This story will be a short one, as I am not able to fully describe the awesomeness that just happened. Bear in mind that the snow is still deep on the mountains, especially within the forest … but this won’t stop true adventurers. The weekend started with a barbecue and some beer, classic combo here in Romania + some board games! The next morning we were ready to conquer the ’12 Apostoli’ trail in the volcanic mountains of Calimani, some of the most wild mountains in Romania.

Looks like the winter was rough with the trail. Lots of fallen trees and mud pools tried to stop us or to make the advancement harder. Thanks to our stubbornness, equipment and hunger for mountain we were able to go further (in a slower pace, but further).

The trail become scarier and scarier (well, not quite, but the vibe reminded us of Blair Witch Project!). And the snow started to show up; initially a frozen lair, but soon it looked like the day will be a long and consuming one. We were lucky enough to spot some wildlife tracks!

Going up was difficult as the snow was soft (especially in the sunny spots), and we had to focus on each step! It looked like a 4-5 hour trail will become an easy 8-9 hour one.

As soon as the forest ended we made it to an open space and we were able to see our destination (kind of, as the mist was a constant presence on the mountain top!)

’12 Apostoli’ rock formation is so close !!! We push for a final stretch and we made it. After almost 5 hours of snow trekking our shoes are soaked in water; it looked like the price, shop, brand etc. were irrelevant facing the snow. We took a 20 min brake and we prepared for the descend. And yeah, we chose a different path, no easy time for our bodies.

After 4 more hours & couple of times of loosing the trail we managed to climb down the Calimani Mountains. Always packed with adventures and great memories. We changed our clothes and shoes (especially the shoes!) and we had a warm meal and some tequila shots. Perfect trip!

If you’re interested in hiking the Romanian mountains please drop an email dragos.chitac@yahoo.com and check my Patreon account for more details.