Candy Cane Mountains

On the dry hills near Khizi, marine sediments have been tilted and eroded into slopes of pale rock cut through by narrow red bands, the colour coming from iron in the layers. Seen from the road the effect is of stripes running diagonally across the hillsides, which is where the informal name comes from. There is no site as such: you pull off the road, walk up a slope and look. The surrounding country is semi-desert, treeless and open, quite unlike the mountains further north.

What you'll find

• The striped slopes - pale rock cut by narrow red iron-rich bands running diagonally.
• The badlands - eroded gullies and ridges across the whole area, not just one hill.
• The semi-desert - dry open country with no trees, sharply different from the Caucasus behind it.
• The light - the colour strongest at low sun in the early morning and late afternoon.

When to go

March to May and September to November are the comfortable seasons. Summer is severely hot with no shade. The red is strongest in low light and washes out under a high sun.

What to expect

There is no infrastructure at all: no parking, no path, no facilities, and the turn-off is unmarked. The walk up is on loose ground. Photographs online are frequently saturated well beyond what the hills actually look like.

Nearby

Beshbarmag mountain is further along the same road, and Altyaghach National Park is inland.

Key facts