[Romania] Hiking and camping in the Retezat Mountains National Park

After years of hiking mostly in the Făgăraș Mountains (as they are very close to Sibiu and easy to reach for us), this summer we decided that it’s finally time to try something new.  We chose 5 days at the beginning of August, hoping for a good weather after a quite rainy May, June and July, to spend in the Retezat Mountains National Park and hike the area.

The Retezat National Park (Romanian: Parcul Naţional Retezat) is a protected area located in the Retezat Mountains in the Hunedoara county. With a surface of about 380 square kilometers, it has more than 20 peaks over 2000 metres  and over 80 crystal clear deep glacier lakes that make these mountains to have one of the most unique landscapes in Romania.

What makes this area even more special? Lake Bucura is the largest glacier lake (10 square ha) and Lake Zănoaga is the deepest glacier lake in Romania (29m). There are more than 1100 type of plants, a third of all the plants in the country, 90 of them being endemic plants and can’t be seen anywhere else.

Bears, wolves, deer, lynx, wild boars, hares or marmots and about 180 bird species live here.

Access in the park

Being a national park and a protected area, people visiting this place have to bare in mind some rules which, for some, would be just simple common sense. Meaning you are not allowed to start a fire, to leave garbage behind, pick flowers or other type of plants or hunt animals. You are only allowed to camp in designated areas of the park.

There are several access points to the Retezat National Park, the most known and used ones are the ones starting from Cârnic, Râu Bărbat and Poiana Pelegii.

• Petroşani-Lupeni-Uricani-Câmpu lui Neag-Cheile Buţii, on road DN66A until you get to Câmpu lui Neag (paved road), then on the forest road (good condition). Access point to Cheile Buţii (Buţii Gorges).
• Petroşani-Lupeni-Uricani-Câmpu lui Neag-Buta, on DN66A until you get to Câmpu lui Neag (paved road), then on the forest road (the road is in a good condition until “La Beciuri”, then it’s a difficult to drive further even with a 4X4). Access point to Cheile Buţii (Buţii Gorges).
• Haţeg-Toteşti-Ostrov-Ostrovu Mic-Brazi-Gura Zlata-Gura Apei-Rotunda-Poiana Pelegii, on road DN68 until the first crossroad after Toteşti, on road DJ686A until Gura Apei, then on a forest road. The road is paved until Brazi and from Gura Apei to Poiana Pelegii the forest road is in a good condition. Access point to Bucura Lake in about 2 hours (it’s the fastest route to get to the Bucura Lake, but after the 2018 heavy rain the road is closed).
• Haţeg-Râu de Mori-Suseni (Cetatea de Colţ, Mănăstirea Colţ)-Râuşor, county road until Râuşor. The road is paved until Suseni and between Suseni and Râuşor is in a good condition. Acces point to Condor Shelter and Retezat Peak.
• Haţeg (Petroşani)-Ohaba de Sub Piatră-Sălaşu de Jos-Sălaşu de Sus-Mălăieşti-Nucşoara-Cârnic-Pietrele, on road E79 until Ohaba de sub Piatră, county road until Cârnic. Cârnic is the place to park your car, as you are not allowed to drive further (the road is in a bad condition). Acces point to the Pietrele and Gențiana Chalets and to the Bucura Lake.
• Haţeg-Pui-Râu Bărbat-Hobiţa-Baleia, on road E79 until Pui, on county road DJ667 until Hobiţa, then forest road until Baleia. Paved road until Râu Bărbat, forest road (long and difficult) until Baleia.
• Haţeg-Pui-Râu Bărbat-Hobiţa-pe Râu Bărbat-Stâna de Râu, on road E79 until Pui, county road DJ667 until Hobiţa, then forest road to Stâna de Râu. Paved road until Râu Bărbat, forest road in a good condition for about 3km and difficult afterwards.

