May 4, 2008: Ala Dag, Turkey

"Ooooh, the Ala Dag is, eh, um, ah, er, uh... mystical," said the beaming man, pleased with himself that he had managed to come up with a word in English that expressed exactly how he felt about the region. I had fallen into conversation with yet another kind Adana denizen, and he had become quite excited when I told him that my next destination was the Ala Dag. I simply smiled in response, not entirely convinced by his word choice. It was a stretch for me to imagine a place that was truly "mystical" after everything I've seen. Definitely a bit of travel snobbery on my part, but I have a pretty high standard these days after 10 months on the road. The other thing I should know by now is that the world has a limitless capacity to impress me. Let it be written here and now that I, too, find the Ala Dag to be mystical.

Last evening light on some peaks:Fantastic evening clouds:
A stunning stretch of rugged 3,000+ meter peaks that are part of the Taurus Mountains in west central Turkey, the Ala Dag is just the kind of region that should be crawling with outdoor enthusiasts, yet it is freakishly empty. It is pretty small -- roughly 25 kilometers wide and 35 kilometers long -- so it is reasonable to think that one might see a few fleece clad folks skipping about. Yet other than two Bulgarian climbers and a handful of Ukrainian mountaineers, the only other people we saw in our week there were a shepherd and the single ranger responsible for patrolling all of the Ala Dag.

Oh, and this guy on horseback (lower left):

Perhaps that was because we were on the early side of the tourist season. It was early Spring and we did get snowed on a couple of times, but there certainly was no tourist infrastructure to indicate heavy use of the area.

How's this for a campsite?:
It was, in a word, refreshing -- especially because the Ala Dag is the kind of place that inspires a person to take off and explore. Several people packed their gear and headed off into the mountains for two or three day treks, while others chose to tackle the nearby peaks as a dayhike or, in Nathan's case, a dayrun. All returned to camp completely pumped from their experiences.

Evening tall tales around the fire. Back L to R: George, Hannah, Juliet; Front: Henry, Theresa, Ruth, Rich, Danny:
Those of us that were lazy and stayed in camp could look forward to two things: the flock of sheep that ambled through our campsite daily and excellent sport climbing.

Ordinarily, a flock of sheep are not that interesting. They just mosey along grazing making everything look ridiculously pastoral while taking taste test nibbles of my tent. This flock, however, was protected by sheepdogs the likes of which I've never see before. Imagine if the offspring from the unlikely union of a polar bear and a rotweiller was outfitted with a homemade metal spike collar straight out of Mad Max.

Do not touch!:

The end result is rather intimidating -- even more so when combined with a booming bark, the speed of a greyhound, and the intelligence of a wolf (the dogs supposedly have some wolf blood in them). They are the most perfect sheep guards I've ever seen, and apparently need to be for occasional tangles with local wolves. Hot Rock being Hot Rock, however, we immediately befriended the semi-wild canines and ruined them from ever being effective work dogs again. Although one had to be careful of the spike collar when petting the beasts -- especially when they tried to thrust their head into one's lap -- they clearly loved the attention (something they likely rarely, if ever, experienced as a work dog) and often hung around camp long after the sheep flock had moved through.

Awww, can I keep him? He was even shaking my hand after a single petting session. It is unfortunate, though, that my hair makes this look like a bad photo from a cheesy 70's album:
It was tempting to sit around and dodge spiked collars all day, but the sport climbing called. Located in Kizikli Canyon just outside the boundaries of the Ala Dag, the limestone routes have all been put up by a local married couple who are in the process of developing the area.

Sector Five of the canyon where many routes are located:

The great thing is that they know what they are doing. The 100+ routes that are currently open are well bolted, cover a variety of grades from French 5c to 8a, and, most importantly, are interesting. They intend to publish a guidebook soon and I expect this area will become a must for sport climbers in Turkey.

Theresa flexes her forearms (she's nearly 40): Tazzy (aka Anna) crimping her way up a climb (she's nearly 50): And, of course, George still stretching for holds at 60: David, Ruth, and Diana topping out: Sam sporting retro neon orange shades. Will the 80's never die?: