunik had been gathered in the fortress until 1170, when the Seljuk Turks managed to capture the fortress. It's for this reason that the village that is located at base of the trail, near the fortress, is called 'Giratagh' which can be translated as “buried manuscripts”.
The first portion of this 1.5 km hike follows a winding road with broken asphalt to Giratagh Village. The second part is in the deep, steep forest, where you should very carefully follow the signs. It is also possible to access the cache and the fortress by following a zig-zag road next to water pipes. This will lead you to an electricity pole from which it is only few more meters to the cache from which the fortress is clearly visible.
I have written an extensive hint and added a photohint for this one so you don't have to wander around too long if you don't want to.
These six caches were placed during one week at the end of April and beginning of May 2017 around Kapan by nudle_cz with consent and supervision of ARK Armenia whose members and volunteers will also provide necessary maintenance for the caches:
GC7502K
GC7500E
GC7500T
GC7501N
GC754D8
GC754DT
We hope you will like the caches and the places where we have hidden them. Southern Armenia is an amazing region to visit for anyone who likes beautiful and unspoilt nature, mountains, historical sites and friendly people. Share your adventures and opinions with us in the cache logs. Have a good trip!
