Abr means cloud in Persian, and the name is exact. On the northern slopes of the Alborz mountains, where the humid air from the Caspian Sea rises and condenses, a belt of old forest lies in cloud for much of the year, and anyone riding through it can find themselves in a wet white room with the road vanishing after twenty metres. This is the Hyrcanian forest, a band of broadleaf woodland that stretches along the southern Caspian coast and is up to fifty million years old, a survivor from before the ice ages. UNESCO listed parts of it in 2019, and the forest at Abr, with its beech, oak and hornbeam trees, belongs to the same green belt.
The trees here grow tall and straight, covered in moss and ferns, and in autumn the forest turns rust and gold. The woods shelter wild boar, roe deer, brown bears, and, very rarely, the Persian leopard, which is among the great cats you do not expect to find within a day's drive of a city. The road that crosses the range from the dry Shahroud side to the green Golestan side is one of the finest in northern Iran, a long series of hairpins and long curves climbing to a high pass and dropping through the cloud.
The riding is demanding. Fog and drizzle can come in without warning, the road is narrow in places, and trucks are slow on the climbs and fast on the descents. The surface is generally paved but can be broken by landslides, and the edges are sometimes unprotected. Dress for cold and wet, since temperatures at the top are far below those on the plain, and take the fog seriously. Lights on, speed down.
Āzādshahr is thirty kilometres away and has fuel, bakeries and a bazaar, and Shahroud on the other side of the mountains has more. Do not count on petrol in the forest. Local food includes grilled fish from the Caspian, rice with herbs and walnut sauces, and strong tea. Entry and travel conditions in Iran can be complicated for foreign riders, so check before you plan. A pull-over in the evening, with the cloud drifting among the trees and the smell of wet leaves, is a moment that stays with you.