23 Augusztus 2019

In my previous blog post, I described our trail to the Pietrele Chalet. In this article, I will describe our first trip that leads to the Retezat peak. I don’t know if the peak gave its name to the mountains or the mountains to the summit, but it doesn’t matter if somebody who loves mountains arrives here, he/she will certainly conquer this iconic peak, which is Retezat peak.

We were a picked-up company, from two countries, with different ages, but we had one thing in common, everyone loved the mountains. So, in the morning we set off from the chalet, at the blue cross mark. The hiking trail went up in the woods, then after a short walk, we reached the Stânișoara waterfall.

Continuing our way, we soon reached an intersection where we continued on the blue triangle trailmark. 

As we went higher and higher, the forest was slowly replaced by dwarf pine and the soil by smaller and after, larger stones, and we could see more and more from the Stânișoara valley in front of us, which could resemble my imaginary heaven. The trail was flooded with yesterday’s rain, which made it difficult to progress in many places. It’s hard to describe the amazing view of the landscape, the pictures help with the idea, but they can’t give back the experience. You don’t feel the morning dew, the smell of pine, you don’t hear the ripples of water, the chirping of birds and the real silence that can only be found away from the city.

Arriving at the Stânișoara glacier lake, which is situated at 2000 m high, we held a larger rest, gathering strength for the steep ascent ahead. The path, marked with a blue triangle continued on the stone sea.

These stone seas are characteristic of the Retezat Mountains, as well as the fact that this mountain has the most glacier lake (sea eyes), a total of 82.

Arriving in the Retezat Saddle,the mountains unfolded in front of us, which was so beautiful that we fell in love with it forever and even then we decided not to be here for the last time.
At the yellow bar mark, we continued our way to the top. Only one steep section separated us from the destination, which we successfully completed.

We reached the Retezat peak, which is 2482 m high. Although this peak is one of the most famous summits, it is still only the third highest peak in the Retezat Mountains, but in view and beauty, it does not lag behind the others. Sometimes fog settled on the summit during our stay, but the wind made sure we had a view.

After eating-drinking-photographing, in no hurry, we slowly headed back, on the same route where we came. From the top down to the saddle on the yellow bar mark, from the Retezat saddle to the edge of the forest on the blue triangle sign, then from there on the blue cross sign to the Pietrele Chalet. 

I couldn’t have wished for a better day.

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