Hiking in the Bucegi Mountains

After the medieval towns, it was time to get back in with Mother Nature. I couch surfed with an amazing Romanian family right at the foothill of the Bucegi Mountains. These are huge mountains that go straight up from the river valley below and are filled with rocks, trees, narrow trails and sheer drops. While these are popular trails for everyone, they cover a lot of height in a short period of time and there is more rock climbing than you would see in other countries. Doesn't stop Romanians of any age from going up there. Quite impressive to see families on a 4 hour difficult trek going up the mountains. 

I'd spent my first afternoon on my own hiking to a waterfall and then higher up for great views. What should have been a 3 hour hike turned into 5 as I tried out a new trail to go back. To put it politely, the trail sucked and even with my mountain goat legs, I had to turn around 35 minutes into the trek. But the scenery all around was amazing. Kind of like Yosemite in California, but with way less people and small villages visable below. Prettty impressive up there and worth the trek. 

Day two, my couch surfer went out with me for a long hike. Way up past where I was, to the top of the mountain to explore. We made good time, speeding up the mountains. On top was an abandoned chalet with great vistas of the countryside below. It's a bummer it's been let go, but other areas became more popular over the years and it is hard to get to. The landscape changes on top of the mountains with wide open meadows and rolling hills with barely a rock. 45 minutes later and we were at the cable car chalet for a well deserved break. No cable car for us today, all legs. Then we checked out the Sphinx, a natural creation similar to Egypt and other cool rock forms. 

The cross, way above the valley is another trek. Keeping those feet moving we reached the gigantic cross made of railroad ties for some of the best views around and lunch. 5 hours of epic hiking and going up almost 2000 meters and putting lots of steps in to get there. A lot of people take the cable car and hike here or there is a parking lot on top, both an hour plus walk away. But the cross was mighty popular and a fun vibe. 

Going down was next. From being up top for hours hiking around, thr towns below looked mighty far away. And they were. We took a different trail, making the trip a sort of loop, not repeating our journey. This section was both the most beautiful and most challenging as the trail was often just barely a half meter wide and over lots of lose rocks. Definitely a place to be careful and watch your step. Of course, this was where we saw lots of families. Crazy. Going up didn't look like fun and for us going down, it was a slow process. It was one of those trails that you look at from afar and think that there is no way you can go down there. But we made it, using chains attached to rocks for support at times, stopping to look up at where we came from in awe. Loving it!