Apuseni 2003

Mountaineering

//20,11,x,09

The month of august 2003 would not pass until a second trip, which happened right after Lunca Bradului 2003, took place.
The Apuseni Mountains, also known as the Occidental Carpathians, are the mountaineous range spanning in Western Romania. Famous worldwide for their incredible beauty, these mountains are not tall, they are usually around 1,600 m (5,250 ft), while the highest peak reaches only 1,849 m (6,066 ft).
The trip was also close to home, about only 135 km in straight line from Targu-Mures, however the various locations explored and the lack of train transportation in the heart of the mountains meant we tripled that figure, in our 5 day trip.

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Days of wondering thru the hills, cave exploration, and a taste of natural life: clean water, good food, sleeping in the tent and last but not least, the friendly and helful locals.
The Apuseni Mountains form the north area of a region inhabitted by one of the oldest tribes of Dacs, the Mots. Their culture - songs, way of life, clothing and traditions - have been kept until today, and it is always a pleasure to travel in a region which lacks the rude encounters that characterize a big city's population.
I will let the pictures speak for themselves; wherever you're from, I'm sure you will be left breathless and dream of visiting this magical place, still pretty much untouched by man (and thank God for that!!).
Before you proceed to the pics, I will have to remind you that they were taken with the cheapest camera available in the stores (a 10 $ camera), and therefore I will let the viewer's imagination to decide how good would they have looked if they were taken with a professional cam.

Photo Gallery

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A bath of colours: blue, red, yellow, green and brown. The Apuseni Mountains
Romania - Muntii Apuseni
Inside the Scarisoara Cave. Unfortunately the glaciar is not visible

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Entrance into Scarisoara cave. Those red dots on top are people
Entrance into Scarisoara
Apuseni Mountains, Paradise on Earth. Even in the middle of nowhere, electricity is widely available

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Sun is shining...oh yeah! ;)
We slept on a hill. This was the sunset...
The disastruous effects of tree cutting

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Paul looking for water
I'm on top of the world!! ...Am I ??
Born ready

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Tall like the tree
Mountain landscape
The wonderers...

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The King on his throne
Romania view
The Padis Valley (Apuseni Mountains, western Romania)

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Padis Valley
Padis Valley
Looks warm, but after 5 seconds in this waterflow to take the pic, I couldn't feel my feet for half an hour

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The Padis Valley, viewed from a small cave
Ramona and Sorin in the small cave (what were they doing there ??)
The other end of the Padis Valley

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Mihai and Sorin in front of Cetatile Ponorului (Ponorul's Castles)
Notice those "small" rocks below Remember the small rocks below? These are some of them
One slip of a foot, and you'll become the latest McDonald's sandwich. Yummy !! The huge space inside was too dark to take any great pics.
This is the only pic inside the largest of the Cetatile Ponorului caves

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Descending towards another cave in the Ponorul's Castles complex
After walking for half an hour in the cave waterflow, this was the other entry.
Padis Valley is too large to be taken in just one pic.
This is the view to the right, as seen from the rear. You can see smaller caves in the white rocks

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Padis Valley - view towards the left side
With horses in the Padis Valley. After I took this pic, I was silly enough to try to caress the wild ones in the background. Ah ah... Not everything that flies can be eaten, Sorin...
Padis Valley - view from the front. In the far left, you can see some of the white cliffs that are visible in pic 34 (3 pics ago)

Apuseni 2003

I can only hope of returning to those places as soon as possible. A trip like this can never be forgotten !

Did you like these pictures? Do you want to see more? Check out the other trips

H I T T H E R O A D

Sorin's Mountain Trips Network is

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A bath of colours: blue, red, yellow, green and brown. The Apuseni Mountains	Romania - Muntii Apuseni	Inside the Scarisoara Cave. Unfortunately the glaciar is not visible
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Entrance into Scarisoara cave. Those red dots on top are people	Entrance into Scarisoara	Apuseni Mountains, Paradise on Earth. Even in the middle of nowhere, electricity is widely available
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Sun is shining...oh yeah! ;)	We slept on a hill. This was the sunset...	The disastruous effects of tree cutting
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Paul looking for water	I'm on top of the world!! ...Am I ??	Born ready
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Tall like the tree	Mountain landscape	The wonderers...
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The King on his throne	Romania view	The Padis Valley (Apuseni Mountains, western Romania)
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Padis Valley	Padis Valley	Looks warm, but after 5 seconds in this waterflow to take the pic, I couldn't feel my feet for half an hour
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The Padis Valley, viewed from a small cave	Ramona and Sorin in the small cave (what were they doing there ??)	The other end of the Padis Valley
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Mihai and Sorin in front of Cetatile Ponorului (Ponorul's Castles) Notice those "small" rocks below	Remember the small rocks below? These are some of them One slip of a foot, and you'll become the latest McDonald's sandwich. Yummy !!	The huge space inside was too dark to take any great pics. This is the only pic inside the largest of the Cetatile Ponorului caves
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Descending towards another cave in the Ponorul's Castles complex	After walking for half an hour in the cave waterflow, this was the other entry.	Padis Valley is too large to be taken in just one pic. This is the view to the right, as seen from the rear. You can see smaller caves in the white rocks
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Padis Valley - view towards the left side	With horses in the Padis Valley. After I took this pic, I was silly enough to try to caress the wild ones in the background. Ah ah... Not everything that flies can be eaten, Sorin...	Padis Valley - view from the front. In the far left, you can see some of the white cliffs that are visible in pic 34 (3 pics ago)