Generally everyone has already experienced that spontaneous things are more successful, than pre-planned things. This was also true for the weekend of July 10-11-12.

On Wednesday night, with our friends, we decided to meet on the weekend and do it in the Făgăraș Mountains, by climbing the second highest peak in the country. So on Thursday I went shopping, I packed and Friday after work, we set off. We discussed meeting at Bâlea Waterfall Chalet. The plan was to arrive at Bâlea Lake in the evening, where we planned to camp.

Around 20:00 we arrived with Csabi at the Bâlea Waterfall Chalet. Our friends were still an hour away, so we decided to run to the Bâlea Waterfall, which is a 40-45 minutes hike. We followed the red dot pathway. It took us 30 minutes to get to the waterfall, but we ran. We took a few pictures and also ran back.

USEFUL INFO: From the Bâlea Waterfall Chalet, traffic is only allowed between 07:00 and 21:00, although only one sign prohibiting traffic, it is worth following, in the dark some road sections can be dangerous.

Arriving at Bâlea Lake, we could barely see. A helpful salesman briefed us and we found a great place to camp. We set up our tents and went to sleep, the next day a heavy hike awaited us.

USEFUL INFO: You can camp in the north-east corner of Bâlea Lake. This is a paid tent camp with great views and toilets. We camped and parked in the place below Salvamont, under the rocks. In July, many people besides us had tents here. We didn’t have to pay anyone, but we didn’t have a toilet either. In August it was FORBIDDEN to camp here! I don’t know the reason.

IMPORTANT! Due to bears, do not leave any food or cosmetics (toothpaste, deo, creams, etc.) in the tent! We put everything in the car. Around the lake in the shop are many delicious foods, which can attract the bears. At night we woke up to firecrackers fired against the bears.

Our Saturday route:

Bâlea Lake (2034m) – Curmătura Bâlei (2176m) – Paltinu Saddle (2345m) – Doamnei Saddle (2302m) – Lăițel Saddle (2290m) – Lăițel peak (2391m) – Laita Saddle (2156m) – Călțun Lake (2135m) – Portița Călțunului (2259m) – Strunga Doamnei (2348m) – Negoiu peak (2535m) and back. 

On Saturday morning we finally leave at 9:00 o’clock. We knew it was late to leave, but there was nothing to do. Everyone had a headlamp, we were certain that we would have to end the trail in the dark. The weather promised a great day, clear cloudless sky.

The trail started immediately with an ascent of about 1.5 hours, we followed the red cross pathway to Curmatură Bâlei Saddle (2176m), where we switched to the blue lanera pathway. Passing near the Paltinu peak (2399m), we arrived at Paltinu Saddle (2345m) where we followed the red lane pathway, the Făgăraș Mountain main ridge route. Passing the Pisica (Lepșița) 2389m – Cat peak the landscape slowly began to unfold before us, with mountain pastures, steep hillsides, thorny peaks, dense snow patches surrounded by bright green grass. After a small slope we arrived at a spring, covered in snow, it was not recommended to drink from it, most likely we would have drunk snow juice. We were prepped and carried enough water for the whole trip, about 3 L / person. From the spring, our way passed through the Doamna Saddle (2302m), next to the Laita peak (2397m)and then the Lăițel Saddle (2290m) in some places chains helped the tourists.

A steep, winding ascent led to the top of Lăițel peak (2391m), but the effort is always made up for by the landscape, and when we arrived at the top we saw our destination, the Negoiu peak.

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We descended from the peak, continuing on the red lane pathway and soon we reached the Laita Saddle, which was densely decorated with steep, sharp rocks, which was properly equipped with chains, we passed safely through the rock wall. Soon we saw the Călțun Glacier Lake (2135m) and the Călțun Shelter, next to which our road continues.

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 USEFUL INFO: You can camp by Călțun Lake and you have a beautiful mountain view for the campsite.

We rested a bit near the mirror-clear glacier lake and then continued our trail bound by the huge rocks, some the size of a house. On our left, with the Lespezi peak (2517m) and the Călțun peak (2505m), we slowly ascended among the huge rocks, which were soon replaced by tiny stones, sometimes dotted with snow tongues on the hillside.

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We reached the Strunga Doamnei (2348m) , which is a narrow and steep valley carved into the rocky ridge. Here we climbed out on the chains and followed the pathway on the other side of the saddle, which approaches the Negoiu peak from behind. We passed near the Between Strungi peak (2476m) and we were already very close to the Negoiu summit, when we heard the SMURD helicopter. We soon knew that a tourist had dropped his backpack into the abyss and climbed down after it. He couldn’t find his backpack and couldn’t even climb back. The mountain rescuers came to rescue the hiker. Luckily, the tourist did not get hurt, but his backpack was missing.

IMPORTANT: to learn from the case, put your bag in a safe place, if it still falls into the abyss do not climb after it!

Negoiu peak 2535m was the culmination of our trip. We spent a good hour at the top, in a great atmosphere, with a perfect view. We ate, drank and took photos. 

It was already 16:00 o’clock, so we had to head back, because we knew the way back, we knew it wouldn’t be good to cross the chains in the dark, and no one would have liked to spend the night in a shelter.

Sunlight we crossed the chains, but once the sun hid behind the mountains, the way back was a real challenge. The temperature decreased and the wind was blowing hard. We couldn’t go very fast either, we started to get tired, so we tried to save our energy. Sometimes I received a message from RoAlert that near us are bears.

Slowly, but we hiked. The sunset was amazing. And later the sky dazzled us. With the headlights we could see the trail well and get back to our tents. After a quick dinner, we fell into our tents.

Sunday morning, we walked around Bâlea Lake, but terrified of the many people, we said goodbye and headed home.

I had a beautiful hike, with great company. I look forward to the next!

Strava trail recording: