Nare Mkrtchyan

What’s your profession? What do you do?

I am a philologist. I work as a translator and teach at the Russian-Armenian University.

When and how did you decide to take part in a hiking trip for the first time? How your first hiking trip was and what kinds of emotions did you experience?

My first hike was in May of 2011. We went to the Khosrov waterfalls. The emotions were unforgettable; at the end I almost cried and did not want to walk. After that, I realized what I was missing in my life.

What has changed in your life since you started hiking?

I grew up in Russia, and when I came back to Armenia, I always felt like a foreigner, a bit of a stranger. But after participating in hikes I realized that all of Armenia is mine.

What do mountains give you, what are you looking for there?

They give me the opportunity to feel like a child. I can be frivolous, spontaneous, a little bit silly and infinitely happy.

Is there a creation that you associate with mountains or hikes?

Even as a student who did not participate in hiking trips, I was rewriting this poem by Byron on the first page of all my notebooks:

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

There is society, where none intrudes,

By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:

I love not Man the less, but Nature more,

From these our interviews, in which I steal

From all I may be, or have been before,

To mingle with the Universe, and feel

What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.”

What was your most memorable hiking trip and what made it special?

Discovery of Hell’s Canyon and Nare Waterfall. I think there is no need to explain why.

Are there destinations that you haven’t climbed yet but have a desire to do it?

At the moment, my dream is Mount Kusanats. I also have a lifelong dream – Lake Kaputan.

Which are those three words that can describe your feelings during hiking trips?

It is difficult to choose only three words.

What do you think, who are hikers?

My kind of people.

How did you appear in ArmGeo club?

Even before the club was founded, I regularly went on hiking trips with Tigran. And when ArmGeo was created, I automatically became a member of the club.

What advice do you have for those who want to start to go hiking but don’t dare to get out of their comfort zone and do that?

Hiking is not just an entertainment, during which you can spend your time as you want. This is a different lifestyle, more natural than our life in the city. Now life in city became more familiar to us, and in order to be in nature we need to make efforts, show courage. This is my subjective opinion, but I think that a person who doesn’t go on hikes misses something important, he does not see and does not perceive a big part of a rich and interesting life. Therefore I can advise one thing: go on a hike, find out what it is, and only after that make a decision whether you like hiking or not.

Members of ArmGeo Club