dorianhodorogea.ro
Date: 27-28 August 2011
Location: Piatra Craiului mountains
Participants: Andra Dorian
Duration: 6h+4h
We could not miss such a great weather weekend. Few were the days when looking at meteoblue.com, were we able to see clear sky with bright shining sun. So we decided to go on one of the tracks that were on our priority list. Late Sunday morning we left for Garofita Pietrei Craiului hut, in Arges country where we started our journey. We were surprised to see that there is a barrier at the fork where you can go to the hut. So we left the car, along some other 4 or 5, got out packs, a lot lighter than the previous week, and there we were on the track to the hut. We met an old friend from the group which is taking care of the hut, Horia. He eventually helped us since Andra forgot the phone in the car, and I did not charge mine at home. It wasn’t that nice for me to walk with 2 packs for about 2km, however the hammock at the hut paid for all the effort. The cabin looks quite good and it’s a great place to go to on Friday evening and start the walk on Sunday morning for the southern part of Piatra Craiului. We did not rest for a long time, since we were a bit late. We got a good hint about a shortcut towards Padina Lancii, unmarked but faster than the ones we knew. It took us some time to get to the well known blue triangle marking the entrance. We read it;s a great track to descend, and some rope would be needed to rappel. We decided to ascend it since it looked interesting. It was however fun since we did not find the exact route, and we went for some hills that offered an impressive look over some of the valleys. We got to Poienita Inchisa where I would advice not to camp in order to preserve the wilderness and beauty of this place and follow the track up the mountain towards Saua Funduri, where there is a refuge in good condition with a nice bench and table outside where one can have something to eat. It was a little bit crowded during the weekend, 2 groups of 4 people each, got us all crowded, some of the people carried a little bit more gear than it would make sense, and some a little more drink than necessary, funny groups both of them. The following day we descended on a the track that gets us near Marele Grohotis, near Cerdacul Stanciului and Pestera Stanciului, very beautiful formations that would impress even the most demanding. Back at the hut, we met some other old friends, catching up for the last tracks and interesting experiences and also looking forward towards interesting new tracks. I found Garofita Pietrei Craiului a great place to rest, have lemon-beer and think over what will be next.
