With few exceptions (Ceahlău's excellent national park office comes to mind) I am always frustrated with the quality of signage in Romania's mountain trekking areas.
I usually document my trips by searching on the Internet but sometimes it's hard to find trail descriptions at the level of detail I require. It may be that the writer assumes I carry a tent and camp out for the night, or he proposes start points that are un-drivable.
This post, and future follow-ups will describe trails that can be walked within a summer's daylight span (9 hours at most).
Disclaimer
While I've worked on collecting some of the data used in these maps and I've performed the rendering myself, I cannot guarantee for their correctness or accuracy. When going up for a hike, make sure to take decent maps and appropriate gear. Around Bâlea, most of the alpine huts sell good paper maps.
Cabana Bâlea - Vânătoarea lui Buteanu is probably the easiest, but still very rewarding trail when starting from Bâlea. The trail is not very long but it is somewhat steep (500m altitude gain).
Map of the trails to the west of Bâlea Lake (click here for the standard OSM map):
Take the blue triangle trail to Șaua Caprei. Once you reach Șaua Caprei, you can walk around Capra Lake (~2200m), a beautiful glacial lake:
From Șaua Caprei, you can continue on the blue cross trail to Vânătoarea lui Buteanu (2507 m), the easiest big peak to reach in Făgăraș when starting from Bâlea, offering spectacular views of the surrounding mountains (photo shows Negoiu peak as seen from Vânătoarea lui Buteanu):
View towards Capra Lake (colleague's photo)
In the background (trapezoid shape) Viștea Mare on the left, Moldoveanu on the right (roughly 23 Km away in a straight line).
To the left of Viștea Mare and closer to the viewer, Podragu peak.
This map schematic shows the visible peaks present in the photograph above:
I usually document my trips by searching on the Internet but sometimes it's hard to find trail descriptions at the level of detail I require. It may be that the writer assumes I carry a tent and camp out for the night, or he proposes start points that are un-drivable.
This post, and future follow-ups will describe trails that can be walked within a summer's daylight span (9 hours at most).
Disclaimer
While I've worked on collecting some of the data used in these maps and I've performed the rendering myself, I cannot guarantee for their correctness or accuracy. When going up for a hike, make sure to take decent maps and appropriate gear. Around Bâlea, most of the alpine huts sell good paper maps.
Cabana Bâlea - Vânătoarea lui Buteanu
Cabana Bâlea - Vânătoarea lui Buteanu is probably the easiest, but still very rewarding trail when starting from Bâlea. The trail is not very long but it is somewhat steep (500m altitude gain).
Map of the trails to the west of Bâlea Lake (click here for the standard OSM map):
| Symbol | Trail name | Duration estimate |
 | Cabana Bâlea - Șaua Caprei | 45 min - 1 h |
 | Șaua Caprei - Vânătoarea lui Buteanu (2507m) | 45 min |
Take the blue triangle trail to Șaua Caprei. Once you reach Șaua Caprei, you can walk around Capra Lake (~2200m), a beautiful glacial lake:
From Șaua Caprei, you can continue on the blue cross trail to Vânătoarea lui Buteanu (2507 m), the easiest big peak to reach in Făgăraș when starting from Bâlea, offering spectacular views of the surrounding mountains (photo shows Negoiu peak as seen from Vânătoarea lui Buteanu):
View towards Capra Lake (colleague's photo)
In the background (trapezoid shape) Viștea Mare on the left, Moldoveanu on the right (roughly 23 Km away in a straight line).
To the left of Viștea Mare and closer to the viewer, Podragu peak.
This map schematic shows the visible peaks present in the photograph above:
