Aug 15

Aug 15 Hot Air Balloons and Ultrarunning Afternoons - Cappadocia, Turkey

I had seen plenty of pictures of Cappadocia before visiting, I think mainly as backgrounds on airplane entertainment systems. Most of them involved hot air balloons floating above the unusual rock formations at sunrise. It is one of those places that is immediately recognizable, even if you have never been there.

However, few know that the trails are equally as amazing as the hot air balloon rides.

Over two days, I ran about 25 miles with nearly 4,500 feet of elevation gain through the valleys around Uçhisar and Göreme. There were miles of singletrack, narrow canyons, cave churches, fairy chimneys, old homes carved into the rocks, and seemingly endless side trails heading into other valleys. I also managed to fit in the hot air balloon ride Cappadocia is famous for, which gave me an entirely different view of the places I had been running the day before.

Getting to Cappadocia

I flew from Istanbul to Nevşehir Kapadokya Airport on an early Saturday morning flight and had arranged a car through my hotel. From the airport, it was about a 40-minute drive to Uçhisar.

Cappadocia is a region rather than a single city, with most visitors staying in or around Göreme and Uçhisar. I chose Uçhisar and stayed at Argos in Cappadocia, which ended up being an almost perfect location for the weekend.

The hotel is built into the hillside using a collection of old stone buildings, caves and tunnels. More importantly for me, both of my runs started directly from the property. There was no need to drive somewhere to find a trailhead. I could walk out of the hotel and within a couple of minutes be descending into the valley.

There are several other hotels in this part of Uçhisar, and I would recommend staying in this area. It is considerably quieter than Göreme, but still close enough that I could run there. Argos also overlooks Pigeon Valley, including much of the area I would run through that first afternoon. At night, parts of the opposite side of the valley are illuminated, which made the location even more interesting after spending the afternoon down there.

A few hours after arriving, I headed out for the first run.

Pigeon Valley

The trail started from a path directly in front of the spa at Argos. I ran the route counterclockwise, immediately descending from Uçhisar into Pigeon Valley.

One of my first surprises was how much vegetation there was at the bottom of the valley. From above, Cappadocia looks extremely dry and exposed. Once I descended, there were trees, grasses and sections of fairly thick vegetation. In a few places, the trail was even wet and muddy despite there not having been rain for about a week. Thorny bushes are also frequent.

The trail itself constantly changed. Some sections were narrow singletrack, while others opened onto wider dirt paths. I would run along the bottom of the valley for a while, climb into a more exposed section, and then drop back into the vegetation. There were also many side trails.

The fairy chimneys and other rock formations also look completely different when you are running among them instead of viewing them from above. I started noticing openings cut into the rocks everywhere. A doorway would be carved into one formation, then a window would appear another 20 or 30 feet above it. In other places, entire walls of rooms were visible where part of the surrounding rock had eroded away. People have been carving homes, churches and monasteries into the soft volcanic rock here for centuries, and much of the area around Göreme is now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

There were also a few makeshift stops along the route where people were selling water, Coke and snacks. However, bring cash if you want to get anything. These small stands don’t take cards. I would still carry enough water to be self-sufficient, but having cash gives you the option of buying additional drinks or food along the way.

By the time I climbed back toward Uçhisar, I had covered around 10 miles and already had a much better appreciation for Cappadocia than I had from seeing pictures of it. Little did I know that the next day I would get to see where I ran from the air.

A 4 A.M. Alarm

My alarm went off at 4 a.m. for a 4:20 pickup from Royal Balloon Cappadocia.

Normally, a 4 a.m. alarm on one of these trips means I am getting ready to run. This time, I was heading out for the hot air balloon flight that is Cappadocia's best-known experience. The entire operation was run like clockwork. We first drove to a central staging area where they had a small breakfast waiting. About 15 minutes later, everyone was separated into groups and put into different vans for the drive out to the balloon launch sites.

There were around 120 balloons being prepared across the area at roughly the same time. Everyone was working toward getting into the air before sunrise, so there was activity everywhere. When we pulled up next to our balloon, it was lying on its side and being inflated by huge fans. Once enough air was inside, the pilot started firing the burners. Between the fans and the blasts from the burners, it was incredibly loud. Every few seconds, another nearby balloon would suddenly glow as its burners fired. Within a short time, our balloon was upright, everyone climbed into the basket, and we slowly left the ground.

