The next day, the Traveler plans to just follow the road to Armenia's capital, Yerevan. But as the road winds along the slopes high above the Azat River Valley, he gets an inspiring view of mighty Mt Ararat. He feels the mountain calling him to come closer. To come walk in its shadow.

"It should just take me a couple of hours to get down to the Ararat Valley ..." he tells himself.

Finally, as he takes a detour to the sloping village of Hatsavan, he finds a dirt path that continues straight down the valley... and decides to make a go for it, crossing his fingers and hoping he won't regret this decision.

The path continues for a mile or so... and then clearly dead ends at a farm house up ahead.

Should I go back or continue on? He wonders what people might think of an odd looking foreigner trudging through people's private land. This is former Soviet Union, he reminds himself... and Armenia has a pretty edgy relationship with neighboring Turkey, just a few miles away. Folks have a lot of reason to be suspicious...

But something (perhaps the laziness of not wanting to backtrack to the main road?) drives him on. He discreetly steps off the dirt road, and onto an open, treeless plateau, always with his sights set on Ararat up ahead.

The plateau abruptly ends at a steep drop of rock and loose dirt. He looks around until he finds a goat trail which he looks like it will take him to the bottom.

Sure enough. Now that he's down there, he suddenly feels completely cut off from human civilization. He finds himself in a dry, lifeless rocky gorge, untouched by humans.

It's a feeling he doesn't get often on his travels--as mostly his journeys take him through regions of the world where human footprints are clearly visible all around. He decides to just enjoy the moment, rather than worry too much about what there might be ahead.