Hiking the Foothills of Lankaran (Pictures!)

One of the best parts of living in Azerbaijan, in Lənkəran, specifically, is that the mountains are always nearby.  If you’re in Baku or in one of the regions directly west of the capital, such as Kürdəmir or Ağcabədi, the mountains are less accessible.  Any other region has fantastic access to the Greater or Lesser Caucasus Mountains or, here in the south, the Talysh Mountains.  Last time, we went for a hike up in Lerik, up high in the Talysh Mountains.  This time, Jeff, Shira, and I went for a hike in the foothills that start in Lənkəran.  These foothills are filled with steep, loopy ridges, flush with green after the rains of early March.  The leaves aren’t out yet, but buds are beginning to pop on the trees and there is a beautiful set of flowers crawling along the forest floor, pinks, purples, whites, and reds.  As I said before, the ridges are pretty steep and loopy, so much so that they remind me of hills out of a Dr. Seuss book.  This year is Azerbaijan’s Year of Tourism, and if you’re into environmental escapes, there’s very little more tourist-friendly than mountains of the Land of Fire:

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