#desertsummer

As the whole world nervously scrutinizes Iran’s newly inaugurated president and speculates on the Islamic Republic’s future, life in Tehran goes on. The last day of Ramadan is a national holiday and every last Tehrani with the means to leave the city has filled every outbound highway to the brim. The summers here are disgustingly hot and dry with temperatures reaching 100˚ regularly and the only thing that lessens the pollution is rain—which just doesn’t happen this time of year. There are only a few places within reach to escape the nastiness, and one of them is the mountains.

There are a number of hiking paths that begin within the city limits, but the mountains extend well beyond the city. To get a real breath of fresh air, you have to go pretty far. About two and a half hours from Tehran is a famous path called the Vashi Stream (Tange-ye Vashi). Most of the path is in the stream itself, which has formed a thin canyon between the mountains that it runs through. To beat the holiday crowds we left the city at 4:30 am—no problem with a week, and counting, of jetlag. When we got there at 7, a group of at least 20 young guys were hardcore dancing in a circle to blasting Persian music.

We were the first people to hike on the trail, which was mostly through a frigid mountain stream. Our timing afforded us clear water and a solitary view of a huge carving in the canyon commissioned by a Persian king hundreds of years ago. We didn’t know how great our timing was until we were nearly back to the end. Then, a savage outburst of people came rushing through the canyon. Think pure Middle Eastern mayhem—women in chadors, men carrying sacks of god-knows-what, people on horseback, donkeys saddled with cargo. When we finally got out we literally had to fight the line of cars that had overtaken both lanes of the singular entrance to the park. After finally getting out, we drove by a line of cars that was at least three miles long.