We had pretty good luck hitchhiking in Turkey from coming back from the Virgin Mary's house, Karakoy, which was an old abandoned Greek town since 1923, when Turkey was formed and the Greeks were forced out to getting rides around Olympos and Fethiye.
We decided to keep capitalizing on the good luck and hoped for more free pickups as we continued across the country to Saklikent, a gorge filled with cold glacial water that you can hike through jumping over boulders and getting wet and cold. Neither one of us had ever been canyoning before but had heard of it and decided on trying it.
We walked out into the heat and on the main road, which was full of traffic and hoped for the best. After walking for a hour with no luck, getting sweaty, and slightly annoyed almost thought of skipping the gorge and going back. Now, we had a choice of taking the easy route and hopping on the regular dolmuses that go to the site but wanted a slightly unique experience and a chance to save some money. As we were turning around to head back thought about the reality of the situation and it probably wasn't worth it to skip out on the activity just to save on a ride, so hopped on a dolmus.
On approaching Saklikent, were greeted with a cautionary sign advising people that the gorge couldn't be entered during heavy rains, which made sense since even on a dry hot day like today, the river was moving fast and looking at it made our hearts beat faster at the thought of being in it. We started off by walking on wooden planks over the entrance with the overhanging gorge above and narrow slits of light coming in from the openings. At the end of the walk, the trail started towards the river, which was full of picnicking families and kids enjoying the day.
Several guides were hanging out near the mouth of the river, so got in the cold water and were advised of a big hole in the river several feet deep that would we welcoming us as we entered. We walked cautiously with grins on our faces towards the entrance in the churning muddy gray water and tried at best to not fall. No luck, as I stepped into the hole, the force of the water around my legs forced me down and even with trying to hold onto Sabeen, got pushed in and soaked. It was a good welcome......
We continued our hike through the beautiful canyon with pink and white walls around us often times with no one else around. As we walked through, the river would become wide and then narrow with the force of the water pushing against our bodies and then would calm down around the next bend. We neared an area that looked rough with lots of white water and boulders, so were thankful that a few guides were around to help out.
Both of us reached out to them, Sabeen didn't want to go through as it looked deep, so I decided to go through. As soon as I stepped in, the water was around my waist and the force of it was amazing that if it hadn't been for the guide, I probably would have been swept away. The guide pulled me through, I went over a few boulders and came to a beautiful waterfall. I stood underneath it for a few seconds, which took my breath away from its coldness.
Cold, wet, and shivering, I came back to Sabeen, we hiked back through the canyon to close off the day sitting by the river on rocks in the sun to dry off and watching kids splashing around.
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