Mud and Candy - Azerbaijan

Mud and Candy

Summary: Two very interesting sites in Azerbaijan that don't require a lot of walking - unless, of course, you want to. Both sites can be easily reached from Baku (a 4WD is recommended for the mud volcanoes).

An excellent guidebook to these and other Azerbaijan wonders is the treatise by Mark Elliott

The Drive to the Mud Vulcanoes: I quote from the guide book from Mark Elliott: "Like cows, mud vulcanoes constantly fart flammable gases.They also like throwing gobs of mud and streaming forth watery flows with a vigor that varies seasonally.

This behaviour is gently amusing rather than life threatening. Mud vulcanoes are cold and have multiple vents through which they exhale.

On very rare occasions, extreme gas pressure blows out the whole crater throwing masses of rock and mud into the air and showering a wide area. In such events, the methane can ignite creating a dramatic flare several hundred meters high... But such violent eruptions are very rare and usually preceded by discernible warning rumblings and movements of the whole crater surface. The more accessible crater fields generally gurgle away safely and make very intriguing places to explore..."

Maximum altitude:	100 meter
Minimum altitude:	-
Cumulative height:	-
Cumulative length:	4.5 kilometer from the asphalt road in Älät
Difficulty	easy
Time:	2-5 hours
Date of this record	April 2013
Download GPS info:	Mud Volcanoes

General location and approach: The better known access to the mud volcanoes is from the city of Gobustan, and its petroglyphs. The track shown here is probably faster

Other Information: Bring some shoeshine or spare shoes, as you'll surely get muddy boots!

The Drive to Candy Cane Mountains: A short drive (about 14 kilometer, an ggo asphalt road) from Gilazi on the main road connecting Baku and Quba are the Candy Cane Mountains. The mountains have beautiful rose and white stripes and swirls, and are littered with small conical fossils. We had only a few minutes, but there is enough to see for a day excursion!

Maximum altitude:	175 meter
Minimum altitude:	-
Cumulative height:	-
Cumulative length:	14 kilometer from main Baku road
Difficulty	easy
Time:	1-3 hours
Date of this record	April 2013
Download GPS info:	Candy Cane Mountains

Other information: We haven't included any elevation gain figures, though one could climb around the candy cane mountains at pleasure.

At the mud vulcanoes, one hour south of Baku. The vulcanoes are small, but lively

One would want to spend the whole day trying to capture the mud-bubbles and mud-flows on a camera

The Candy Cane Mountains consist of dried mud

GPS and trailmaps: The map and trailinformation is generated by , based on GPS information collected from the actual hike. Waypoints can be downloaded to a GPS device from Wikiloc. If necessary, use GPSBabel to convert GPS data to different formats. For more hike descriptions by Palmtreetreeproduction, browse this website or visit Wikiloc and search for "Palmtreeproduction". You may also find nearby trails from other authors.

Google Earth: You may also view the trail in 3D when viewing it in Google Earth, which you need to have installed on your computer. The 3D perspective allows a good preview of gradients, steepness, possible views and is generally helpful when planning a trip.