Hiking & Volunteering Experience in Armenia

Ever since college, I have always been fascinated by hiking and nature. My weekends are always filled with some sort of hiking trip. In 2023, when I came to Armenia for a 2 week visit - I did my first hiking - from village of Odzun to Kobayr. My tour guide Arman brought his drone and took aerial shots of my hiking the side of the cliff which I have been showing off to any person that asks about my trip to Armenia.

Volunteering with Trails for Change

This time around, I was blessed with an unforgettable opportunity to volunteer with Trails for Change (TFC) NGO to do trail maintenance on the Transcaucasian Trail (TCT) – from Gosh Lake to village of Khachardzan and village of Semyonovka.

TFC has been working on trail building, maintenance and restorations for many years. I joined this team to finally be able to give back to Armenia in a meaningful way. I wanted to be able to connect with my homeland. I am a physician by training and will be volunteering in the healthcare field but I was very excited that BR team allowed me to also participate in this project as well.

The Team

I was joined by 7 local Armenian volunteers, 3 crew members, 2 organizers and six other international volunteers – 2 more from the United States, three from United Kingdom, one from Austria. Each one of them had their own unique story of how they were able to discover the international volunteer program.

We all worked together from the first day when we met. We hiked from Gosh village to Gosh lake are we set up our camp in the middle of a rain storm. Our main task included doing the ground work of the trail maintenance by using various tools.

It felt very rewarding when we would see hikers from all over the world – Germany, France, Belgium, Norway – pass through the trail as we would work on it.

We also had a lot of bonding time over campfire with singing and sharing stories, cooking together, and exchanging cultural activities, which also included a lot of traditional Armenian dancing.

Emotional Moments

The most emotional moments for me happened in the middle of the week. I woke up from my tent, feeling very emotional. I was thinking of my grandparents – who have all passed away. On July 10 was the birthday of my namesake Rafik Mughnetsyan. I was also thinking of my maternal grandparents who I lost within the last three years.

Simbad and Hasmik repatriated from Iran to Armenia in 1968 where my mom was born. The song “Kele Lao Քելե լաո” came to mind – whose lyrics translate to:

Let’s go my son. Let’s go to our homeland.
Our father is there, our mother is there.
They are crying sweetly and in a pained voice.
How can we not go to our homeland?
Let’s go my son. Let’s go to our homeland.

I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. I sat outside my tent and did a meditation to ground myself and remind myself that I am in Armenia now and I am blessed to be working and volunteering on an important project.

Reflection

TCT brings in a lot of hikers and tourists to Armenia. And it was magical to see how all these people from all over the world were traveling thousands of kilometers to come, to love and to be part of Armenian nature.