Mantash Waterfall

• peaksam June 22, 2025October 20, 2026

On Sunday, June 22, 2025, we were on Mount Aragats, but this time not to climb a summit. Instead, we walked to the Mantash Waterfall. Coming from the Yerevan side, we found ourselves in the cold, misty embrace of Aragats. Lake Kari was calm, like a flat mirror without a single ripple. The mist wrapped around the water, now rising, now sinking, and it seemed as if the lake itself was breathing invisibly. At first we couldn’t see anything because of the fog. Even when the mist cleared, the peaks of Aragats were still in the clouds. The foothills were covered in spring green, dotted with small, bright flowers, and in places with large patches of snow: the green and white together made nature even more beautiful. In all this, the silence was broken only by the laughter, chatter and footsteps of the children’s hiking group. We walked through the mountains in a long, colorful line, like one big, beautiful moving thread. Right by the lake, a playful white dog joined us and kept frolicking along the line: running ahead, showing up behind, and sometimes quietly stopping to look into the mist. Gradually, some of the children (not all of them) began to feel unwell. This is a result of the lack of oxygen at such altitudes, which causes symptoms of mountain sickness. Crossing mountain streams and “glacier fields”, we reached the Mantash Waterfall, which opens up a very impressive view of the Mantash Reservoir. The waterfall was full of water, falling from a height in clean, foamy streams that sparkled in the sunlight. Its roar was so loud that it drowned out our conversations. After resting and enjoying nature, we set off on the way back. The whole time, Aragats seemed to be watching over us: breathing with clouds, speaking through flowers and following us from the depths of its silence.

• Route: Mantash Waterfall
• Hike length: 16 km
• Elevation gain: 650 m
• Participants: 30
• Youngest participant: 7 years old