I’ve loved off-roading and exploring nature in remote places for quite some time. But, my car—my beloved Peugeot 207, has always been a limiting factor in how far I could get. Fortunately, this all changed recently…
The Leadup to the Journey
The origins of this journey started essentially the day I acquired my second car, a two-door Mitsubishi Pajero iO. So far, I love this car and have zero regrets for choosing it over some other cars I was considering, including a Niva.
I had initially scheduled to start work late the day of my purchase—the 4th of February, 2025. However, the queue at the DMV was quite lengthy, so I arrived at work later than I expected. In fact, I was so late that I had to go to work with the new car, instead of parking it at home and then taking my usual walk to work.
The reason why I don’t like going to work by car is because of the parking situation on the street of my office. It’s always packed, with plenty of people often parking in absolutely diabolical ways. This includes not only parking 2-wide, essentially in the middle of the road, but also perpendicular to the street—halfway across the grass patch of the sidewalk.
Fortunately, when I arrived, there was a nice parking spot I was able to take. I could see my car from my desk, which actually led to a funny interaction at work—at least for me.
Short Office Tangent
Close to the end of the day, I was taking a break with my closest colleague. We were just admiring the views from our office. I don’t quite remember how, but we ended up talking about cars. In the middle of the conversation, a car went by on our street that had a really nice, bright red color. I pointed it out, saying that it was a cool color. We then started talking about car colors, sharing our opinions on bright ones specifically.
She said that she doesn’t really love bright, standout colors. I, on the other hand, am the opposite. There was a car parked on the street close to my Mitsubishi that had a color very similar to that of my Peugeot. I pointed it out, saying something like “I really like that car’s color, it’s very similar to my car”. Then, I pointed at my new car, without mentioning that it’s mine, and said “Even that car has a cool color, even though it’s not a deep, saturated one like my car’s”. At this point, I was doing my darndest to hold my composure as I thought to myself “Little does she know, that Mitsubishi is mine too”.
Anyway, I digress. Let’s return to our adventure from this short tangent—which I’m sure my colleague will find at least somewhat amusing if she ever reads this and knows that I’m talking about her, lol. I was eager to go adventuring with my new car from the moment I got it. So, shortly after arriving at the office, I wrote to my friends. I proposed going off-roading to my beloved destination—Black Wall. I suggested it mainly because I know the area quite well, and I knew that it wouldn’t be insanely challenging. Or at least so I thought at the time. Two of my friends and I planned to go on Sunday, the 9th of February.
The Beginning of the Journey: Meeting Up
We planned to meet early in the morning: at 9. Our meeting point of choice was the big supermarket near Azatutyan Avenue in Yerevan. This is the road that eventually turns to the highway going North out of the city, which we would later take to our destination. I showed up with the guys having arrived shortly before me in my friend Vardges’s car, a first gen Lexus GX.
I parked up and we talked about my new car for a bit, exploring around it. Can’t beat that feeling of something new, after all. Then, we went into the store, got some supplies like water and snacks, and set off. My friend Mher decided to ride in my Mitsubishi instead of the Lexus for the novelty of it.
Our destination at this time was the village of Fantan. This is where the trail to Black Wall starts. The drive was fairly boring, though Mher and I talked a lot about the new car. I shared my thoughts about how different it feels to my Peugeot.
Sometime in the future, I will write an article dedicated to this. Despite having almost the same footprint and very similar powertrains, both cars genuinely couldn’t feel more different. Stay tuned for that article sometime soon.
Back to our journey, we arrived at the trail in about half an hour and were ready to send it.
Hitting the Trail
At first, the landscape looked to be covered in decent—yet passable levels of snow. However, shortly after cresting the initial climb on the trail, we started hitting patches of really deep snow. I was out ahead and encountered several spots where my car couldn’t make progress anymore. As it later turned out, I should have stayed ahead the whole time because of one factor: my car’s relatively light weight.
Meeting New People on the Trail
As we were slowly making our way forward, we noticed another car approaching us from behind—a white Nissan Xterra. They seemed far more experienced at off-roading in the snow. Moreover, they seemingly had knowledge of which lines to take on this trail specifically. They blasted way past us and stopped on the side of the trail about a kilometer away from the village.
While we were still making our way towards them, we noticed a drone buzz over our cars. Turns out, the people in that Xterra were there to shoot drone footage. Once we got to their stopping point, we asked them about their footage and asked if we could get it too—to admire our off-roading, of course. The drone pilot shared his YouTube channel with us, which is full of drone flight videos from across Armenia. You can check him out here: Arthur Tangyan – YouTube.
