Romania Hiking Road-trip

From 8/8 – 8/14 Bianca and I went on a hiking/camping road-trip around Romania, hitting several of the country’s beautiful national parks all located within the Southern Carpathian Mountains. We started with a nice hike in Bucegi, then two hikes in Piatra Craiului, and finished with a hike to the top of Vf. Moldoveanu, which at 2,544m tall is the highest point in Romania.

Day 1 – Driving

The first day we spent driving from the city of Cluj (where Bianca lives) to the small tourist town of Bușteni at the foot of the Bucegi mountain range. It was only a 195 mi (314 km) drive but still took up most of the day. There are very few actual highways in Romania and most of the roads that are used for long distance travel still pass directly through city and town centers, resulting in some significant slow-downs. It wasn’t a big bother to us though, as I was enjoying all the new scenery and Bianca was enjoying having someone drive her around :). On our way there we stopped in Turda at her parents house for some fresh provisions straight from their amazing garden. We were given a bag of fresh peppers, apples, and pears that lasted us nearly the entire trip.

When we arrived in Bușteni that evening we set about looking for a place to camp for the night. We checked out a couple town park areas and were quickly warned by locals about the very active local population of bears. Eventually we ended up at a nice meadow outside of town called Valea Cerbului (Valley of the Deer) where there were many other people camping in tents and caravans. We found a nice quiet spot off to the side and decided to sleep in our car that night because SURPRISE! – someone had been attacked by a bear in their tent there just the night before! Luckily the only rental car we had been able to get on short notice was a VW Passat, which came with just enough space in the back to sleep once the seats were down.

Day 2 – Bucegi Mountains – Vf. Omu 2,514m

We woke up the next morning glad to be in one piece and not in the belly of any bears. After washing up we headed in to town to get a full breakfast and some snacks for the day from the market before heading up the trail from town towards Vf. Omu (Vf. = Varful = “Peak”). The Bucegi mountains rise steeply (~1200m) from town leading to a more gently sloping alpine plateau containing the several peaks of this range. There is a telecabina (cable car) that takes people up from town to the level of this plateau for an easier hike to the summit, similar to the tramway up San Jacinto. Bianca and I started our hike in town and eschewed the telecabina in favor of a nice solid workout. The trail started out in the forest and steadily worked its way up through beautiful valleys and across lush steep meadow slopes. From five minutes in we were sweating and sucking air as the trail showed a clear disdain for anything resembling a switchback and instead just took us straight up up up. (In fact, in all the hiking I’ve done here now I think I’ve seen less switchbacks than 20 minutes worth of hiking in CA…)

As we climbed higher the clouds grew thicker providing relief from the sun but some concern for the what the weather was doing above us. Nearer the top sections of the trail became true scrambles, climbing over low angle cliffs and boulders with chains installed in some places for improved handholds. After a couple hours we crested onto the alpine plateau to find it covered in a heavy wet rolling fog that would stick with us all the way to the summit. The trail was well blazed though, and even when visibility dropped to <50 ft we still had no trouble following the markers (almost all the trails I’ve been on here have been very well blazed – much better than most of the trails in the US). The trail over the plateau to the summit was mostly flat with a rise of a few hundred meters at the very end. At the summit hut Bianca enjoyed a hot tea and I got a soda while we watched breaks in the clouds intermittently reveal the amazing scenery around us. A relaxed start time that morning meant that by the time we got back down to the edge of the plateau it was 7pm and we decided to take the telecabina down rather than bust our knees. We soon regretted that decision though, as we ended up waiting in line for three hours for the extremely slow telecabina to work through the long line of people ahead of us. When we first got into the line we had no idea how long it was or how slow it was moving, as most of it was hidden inside the building. Eventually we got back down to town, ate at the one remaining restaurant that was open, and went back to Valea Cerbului for one more night in the car with the bears.

Day 3 – Piatra Craiului Mountains – Vf. Turnu 1,923m

The next day we got breakfast and sandwiches for lunch in Bușteni and then drove over to the nearby town of Zărnești at the foot of the Piatra Craiului mountains. The Piatra Craiului mountains are a stunning sight, a 25km long alpine ridge running roughly NE-SW with steep drops on both sides of the main crest. There are trails all up and down the range leading from the valley floor to the various peaks, and one trail running the full length of the crest.

We set up camp near a mountain lodge / resort called Cabana Plaiul Foii that was situated in a beautiful spot right at the base of the mountains. We camped in the yard of a small house next to the cabana that was offering basic camping amenities. For the equivalent of $5/night we got bathrooms, a shower, nice fenced in yard to camp in, and an assortment of tables to sit around. After getting our camp sorted it was early afternoon and we decided to just go for a nice relaxing couple hour hike without any serious goal in mind. I had seen a perfect trail for that on the map leading up to a saddle off the shoulder of the northernmost peak of the Piatra Craiului range, Vf. Turnu. So we headed about 10 minutes back down the road and set off with our packs just lightly loaded with a couple liters of water and a few snacks at 3pm.

The trail started out in a sheep meadow and quickly entered the forest where it headed up toward the peaks above at a quick pace. Soon the forest path started becoming rockier and eventually took us up a narrow gully / debris path stretching down from far above. This continued to steepen and turn into a full scree slope scramble interspersed with sections of third class scrambling over ledges & boulders, some of which were equipped with chains. About this time we were both commenting that the trail was a bit more “intense” than either of us had expected and after a careful look at the map & GPS we realized that I had taken us up the wrong trail that went straight up the peak above us instead of just to the saddle 500m lower. Oops. At this point we had scrambled up several hundred meters at least of nasty scree that neither of us felt any desire to try descending, so we decided the best option was to continue up and over the peak and down the easier trail we had originally intended to ascend. So up we continued & battled through more loose scree and steep rocky sections. Bianca took this turn of events especially graciously, considering my mistake and the unexpected nature of the adventure she had just been taken on, and we reached the peak around 6pm to take in the stupendous views of the Piatra Craiului mountains stretching south away from us.

