Monday, May 15, 2006

offroad trip to Cardhak, Korce region, Albania - MAY '06

I finally got my new Continental TKC 80's installed on my bike (thanks Tonia for shipping them!) so I can now do the offroad riding in Albania that I have only been able to dream about thus far. I took off Saturday afternoon and headed to the hills on a trail that we had hiked on months before through the snow for a camping trip. I new by this time, with most the snow melted, I would be able to travel up the mountain farther. I had heard rumors that up the road there was a lot of beautiful scenary but no one really was certain. I saw some 4x4 tracks in the mud so I started following them. The scenary was amazing. The road was a great time, lots of mud, lots of rocks and fallen trees that made for a great ride and allowed me to improve at my offroad riding skills (I guess I should mention a broken mirror from dropping the bike on one difficult incline- next time I will remove the mirrors!). Along the road I reached a part known as Goat Rock. During communist time, the government built weapons/arms depots and bunkers all over Albania, many hidden away far up in remote mountains: Goat Rock is one of those places. During the '97 uprising, all of these depots were looting thus they are all entirely empty. As I continued up this road, I ended up finding myself at a place I have been longing to get to but no one was ever certain how to get there, Cardhak, the highest of the mountain peaks surrounding the city of Korce. At the top of this mountain one can see antennas and a small military building and a road leading to them but because there are so many mountains, knowing which forrest road leads there is hard to find out. Now we know! Hope you enjoy the pics!

road to Cardhak with Goat Rock in background



Goat Rock - road to Cardhak

Goat Rock 1

Goat Rock motor 2

Goat Rock - Sean

Goat Rock arms depot

Goat Rock

Goat Rock - unfinished arms depots

Goat Rock - backside

backside of Goat Rock & motor

Goat Rock - tree

road to Cardhak - the greenery 1

road to Cardhak - the greenery 2

road to Cardhak - overlooking valley of Korce and the

top of Cardhak - overlooking Devoll and road to Greece

Cardhak antennas

the return from Cardhak facing backside of Goat Rock

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