AT A GLANCE
Why go?
At 3,107 meters, Mount Karagöl is the second-highest peak in Giresun Province and the crown of a wild, glacier-scoured mountain chain where emerald crater lakes sit among rocky plateaus barely touched by tourism.↗
Located in the remote Dereli district near the triple border of Giresun, Ordu, and Sivas provinces, Karagöl draws hikers, trail runners, and night-sky photographers seeking pristine alpine landscapes just two hours from the Black Sea coast.↗↗
A Black Lake at the Roof of Giresun
The name Karagöl literally translates as "Black Lake," a reference to the deep, dark-blue crater lake that rests at the mountain's shoulder and gives the entire range its identity. The lake's surface color—nearly ink-black in certain light—comes from its remarkable depth, fed by snowmelt and glacial seepage at elevations above 2,500 meters.↗
Karagöl is part of the Giresun Mountains, a chain that forms the interior backbone of Turkey's eastern Black Sea region. The summit at 3,107 meters makes it the second-highest point in Giresun Province. Around it, nearly ten glacial lakes scatter across the highlands—Aygır Gölü at 2,709 m, Camlı Göl at 2,754 m, Bağırsak Gölü, and Sağrak Gölü at 2,633 m—each set within a landscape of mendering streams, scree slopes, and wind-carved ridges.