Camping areas

Camping in the Retezat National Park is allowed only in some designated areas: Pietrele Chalet (they also have dormitories), Genţiana Chalet (they also have dormitories), Bucura Lake, Poiana Pelegii, Condor Shelter and Zănoaga Lake. The most famous and frequented camping place is the one around the Bucura Lake as it’s the perfect starting point for most of the hiking trips on the Retezat Mountains Ridge. Not to mention that the view is spectacular and it’s a true delight to wake up every morning and see this when you open your eyes.

Our trip

We planned 5 full days for this trip to have enough time to explore all the park and still we probably would have needed 2 more extra days to actually check it all out. We decided to camp at Lake Bucura and do some of the hiking trails around the lake. There is an option to sleep at one of the Pietrele or Gențiana chalets, but it takes more to get on the ridge every day, as they are at a lower altitude than Lake Bucura (2040m).  Camping at lake Bucura means also we had to carry all our equipment and food for the next 5 days in our backpacks, which was a bit of an effort.

Day 1: Cârnic – Pietrele Chalet – Gențiana Chalet – Curmătura Bucurei – Bucura Lake (blue line  – 6 hours)

Day one started very early to allow us to be as early as possible in Cârnic and start our ascent towards Bucura Lake, our camping headquarters. At about 9.30 AM we parked our car just outside of Cârnic, put on our backpacks and started the trip. The weather was looking good for the next days, with some low chances of rain and mostly with clear skies. Exactly what we were actually hoping for.

The first part of the trip, for about an hour, goes on the forest access road to the Pietrele Chalet. After about an hour you see a sign saying to follow a path through the forest to get to the Pietrele Chalet in about 15 minutes. At the chalet we made our first stop to have a quick snack.

From Pietrele the path goes again through the woods for about 50 minutes – 1 hour, going up to the Gențiana Chalet.

Going up from Gențiana, the forest ends and the juniper area begins. The path goes up more and more and the effort starts to get higher, as well.

We got to the Pietrele Lake where we had a quick stop to recover a bit after all the hiking and to prepare for the final ascent of the day to get to Curmătura Bucurei (Bucura Saddle – 2206m).

This part is quite a difficult one as it’s quite steep and with a heavy backpack it can become a bit annoying. But once you’re up on the saddle and you get such a nice view over the Bucura Lake, the nearby peaks and the camping area, you forget about all the effort.

From the Bucura saddle in about 30 minutes, going down, you get to the camping ground. Here people have built some sort of stone fortresses where you can put your tent to be protected against the heavy wind.

We got to lake Bucura somewhere around 4.00 in the afternoon, just in time to set our tents before the rain started. It wasn’t a forecast rain, but in the end it was just a quick and not so heavy one and we could enjoy dinner with a view in the end.

As it was Saturday, we found the camping ground quite full of tents and people and more people kept coming after we had arrived. Still, there’s enough room for everyone as not to feel that someone gets into your space.

The first afternoon spent at lake Bucura was quite a cloudy one, with no sunshine at all. Still the view was so spectacular, even with the clouds covering the high peaks around. Not to mention the sunset lights which gave us the chance to witness such a beautiful nature show.

First day was one of the hardest ones for us, as we had such heavy backpacks while going up to Lake Bucura, but we forgot all about it when we finally had some rest, enjoyed a nice dinner and finally realized where we were – in a quiet and relaxed place, with no city noise, with only natural light and so much fresh air and all this on top of the amazing view. The powerful effect nature has on our minds and souls, simple as that.

Plus, when the night came, the sky was perfectly clear, all the clouds disappeared and millions of stars showed up to amaze us even more. It’s justified to say that camping is a million stars hotel 🙂

Map of Day 1:

 

Day 2: Bucura Lake – Peleaga Peak (yellow cross ) – Peleaga Aiguilles – Bucura Saddle – Bucura Peak (red line ) – Bucura Gate – The Gate Lake – Bucura Lake (yellow line ) 6 hours

Waking up early on our second day here, we found a clear sky, with almost no clouds at all and with a warm sun that got us fast in the mood to do some proper hiking and conquer some peaks. So after breakfast, we took a few snacks and some water in one of our backpacks and officially started the day.

