Trip Report: Sapte Scari Canyon, Piatra Mare Mountains

After a few months with week-ends spent on the motorcycle, I really need it a walk in the mountains. Not too near, not too far, not too easy, not too hard, The Seven Ladders Canyon was the perfect choice. It took us 2 hours to get there from the Dambu Morii Chalet. I was very pleased to see so many young people and kids on the way up. Because the temperature was below O⁰ Celsius, there was some snow and some ice, as you can see in the photos. 

Well equipped, we followed the trail through the forest up to 980 meters. The canyon is located in the middle-western part of the Piatra Mare Mountains, on the Seven Ladders River. The trail in the forest follows and blends with the river path.

Once you reach the bottom of the ladders, you can choose between climbing up or going back. For us, there was no doubt that we must climb, even if it was a bit cold and kind of icy :)… Beware, the ladder is slippery!

These are the greatest and the most spectacular gorges of the whole Piatra Mare Mountains. Their length is 160 meters with a level difference of 58 meters. The first ladder, going upwards, has a height of 8 meters, followed by another 8 ladders. The longest one has a height of about 12 meters.

Some of the ladders were broken, but still we could pass by easy. 

 The water makes spectacular cascades in the hill.

These are footprints made by humans that passed by during the years. I was very impressed by those. 

From the top, then follow the red sign to go back home.

GPS coordinates: 
- altitude 45.57174101356545
- longitude 25.698468399047897

(c) Amalia Ciuraru. All rights reserved.

Wild Carpathia: A BBC quality production on the hidden treasures of Romania

Filming the Last Untouched European Wilderness

"Wild Carpathia is a stunning documentary about a little-known part of Europe. Romania has a huge virtually-untouched area of mountains almost the size of Britain. It is the heavily-forested home to some of Europe's most exciting species, including alpine Chamois, and particularly large carnivores like Brown Bears, Wolves and the elusive Lynx. Much of the area is a time-capsule with an almost-medieval life-style." (http://www.earthtimes.org/)

I highly recommend you watch this documentary. Great quality. Thank you BBC!

The documentary is broadcasted on the Travel Channel or you can find some references on the internet (TV recording with Romanian subtitles at http://vimeo.com/32030606). If you really enjoy the show you can buy the DVD at http://www.travelchannel.co.uk/travelshop/products.asp?ProductID=208

I love Parang mountains! :)

Here below you will find posted 15 of my thousand reasons for loving the Parang mountains and considering it the most beautiful place i've ever seen.

To get there, you need to take the train to Petrosani, then preferably get a cab to take you to the lift and... that's it. Start climbing. Or you can go on the Transalpina and climb from Obarsia Lotrului cabin, where you can also find accomodation.

Parang looks a lot like his neighbour - Retezat, but is less rocky and far greener and, because of that, pleasent. For me, at least.

There are lots of things to say about this surprisingly beautiful mountain: lakes, cliffs, various flowers, of all colours, the hundred years old undisturbed juniper trees "forests". And the blueberrys. And the many ice cold crystal clear springs we had to cross along the way.






Tents at 6 a.m. Sensation of sleeping in a valley no one had set foot in years... priceless. :)

The Green Lake. It's supposed to have a blue-greenish colour, but it wasn't that sunny so we only saw an extremly clear water.


The sea of clouds, one of my favourite things.



Calcescu lake.





ice cold water we had no choice but cross barefoot and the place where we pretty much said good bye to the mountain and started facing civilisation again.

What do you like about Romania?

What do you like about Romania? What don't you like about Romania? To get you inspired: here's an interesting opinion from an US expat

http://lizspangler.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-i-will-miss-and-not-miss-about.html

(Now) free in the Kindle store: a book on the Romanian cuisine, the Romanian culture

"A brilliant cultural and culinary history of this little-known country . . . a collection of recipes to be treasured, tested, and enjoyed. -- George Lang, owner, Cafe de Artistes - New York

http://www.amazon.com/Taste-Romania-Glimpses-Literature-ebook/dp/B002C1AG7M/

Cruising Romania!

Romania is getting on the Europe's river cruise map. I've just found out about these guys at Viking River Cruise and they have 3 offers that depart/arrive in Romania.

1. Amsterdam,NL to Bucharest,RO (Bucharest to Amsterdam)
2. Passau,DE to Bucharest,RO (Bucharest to Passau)
3. Budapest,HU to Bucharest,RO (Bucharest to Budapest)

http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/regions/europe/countries/romania/index.aspx

This remembers me of the very old strategic project: Bucharest-Danube canal, an eco-travel solution to connect North See and Bucharest through Rhine - Main - Danube.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danube%E2%80%93Bucharest_Canal

EcoTravel: Bike Tours in Romania

There are some guys that organize bike tours in Romania. You might want to have a look here
http://en.romaniabybike.com/en/

For example this Transfagarasan route seems exciting to me.
http://en.romaniabybike.com/en/climb-3-mountains-in-5-days

Although it's not clear if they provide you the bike or not 205euro (accommodation and transportation included) seems ok. It would be a pity not to provide bikes - I don't expect an average foreign tourist to ship her bike to Romania for a 5 day trip.

Retezat forests

At the begining of the road, we passed through what those guys call "the magic forest". They could not be more wright. :) The road to Gentiana cabin looks like it was "built" by the Grimm Brothers. As we were expecting at any point to meet a leprechaun guarding his pot of gold, we ran into something looking like Baba Yaga's hut. :) Check that up below:

The hut of Baba Yaga


and it's guardians


Green is the colour. Too bad i'm not such a good photographer and the light and angles played some ugly tricks.


The stoned forest. Be silent, or you'll wake Them up.

Rocks and sights of Retezat's highest picks

Retezat - colours of the almost 80 glaciar lakes