The Road to Getting Stuck
Following our short interaction with the guys in the Xterra, we continued on our way. However, things got dicey really quickly. It was clear that basically no one had gone to Black Wall since it snowed. The trail wasn’t visible at all. After proceeding for a bit and realizing that the snow was really deep, I stopped to comprehend the right course of action. While Mher and I were discussing how we would turn around to head back, Vardges took what he thought was the line closest to the trail. This is where the immense heft of his car came into play.
Weighing close to double my Mitsubishi, his car dug into the soft, deep snow immediately and couldn’t move forward. Naturally, he tried reversing, which is where we realized we were in trouble: the Lexus was stuck.
Getting Stuck in Deep Snow
After a short and nerve-wracking turnaround, I parked my car on a shallower patch of snow. Mher and I got out and started our rescue operation.
At first, all we did was try pushing the Lexus back. However, this wasn’t effective at all. While we’re thinking of what to do, I step back to take a couple of photos. At the same time, the Xterra guys’ drone comes flying past us, capturing what I imagine was quite a cool scene.
To get the GX unstuck, we resorted to digging it out. Unfortunately, we weren’t all that prepared, so we didn’t have a shovel at hand. What we used instead was the handle of Vardges’s floor jack—essentially a couple of metal rods.
After a while of digging and pushing the car, we finally got the Lexus unstuck. We then decided that after this experience, it was best to continue our adventure somewhere with a bit less snow. I knew the area around my property in Arzakan had no snow from a visit the day prior, so that’s where we decided to head.
Before doing so, however, we stopped next to the guys in the Xterra on a flat part of the trail. Getting here was a bit of an adventure too, as the spot we got stuck at was preceded by a sizable valley. Knowing that I had to keep my momentum to not get stuck myself, I decided that it was time to actually send it. I put my foot to the floor and dedicated 100% of my concentration to sliding the car through the gentle left-hander towards the flat part of the trail. I have to say though, off-roading at high speed is an enormous amount of fun.
Once we stopped, we took a bunch of pictures of our cars, drank some much-needed cold coffee, and had some rest. We then set off on the second part of our adventure: the backup plan.
The Backup Plan: Away from the Snow
As mentioned earlier, we decided to go somewhere with a bit less snow. We wanted to continue sightseeing in nature, especially as it was a beautiful day with clear skies. After we reached the asphalt from the road to Black Wall, it took about 10 minutes for us to arrive at our new trail.
This location had zero snow on the ground. I’m not sure why or how, as it isn’t that far away from Fantan and Black Wall. It’s situated at a similar elevation as well—about 1,600 meters above sea level, instead of Fantan’s 1,800. Regardless, it was a perfect spot for continuing our adventure.
A Short Fill-up Detour
There was, however, one hiccup. Shortly after getting on the trail, my car shut off. Fortunately, it wasn’t for something serious. It has kind of a janky LPG system installed on it—without a fuel gauge. Using my petrol reserves, we drove to Charentsavan and got both gas and petrol, before returning to the trail.
Returning to the Trails
Once we came back, the final parts of our journey were largely uninteresting. We just drove on this fairly mild trail for a couple of kilometers, essentially taking a scenic route to the center of Arzakan. There was, however, one noteworthy encounter in the middle of the trail. We discovered an old, soviet memorial in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Check out its coordinates on Google Maps.
While the location of this memorial is interesting, what’s more intriguing is what it commemorates. Apparently, it honors someone who died from a lightning strike. They probably had their untimely demise at this location, hence why the memorial is so far away from any signs of civilization.
Preparing to Head Back
After we hit the asphalt in Arzakan, our adventure was near its completion. We decided to have a quick lunch stop before heading back, for which we went back to Charentsavan. We had shawarma at this joint in one of the town’s busiest intersections, at the western end of Khanjyan Street. It’s a surprisingly good place and I recommend you give them a try if you’re in the area. Here it is on Google Maps.
We set off on our return trip at about 16:00. The journey was largely uneventful, though the weather was quite strange. When we got on the highway, there were a few clouds in the sky and it was snowing lightly. After a bit of driving we encountered a pretty hefty snowstorm, with a decent amount of snow having settled on the asphalt. However, this didn’t last for long. As we descended from the mountains towards Yerevan, the weather suddenly changed at one point. The snow stopped completely, and the skies slowly brightened up.
The Last Stop: A Car Wash
Before finishing up for good, we went to wash the mud off our cars. This was also largely uneventful. Though, I must say that washing your car with a friend is a cool bonding activity, even if they’re not as crazy about cars as you.
Final Thoughts
So, that was the story of my first real, honest-to-goodness off-roading adventure. Another 2,000-word piece added to my writing portfolio, which I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing it.