These mountains lavished Crete with valleys, such as Amari valley, fertile plateaus, such as Lasithi plateau, Omalos and Nidha; caves, such as Gourgouthakas, Diktaion, and Idaion (the birthplace of the ancient Greek god Zeus); and a number of gorges. 

On the western slopes of Thripti is situated the most impressive geological formation of isthmus of Ierapetra , the Gorge of Ha. The Italian antiquarian of Rennaisance Ciriaco de Pizzicolli or Cyriacus of Ancona(1391-1452) was the first who referred to the gorge after his visit in 1445.

Although the Ha gorge was a place of great inspiration for a lot of researchers and travellers it was firstly crossed in 1987.

 The water that inserts the gorge derives from a  8km² water catchment area and it flows there from the highest parts around the Thripti settlement ( 500-1400 m height). At the first part of the gorge there is a cascade of 6m. To summarize, there are 26 cascades from which the biggest one is 30m high. Another cascade of 215m height, called Mastoras , is created vertically at the southest part of the gorge and it is one of the highest greek waterfalls . 

Ha’s gorge is formated in the middle of the biggest rift of eastern Crete. 

At the eastern entrance of the gorge there is an extended forest of pinus (Pinus brutia) which recovers after the incendies of 1984 and 1987. On the clearings (glade) and slopes of the forest there is the typical brushwood vegetation of Crete  like sage (Salvia fruticosa), the endemic Phlomis lanata , and thymes (Thymbra capitata), Genista acantholada  and lots of geophytes like Drimia numidica and Asphodelus ramosus. At the western entrance of the gorge we can observe typical riverside vegetation with osiers (Vitex agnus –castus), fig trees  (Ficus carica) and oleasters (Nerum oleander)  in combination with species like locusts (Ceratonia siliqua) and gorses (Pistacia lentisqus). Around the river there are contemporary crops of olive trees but also residues of older olive or almond crops.

However, the most interesting of all are the plants that occur in the interior of the gorge. We can find lots of chasmophytes(plants that grow vertically on the rocks) like the shrub Ptilostemon chamaepeuce, the brassicaceae species Brassica cretica and other endemic chasmophytic species of Crete like Ploumi (Ebenus cretica), Hypericum  amblycalyx and Securigera globosa.

Moreover, of great interest is Petromaroula (Petromaroula pinnata) one of the two endemic genus of Crete and also the Centaurea argentea subsp. argentea , a narrow endemic subspecies of eastern Crete that is characterized as a Threatened Low Concern(LC) species at the Red Data Book of Rare and Threatened Plants of Greece.(2009).

Ebenus cretica

Very near to the southwest exit of the Ha’s gorge, at 230m of altitude occur the remains of the Chalasmeno, a big ancient village in the 12^th BC.