Following the yellow cross path  that starts from the Rescue Shelter next to the camping area, we started our ascent to Retezat’s highest point, the Peleaga Peak – 2509 meters. Right next to the Rescue Shelter there’s also a water spring with drinkable water.

While hiking on the mountain ridge there is no water source, so make serious supplies of water if you plan to hike for the whole day.

The ascent to the Peleaga Peak is not an easy one, for sure. For about 2 hours you practically go straight up, jumping from rock to rock, chasing the yellow cross sign. During our trip to the Peleaga Peak, clouds also started to show up and to gather around and become more and more dark and grey. They were slowly covering the peaks around us, still leaving us with a nice view over the lake.

When we were almost on the Peleaga Peak, the mountain ridge was already sunken in clouds, but as we finally got on top, a few minutes later, the clouds made room for the sun and a bit of blue sky, just enough to allow us to admire the beautiful view over the whole Retezat Mountains National Park.

At the Peleaga Peak we had a short break and a quick snack and decided where to head next. Our initial plan was to go to the Păpușa Peak and come back, but eventually we decided to follow the red line  via Bucura Saddle and Bucura Peak instead and make a sort of circuit hike around the Bucura Lake.

From the Peleaga Peak the red line path goes down a bit passing by the Peleaga Aiguilles (Colții Pelegii) – a conglomerate of very thick rocks looking like some sharp teeth. From there you get to Custura Bucurei Peak (2457 meters), the fifth highest peak of Retezat.

From Custura Bucurei Peak the path goes down to the Bucura Saddle (Curmatura Bucurei). From the Peleaga Peak it took us about 2 hours and 30 minutes to get here.

In another hour we got to the Bucura Peak (2433 meters), after a quite heavy and straight ascent from the Bucura Saddle. Here, as it was quite cloudy, we only spent a couple of minutes and further on we took the yellow line path  to go down to Lake Bucura again.

We passed by the Bucura Gate (Portița Bucurei) and the Gate Lake (Tăul Porții) on our way down. We also had the chance to see some of Bucura’s smaller sisters – Ana, Florica, Viorica and Bucurel lakes.

We were back at the camping area around 4PM, which gave us enough time to relax and chill around the lake, before the night came. I found it ideal to hike for 6 -7 hours and get back to the tent early enough to still enjoy daylight, sun and relaxation. Perfect setup for enjoying a good book.

Map of day 2:

 

Day 3: Bucura Lake – Bucura Gate – Retezat Peak (yellow line ) – Bucura Peak – Bucura Saddle – Bucura Lake (red line ) – 6 hours

Day 3 started again with a very clear sky and sun all over. This was the pattern for all the days that we spent at the Bucura Lake. But in a few hours clouds would gather around. For this day we had in plan to hike to the Retezat Peak (2482 meters) and we tried to chose a hiking path that would again go in circle, rather than go and come back on the same way.

We started on the yellow line  by going to Bucura Gate (Portița Bucurei). We got up on Portița Bucurei in about an hour after our departure. It was a good warming up for what would come next.

From Portița Bucurei we followed the same yellow line path in the direction of the Retezat Peak. The path goes quite smooth for a while – there is a small part where there are some chains and it’s considered to be a bit dangerous to pass through, but honestly I did see any real danger – of course you have to watch out where you step, but still, it’s not something that would pose problems to people used to hiking.

In  about 2 hours from our departure from Bucura Lake, we got to the Retezat Saddle (Șaua Retezat – 2251 meters) from where the official ascent to the Retezat Peak starts. It was about 45 minutes of a quite heavy ascent (heavier than the one to the Peleaga Peak) and we kept asking ourselves where is that peak hiding. As it was quite cloudy we didn’t get to actually see nothing above us.

When we finally got to the peak, we took a well deserved break, had a snack and took our breath. It was quite an effort as we were already starting to feel the tiredness from all the effort in the previous days as well.

We were lucky enough to also get a bit of sun and clear skies while on the peak, enough to motivate us that it was worth going all the way up.

From the Retezat Peak we went back to the Bucura Lake, but we took another path. We followed the same yellow line path until it met the red line path .

We then followed the red line path that goes up to the Bucura Peak (where we had been the previous day). For about 10-15 minutes we had to actually climb on the Bucura Peak, not just hike. That got us us really sweaty and tired.

From the Bucura Peak we continued on the red line path to the Bucura Saddle (Curmatura Bucurei) and down to the Bucura Lake, where we finally had some rest. A thing that we did every day after finishing the hike was to take our boots out and dive our feet in the cold waters of the river near the camping area. It was pure heaven for our feet and almost all the pain went away instantly.

Map of day 3:

 

Day 4: Bucura Lake – Judele Saddle – Zănoaga Lake and back (red circle and triangle  & ) – 5h30

We thought a lot about what to do in day 4 – we were thinking of maybe going home or just staying all day around the camping area and do nothing. We were quite tired from the previous days. Although we were sleeping quite a lot and well at night, still our bodies were feeling a bit overwhelmed after all the effort we had been doing – being people who normally sit in front of a computer all day.

In the end, we woke up in the morning, saw again the beauty around us and convinced ourselves that it would really be a pity to lose one day doing nothing. So we decided to have a shorter and easier hike for the day and we headed in the direction of the Zănoaga Lake.

We followed the red circle and red triangle path that goes around Viorica and Florica Lakes.

The first 2 hours are quite hard, as we had to go up to the Judele Saddle (Șaua Judele – 2300m). In the Retezat Mountains you don’t get to have too many straight paths, you normally get big rocks all around on which you have to find the right place to step and that can be a bit tiring.

The final ascent to the Judele Saddle, took us just a few minutes, but is was very intense, as the slope of the mountain is very steep.

From the Judele Saddle, where we had a quick stop, we continued on the mountain ridge, following the same signs in the direction of the Zănoaga Lake.

We stopped when we got on the saddle above the Zănoaga Lake and we decided not to go down to the lake and hike all the way up, but just relax and have a nice view from above of the lake. We spent almost an hour above the Zănoaga Lake, just enjoying all the quiet around us.

As we chose a rather shorter and easier hike for the day, we did take quite a lot of breaks, to just enjoy the view and relax. We were in no hurry, we had one of the most sunniest days from the whole trip and we also had a good view over the surroundings. On our way back to the Bucura Lake we also spent almost and hour up on the Judele Saddle, doing nothing but enjoy the view and live that moment of quietness and fresh air.

Getting to the Bucura Lake, we again took our boots off and cooled down our feet in the river. Some of us, more brave, even had a proper bath in the cold water, while others just relaxed in the sun.

Map of Day 4:

 

Day 5: Lake Bucura – Gențiana Chalet (blue line ) – Cârnic (blue triangle ) – 4h30

Day 5 was our last day in the Retezat National Park and although we were quite tired, dreaming of a hot shower and of eating something else than canned food, we left the mountain a bit sad that the adventure was over.

We packed all our stuff, put on the heavy backpacks again and started our descent to the place where we had parked our car 5 days before.

This time we followed the blue line  in the direction of the Gențiana Chalet and from there the blue triangle path , which is the shorts route to Cârnic,  and not going to the Pietrele Chalet.

We had to cross the river and that gave me a bit of a struggle, but other than that, it was an easy descent.

Map of Day 5:

It was only when we got back in the city that we realized what had been happening to us in the last 5 days. After 5 days of fresh air, no noise except the wind, water and wild animals, after no phone, after seeing not that many people around us, we got back in the city and took a breath of city air that we din’t enjoy at all. Plus all the cars, the people, the noise and the rush around us. Still the trip had such a good effect on us, as we were tired, but with a clear and relaxed mind, with good vibes and smiles on our faces and in our souls.