Arahthos road book 2

View a detailed road map of the area at greeklandscapes.com, a site with links to downloadable maps of Greece.

Access for Arahthos and Kalaritikos rivers area - part 2

Arahthos river can be accessed from the cities of Arta, Ioannina, Metsovo or Trikala.

From south (Arta) or west (Ioannina) >>> see Road book 1

Approaching from north

Through Katara pass and Metsovo, the standard route is one hour's drive to Ioannina, unless you want to try the mountain pass of Baros (photo). From Metsovo, to Anilio and 20kms uphill to Skafida pass, close to 1650m (see GPS mark). We enter Acheloos river fountain area, approaching Chaliki, where the higher tributaries form Aspropotamos (the white river). This higher part of Aspropotamos, from Chaliki to Tripotama, is also known as Lakmos river (4km class III,IV). The river flows next to the road, for 10kms more, until Tripotama, when the river flow multiplies to become fast and white as its name suggest.

Back to the road: From Chaliki, the road continue south, until a crossing 1km before Anthousa, where after 4kms, we take the right (southwest) road to Baros pass (40kms from Metsovo. See GPS mark). At 1900m, this high altitude dirt road, is usually closed until late spring, when shepherds open the road again to reach their summer pens).
From Baros, we choose the right crossing, downhill to Kalarites and Mistras. There is the put in of the very technical Upper kalaritikos river IV,V,VI). From Mistras, we can head west to Prosilio, Petrovouni, to finally reach Arahthos section 2 put in, after 45 (total 85) difficult kms.
Following the south road, from Mistras to Christoi, we reach the standard put in for Kalaritikos river, or continue towards Pramanta, Ktistades and Ambelohori, to reach section's 3 put in.

GPS marks: The following marks are coordinated to ED50 or EURO50 system and not WGS84

Skafida pass: GPS ED50 mark: 39o 42.920N, 21o 11.670E
Baros pass: GPS ED50 mark: 39o 36.960N, 21o 10.460E

Approaching from southeast:

From Trikala we take the road to Pyli, Stournareika, Vathyrema and Mesohora. A big hydroelectic work, with a dam in Acheloos, is close to operation stage. Passing the various worksites and tunnels, we reach Vourgareli. From there, we either take an up the mountain road to Kypseli, Ramia and Plaka, or if due to snow conditions (the pass over Vourgareli is high and not usually monitored) we continue our way from Vourgareli towards Arta, until the village of Anemorahi, when we turn right towards lower Arahthos.

GPS WGS84 marks:

Ziogas (Tavern at Kastraki) 39o 43.116N, 21o 37.054E
Pyli (traditional bridge)39o 27.602N, 21o 36.042E - path to Porta Panagia vyzantine church.
Sturnareika (last gas station for 50kms) 39o 26.137N, 21o 28.566E
Gropa mountain pass (usually monitored) 39o 25.141N, 21o 28.682E
Mesohora (Acheloos bridge) 39o 28.362N, 21o 18.590E
Scala Scorliga (tunnel) 39o 24.279N, 21o 16.173E

Those two mountain roads, may not be the faster or the safer, but in good weather conditions, offer unforgetable views and worth those extra hours.

Sightseeing:

If you are coming from Thessaly, you should pay a visit to Meteora cliffs, a world known climbing site. If you do, I suggest you stay in Kastraki (passing Kalambaka), eat at Ziogas tavern (GPS mark)and sleep at camping Vrahos.

More pages about Arahthos river:

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