Trchkan waterfall

Trchkan waterfall is where the Chichkan river, a left-bank tributary of the Pambak, drops 22.5 to 23.5 meters into a gorge on the border between Lori and Shirak regions. Locals call it Chran. Upstream the river runs flat and wide across a mountain valley fed by snowmelt from the Shirak range at 2,250 meters; here it suddenly narrows and falls before entering a deep, tight canyon.

What sets it apart is volume, not just height. Average discharge runs around 1.5 tons of water per second, which locals and geographers point to when they call it the tallest and most water-rich of Armenia's plunging waterfalls. Flow peaks between March and June, when meltwater and groundwater together account for most of the year's runoff.

The site sits within the administrative territory of Mets Parni village in Lori. It also carries a heavier footnote: the area around here was the epicenter of the 1988 earthquake that devastated much of northern Armenia.

The waterfall lies in Lori region, roughly 88 km north-northwest of Yerevan, within Mets Parni village's territory and about 10 km northwest of Shirakamut village.

Flow is strongest from March through June during snowmelt; by late summer the river runs noticeably thinner.