Uludağ day hike (Osmaniye to Saitabat)

Caution: I had to improvise a lot in this hike as I overlooked a little too much at the fact that there might still be snow at this time of year. So there are some places I went out of the way to avoid snow. In summer, this would look different.

My original plan was to involve the cable car at some point of my hike (either on the way up or down, but for the way up, the opening times of the cable car is too late: ~10:00). So I started in one of the villages southeast of Bursa. It's easy to get to them but it takes time. From the center, roughly an hour.

The way to the lakes from Osmaniye is actually quite straightforward. You follow a dirt road that can be steep (lots of switchbacks) and gets narrower the higher you go. Literally, this road takes you all the way up to the lakes and from there, there are trails to summit. But, as said, there was still too much snow and had to improvise to get to the top. At km 13, you see I took a deviation slightly southwest of the road. For my route (and for time), it helped me to get to the top more efficiently and to avoid most of the snow (lucky for me). Just note that this way will get you away from the lakes in case you wanna see them up close but the views are much more panoramic so I still found it worthy and the way is also a bit gentle (except for the beginning which is a bit steep). Other than that, after getting closer to the ridge near the summit, you should see the trails to go to the top.

Now, on the way down, I used an openstreet maps app (Mapy.cz) to find my way down to Saitabat. I will say, half of my way down before joining the road, there's literally no trail at all. I was doing my best to follow the trail 'marked' on my app but there was none. At times I could see old traces of a trail and a few rock piles but it looked like no one had walked these in years. The way down is OK at the beginning until you get to a field of blueberry bushes and juniper berry trees just before joining the road. This part was very, very steep and my knees were hanging on a thread. I can't imagine going up via this 'trail.' I suggest avoiding this part and stick to joining the road way sooner (~km 23)). I would have done it but there was too much fog to see anything! Once on the road, you will see I tried to skip some of the switchbacks to save time but it's impossible. It's too steep for shortcuts so you'll be stuck (and should stay) on the road to Saitabat.

Anyway, aside from that pain, it is still a nice hike. I wish I saw more of the park at the top (too much fog everywhere 😢). Saitabat seemed like a nice little village so may be worth spending some time there.

A nice hike overall!