Lycian Way Day 19, 27 March 2013

Zeytin to Finike, day two
Last day on the trail

The morning in the yayla was a wonderful place.  Good water, nice sunshine and the whole world before us!

Yayla campsite

All our gear spread out

Here's a nice little pic of all our crap we schlepped around.

All our gear, packed up

And all nice and packed to go.

Pleasant forest walk, summer Yayla down to Finike

The walk from the yayla was nice with pleasant forest and some goat herders along the way.

This is why we were always lost.  Lycian Way Marker; don't go this way X

One of the frustrating themes on the Lycian way is the conflicting trail markers.  This is one of our favorites.  A marker saying 'go this way' alongside a marker saying 'wrong way'.   Which to believe?....

Still overlooking Demre

Alas, for two days, while covering a lot of distance hiking, we always had the same view.

Believe it or not, we were lost here for about 10 minutes

And then again, there were lots of places where we simply couldn't find the way....
(one of our key lessons learned was that if you go more than about 90 seconds without seeing a marker, you're probably lost.  You MUST stop and go find the last marker.  And then only proceed when you find the next marker.  While it seems like wasting time, it will save you hours later. Disregard this rule if you find yourself on a new forest road where all the markers have been bulldozed out of sight!)

These aren't the Goats you're looking for....Belos

Luckily the goat-herder pointed us in the right direction when he found us lost standing in the middle of his paddock staring dumbly at the red and white markers.

Ho Hum, forest cutting, few trail indicators

Lots of missing markers among the forest roads.

Robin on the 'trail', Lycian Way, near Finike

Approaching Finike

Robin officially declaring her fill of the Lycian Way

Well that was it.  The last straw.  Too many frustrating moments.  Too many times being lost.  Not enough awesome.  Not enough elation.  Not enough good trail walking.  We threw in the towel. Finike would be our last stop on the Lycian Way trekking adventure.
But goddammit, even when we thought we were finished, we got lost trying to follow the trail into Finike!  We walked off the trail to a tractor path with markers and the local farmers watching us.  We walked up to the paved road.  Bam!  Lost.  No marker.  No path.  Just pavement down to town with no direction.  We found the town center and gave up on the trail.

Finike Harbor from our hotel balcony

And Map
http://www.mapmyhike.com/routes/view/195320696