Goderdzi Pass and the Petrified Forest

Goderdzi is where Adjara ends and inland Georgia begins. The pass stands at 2,025 metres and connects Khulo to the west with Adigeni to the east. The climate breaks exactly here: fog, rain and dark forest on the western side, dry open slopes and far more sun on the eastern. Geologically the place is unusual. Around the pass lies a petrified forest — Miocene wood roughly eight to ten million years old, buried by volcanic ash and preserved as stone trunks. Some pieces sit beside the road, others show in eroded cuts on the slopes. This is not a fenced, labelled monument. It is simply there, and local people will point it out. What you will see on the way: - Alpine meadows from June to August, thick with flowers — these are the summer pastures that cattle are driven up to - The modest Goderdzi ski resort near the pass, with a handful of pistes - Villages of wooden houses that come alive only in summer The road over the pass closes in winter, usually from November to May, though the exact dates vary year to year. Even in summer this is not an easy route: sections are gravel, the hairpins are tight, and fog regularly reduces visibility to forty metres. Drive it in the morning, when the cloud has not yet built, and treat any estimate of driving time as optimistic.

Gallery