Hike #2

The start of today's hike featured hulks of rusted machinery instead of wild flowers.

Our group drove north of Dushanbe toward Varzob and turned east to Buvak for the start of the hike. The Kharangon region has limestone deposits that the Soviets used for cement. 

It wasn’t clear if this site was still sending buckets of rock by aerial conveyor to the cement factory below, but there were still workers doing something here, unlikely though it might seem. 

  In fact, our group shared the road with quite a few trucks, carrying rocks, large and small.

 That might not seem ideal for a hike. Nevertheless, the six mile walk was good exercise (without streams to hop over or fall into like last time)...

  ...the rocks were interesting...

  ...and there were beautiful views too:

 

We enjoyed seeing the greening signs of spring:

and the sheep did too:

Here’s another series of photos. The old and abandoned:

View from near the top of our hike

The old and still chugging along:

Dushanbe cement factory (sorry, not my photo)--

In fact, “chugging” more than we might like!

This is the kind of photo I take--from the window of our van driving by

All in all, a good reminder of some biblical truth--God can "shatter the power of foreign kingdoms" (Haggai 2:22).