The Făgăraș mountains are the highest mountains of the Southern Carpathians, in Romania. You'll find more than a dozen peaks over 2500 m. Although I went trekking there just three times, I must have spent about one month in these gorgeous mountains. Never ventured to visit them in winter yet since they are quite avalanche prone but I might consider going in the future if I catch a nice weather window.
This set is from my first visit to the Făgăraș mountains, Romania's smaller, but wilder version of the Alps. I went there with a couple of friends and went up from Avrig where the train dropped us off, to Cabana Bărcaciu (hut) at 1550 m. It was a long 5 hour-ish hike on a steep forest trail during the first night from Poiana Neamțului where our rented ride from Avrig dropped us off. We camped outside the hut and got something to eat there. It is a really lovely place and the old guy that kept it was quite a character too. I hope he's still around doing his thing.
We went up to Avrig Lake at 2011 m the second day to acclimatize. Actually the top image is from when we reached the ridge and headed towards the lake which was covered in fog at that time. We returned to the hut, ate something and left for Cabana Negoiu which was about a 3 hour hike away. After spending the night camped outside the hut on their camping spots we headed up towards Negoiu peak. It took us quite a few hours to get up the 2535 m peak and the terrain was challenging. Often climbing on wet rocks holding on to metal chains with potential long drops. We then spent the night camped outside in one of the tent spots next to the emergency shelter next to the glacial Lake Călțun, below the peak.
The final day of that trip lead us to another glacial lake, just a few hours hiking away, called Bâlea Lake at 2,034 m at the top of the rather famous Transfăgărășan alpine highway that crosses the Făgărăș mountains. Here, we treated ourselves and our blistered feet by spending the night at the very nice Cabana Bâlea Lac by the side of the lake. We then hitched a ride down to Cârţa to catch a train to Brașov the next morning. I do regret not taking more and better pictures at that time but I also plan on correcting this mistake the next time I get to revisit these mountains.
These images (including the top one) were taken with a Canon PowerShot A510 compact I was using at the time.
The view back towards Cabana Negoiu as we were going up towards Negoiu peak.
Lake Călțun, next to where we camped for our third night.
This was on the way from Lake Călțun to Bâlea Lake.
Bâlea Lake with the Transfăgărășan alpine highway.
The shadow of a cloud to wrap it all up.
Beautiful!
I was there before, a looong time ago!! I was a teenager at the time.
I remember how challenging it was climbing, but then even more challenging going back down!!
We were tired on the return and our legs wouldn't respond well anymore.
Thank you and sorry for the late reply! I doubt it changed much since when you visited and I hope it stays that way. Despite the challenging terrain, the views are quite amazing and, in my opinion worth the effort. Trekking poles also help a lot especially on the descent.
Nice post! I was hiking in Ukrainian part of Carpathian mountains.
Cheers and sorry for the late reply! I never got to see that part of the Carpathians but I would like to one day. I imagine they are just as nice as the ones on the Romanian side.
Wow breathtaking view, very nice photos, looks like awesome trip!
Cheers and sorry for the late reply! I've been away for a while. It was a fun trip indeed despite all the problems we had at that time with bad equipment and such.
Beautiful mountains, and thanks for providing some information along with the images. Makes me want to head to Romania. :)
Thanks and sorry for the late reply! There are lots to see there and it is well worth a visit... :)
Beautiful landscapes @creutzy. They do look raw, obviously shooted during a first hike. I do not doubt that a future planing could result in complete new set of really spectacular photos. I hope you will be able to do it one day. The text is also very informative. Upvoted, resteemed & DPS.
Many thanks @photo-trail and sorry for the late reply! I've been away for a while due to work and other commitments. Yeah, the quality was a bit off due to the old camera I used at that time. I hope to get back there with all the new kit and knowledge I now have, sometime soon. All the best!
Wonderful scenery from this view! I know it is a very challenging hike at any time of the year!
I hope you get back to do it again! Upvoted
Thanks and sorry for the late reply! Challenging but rewarding... :D I hope to get back to it soon. Steem on!
Hey there, @creutzy We are The Curator, (A Magazine style post on Steemit) We do curating for creative, artistic. knowledgeable, & entertaining. yet undervalued posts. We liked your fantastic post. And we feel that it is undervalued. We would like to share it in our magazine. But first, we would like to ask for your permission to add your post to our next issue, With a picture from your post, that we will use as a thumbnail, And we will share some of the post gifts with those posts that we share in that issue. If you agree to this. Please let us know below this comment.
Thank you. The Curator.
And keep steeming your fantastic posts
Wow, that sounds amazing! Congrats babe!
Many thanks and sorry for the late reply! I've been away for a while... I'm glad to hear you liked my post and you do have my permission to share it.
No worries at all, we like finding the needle in the hay stack posts, that are fabulous.
Sorry for our late reply we were finishing up a few posts in different genres, we added your post to a travel post instead of the photography post that was done a while back, hope you don't mind.