Day 30 ROMANIA Piatra Craiului

Another beautiful day for a hike,  blue skies and weather so warm I had to shed my thermal top early in the hike. We started the hike from Fontana Lui Botorog.The hike started with a relentless 4km steep climb. I took a long break to video call mum and showed her the forest. We finally climbed out of the forest into open alpine meadow, Poiana Zanoaga, with fields of purple crocuses growing around and amongst patches of snow, surrounded by snow capped peaks. It was so beautiful I had to give mum another video.
Another 2 km on this much kinder gradient, we reached Chalet Curmatura.
We were told by our host Dorin to convey his greetings to the owners however they were in Brasov. The chalet only provided a very basic menu and we shared a chicken soup, and sausages with potatoe stew. 
The history and development of Cabana Curmătura is closely tied to the early development of mountain tourism in the Piatra Craiului. It started as a small hunting refuge in 1897 before a formal structure was established by the Transylvanian Carpathian Society (SCA-EKE) in 1897. The modern chalet was built by the Siebenbürgischer Karpatenverein (S.K.V.), a Saxon mountaineering association, between 1936 and 1937. In the communist Era, it was used as a Tourism Office. Today it remains one of the most well-maintained and iconic huts in the Southern Carpathians, serving as the primary base for those exploring the Piatra Craiului National Park.
The hike down took us past the Zarnesti Gorge.
We had to be careful with our footing for most of the hike. We had to negotiate rocks of various sizes, tree roots, slippery ice and snow, mud, river crossings,  flooded paths, and narrow ledges with steep drops on one side. The last 2km gave us some reprieve as we walked on a rather flat old river bed of gravel. This time I was able to capture the bears foot print in the mud.
I think our host, Dorin took pity on us when he saw us hobbling up to the Cabana and invited us into an outdoor jacuzzi to lessen our muscle pain. The water was at a perfect temperature of 41⁰ with salts. We were rejuvenated after the jacuzzi and most of the aches and pain were gone.
We climbed from 831m to 1461m elevation.
Walked 13 kmRead more