Cappadocia From the Air

My favorite part of the flight was recognizing places I had run the afternoon before.

From the trail, Pigeon Valley had felt like a series of turns, climbs and narrow passages through the rocks. From above, I could suddenly see how the valleys fit together and how many other trails extended away from the route I had taken. There were valleys branching into other valleys, dirt paths crossing ridges and trails disappearing between formations far beyond where I had run. I had spent hours down there the previous afternoon and had barely scratched the surface.

At one point, we also flew past Argos. Less than 24 hours earlier, I had been standing at the hotel looking down into the valley. Now I was looking back at the hotel from a balloon.

Around us were balloons at almost every altitude. Some were high above the valleys, while others floated close to the rock formations. More continued rising from the ground as the sun came up. Occasionally, one would glow bright orange as its pilot fired the burners. Watching the sunrise from the air was as good as I had hoped it would be.

About 50 minutes after taking off, we started descending. The landing was almost as impressive as the flight itself. A pickup and trailer were positioning themselves beneath us while the pilot coordinated with the ground crew. Somehow, he brought the basket down directly onto the trailer. Somewhat mind-blowing that they are able to land a balloon that precisely.

After landing, the crew brought out champagne, continuing the tradition associated with the early days of ballooning. The first untethered human balloon flight took place in France in 1783, and champagne later became part of the traditional post-flight celebration. The National Balloon Museum has more on the history of those early flights.

We were back at Argos at 6:55 a.m. Breakfast opened at 7. Perfect timing for getting in a long run.

Back to the Trails

I knew I was going to be out for at least five hours, so I ate a lot at breakfast, especially the pastries. Afterward, I went back to my room, packed my backpack with water, extra sunscreen, food and my normal safety kit, and headed back outside.

I started on the same trail as the day before, descending from the hotel into Pigeon Valley. This time, I turned left near the bottom and headed toward Göreme, retracing a few miles of my previous run before continuing farther east. Eventually, Göreme appeared ahead, and the transition from trail to town happened fairly quickly. One minute I was running through the valley, and a short time later I was passing hotels, restaurants and tour companies.

I ran through Göreme toward the main network of trails and valleys beyond town, where I had mapped an approximately 8.5-mile loop before heading back toward Uçhisar. The run had many of the same characteristics as the day before, just more of everything. There was plenty of elevation gain, exposed sections, long stretches of singletrack and descents into valleys filled with vegetation.

Some of my favorite sections were the narrow canyons. The trail would suddenly squeeze between high rock walls with only a narrow strip of sky above me. A few of the steeper sections even had ladders to help get down. Along the route were several places where churches and rooms had been dug directly into the rock. Some were far more elaborate than I expected, with multiple openings, carved columns and arches. In places, paintings were still visible on the walls and ceilings.

There are many unusual formations around Cappadocia, but once I started running through them, I became more interested in the evidence of the people who had lived inside them. I would stop and look at a window cut high into the rock and wonder how someone originally reached it. Then I would notice another opening above that one.

The landscape itself is unusual enough. Add what people carved into it over hundreds of years and it becomes difficult not to constantly stop and look around.

Despite being in one of Turkey's best-known tourism areas, I passed surprisingly few people once I was away from the main sites. There were occasional hikers, but there were also long sections where I had the trail to myself.

Eventually, my loop brought me back into Göreme. By then, I had been out for several hours and was getting low on water, so I stopped at Gurme Kebab and bought a Coke and several bottles of water. While I didn’t try the food, they were especially friendly!

I rested for a few minutes before heading back toward Pigeon Valley and Uçhisar. There were more small stands selling drinks and snacks along this part of the route, but I had no cash, so I passed them by. By the time I reached the hotel, I had covered about 15 miles with roughly 3,000 feet of elevation gain for the day.

Two days is definitely enough time to get in some epic runs along with a hot air balloon ride. In between all of the adventure, the restaurants, pool and spa at Argos were also great places to spend some time.