We stayed on the peak long enough for a short snack and then headed down towards the nearby saddle and easier trail down, eventually getting back to the car just as the final light was fading at 9pm. Despite the trail mix-up and surprise difficulty of the trail we both later agreed that this hike was actually one of our favorites and we both felt very good about our ability to tackle a more challenging hike like this – even when we weren’t expecting it ;)!

Day 4 – Piatra Craiului Mountains – Vf. Padina Popii 2,018m (attempt)

For our second hike in the Piatra Craiului mountains we chose a slightly longer trail than the day before that went up Vf. Padina Popii. The trail followed a routine we were used to by this point, but still thoroughly enjoying: initial easy walk through sloping meadows, then a long steep climb through forests on the slopes of the peak before coming out of the woods into the alpine zone and scrambling the remaining way on scree / rocks. This hike took us past the Refugiul Diana (Diana Refuge), which is one of many “refuges” scattered all throughout the mountains here in Romania. The refuges are quite basic, but still provide welcome protection in the event one is caught there in a storm (for more on this see my next report…). The Diana refuge is near the edge of the tree line and after stopping there for a quick snack we were soon out in the open with amazing folds of mountain rock & giant pillars of stone all around us. At one point we heard rockfall coming from across a canyon and looked over to see a heard of mountain goats making easy work of a steep scree gully. Soon after leaving the forest behind we began the scrambling portion of the hike and found ourselves faced with two sections of relatively strong class 3 with serious exposure below. We sat and contemplated for a bit but ultimately concluded that we weren’t quite feeling the heavy exposure and fall factor of these sections and decided that would be our turn around point for the day. We stayed there above the trees for an hour or so more, snacking and enjoying the scenery before heading back down to town & camp where we enjoyed some beers before going in search of dinner, which took the form of a delicious Goulash soup served at a nearby mountain lodge.

Day 5 – Driving

This day was spent driving from Zărnești east towards the southern foothills of the Făgăraș mountains. The Făgăraș mountains form a long east-west ridgeline containing the two highest peaks in Romania – Moldoveanu (2,544m) and Negoiu (2,535m). Moldoveanu can be hiked several different ways, including overnight backpacks from towns at the northern base of the mountains and a ~10 mi long stretch of ridgeline from the west with ~9000 ft of total gain due to all the up and down. For our hike we chose a shorter route that approaches steeply from the south of the peak starting from Stână lui Burnei (“Burnei Sheepfold”) in the Valea Rea (“Bad Valley”) which is access via a 35 km / 2 hr drive on a dirt road from the nearby small town/village of Slatina. The drive there from Zărnești was almost entirely across countryside with only a few small villages along the way. At the start of the dirt road we were lucky to stop at another mountain lodge / resort and get a nice meal there before heading in to the wilderness for the next two days. We set up camp that night in a small clearing at the edge of a river just a kilometer or so down the road from the trail head.

Day 6 – Făgăraș Mountains – Vf. Moldoveanu 2,544m

We woke to a beautiful morning, ate breakfast, packed our bags, and were at the trail head stepping off at around 9am or so. The floor of Valea Rea is a beautiful meadow with steep forested slopes rising on either side. Different from our other hikes this trip, this trail did not pass through any forested sections and maintained a more “alpine” feel for its entirety. The trail first passes a shepherd’s hut and then slowly rises through Valea Rea for a kilometer or so before reaching the valley’s headwall. Once at the headwall a steep ~6-700m climb up grassy slopes brought us to another large alpine meadow perhaps a mile across shaped like a bowl beneath the surrounding ridges and peaks. Far above us on the slopes we could see two large herds of sheep and occasionally hear their braying drifting down to us on the wind. A pleasant walk through this alpine meadow bowl brought us to a large triangular shaped tarn on the far side where we stopped for a snack and to watch the silhouetted figures of hikers moving on the ridge above us before we set off to join them ourselves.

A short 100m or so climb brought us to the main ridgeline of the Făgăraș mountains and the Portița Viștei (“Viștei Gate”) col. This col was one of the most stunning sights we saw the entire trip: the southern side sloping down into the alpine meadow where we had just come from and the northern side dropping away steeply in rocky precipice. But what made it truly amazing was the way that clouds twisted and twirled around in the confluence of air currents meeting from the north and south. We stayed here for a few minutes to take in the view then carried on our way now hiking along the main ridgeline of the Făgăraș mountains towards Vf. Viștea Mare, this sister peak of Moldoveanu rising just a few meters lower at 2,527m. From Viștea Mare it was a short level scramble over to Moldoveanu with a few sections of third class w/chains mixed in. On the peak we stopped for a short snack and to take in the views from the “roof of Romania.” There were some dark clouds on the horizon so we didn’t stay too long before heading back down. On our way back we checked out another mountain refuge located just near Viștea Mare and the small herd of donkeys hanging out near it. The clouds threatened rain for the next our or so but ultimately proved harmless and we had sunny skies for the remainder of our hike back to the trailhead and car.

That night we camped just down the dirt road from the trailhead again and made ourselves a dinner with what snacks & food we had left at the end of our trip, with the main dish being tasty salami roasted over the fire on a stick. The next morning marked the end of this trip as we woke up, packed up camp, and drove back to Cluj. Leaving these beautiful mountains behind was hard, but I was already planning for my next hiking trip the following week when Bianca would be out of town at a conference for four days….

If you want to see even more pictures you can check out all of them on my google drive.

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