Quick trip to Romania

Some excursions abroad are planned well in advance. On the contrary some trips can be either unexpected or last minute trips. That does'not mean that last minute journey is less carefully planned than preparations executed well before departure.

There is a simple principle to follow: "Prepare for this in such and that way and when such a situation presents itself you will be ready." Having been to Romania at least for 30 times it is a second nature for me to shoulder my backpack, grab a camera and set off on an adventure.

This time I had only a short time window of free time. Just four days in Romania! I planned this event with Ioan, my romanian trekking partner and fellow photographer and blogger. We have chosen a mountain range close to Brasov in order not to travel too far away from my train destination in Romania.

Saturday April the 28th

I arrived in Brasov on the early morning April the 28th. There were Ioan and Maria waiting for me in the main lounge. I carried Galen Rowell's Inner Game of Outdoor Photography book on my pack to borrow it to Andrei, our friend in Bucharest. So I was happy that I could leave this heavy thing at Maria's place for the duration of the trip. I will pick up the book upon our return from mountains. We planned to spent only three days and two nights in the mountains.

Our destination were Leaota Mountains, not too far away towards south-west from Brasov. To get there we had to get to the bus station where we got our bus tickets for Moeciu, the terminus for local buses. farther on we should hitchhike to get to Fundata where our trail began.

                                                    Ioan and Maria at a bus station.

We said bye to Maria and got in.The journey to Moeciu was uneventfull and soon after getting off the bus we got a lift directly to Fundata at foothills of Leaota. There we started walking. Fundata lies at altidude over 1000 m and offers splendid view of the surrounding mountains, still covered with snow at the end of April.

                                                 Snowy ridges rise over green meadows at Fundata.

                                                                       At foothills of Leaota.

At first we descended into the valley and followed a mountain brook until we get into the main valley. In the valley we met with a flock of sheep, guarded by fierce sheep dogs, our first this year encounter with those annoying beasts. We defended ourselves with our trekking poles until we get out of their territory. 

                                              Sheep on first green grass in the valley.

In the valley there was a cave marked on our map and we decides for some exploration there.

                                                               Ioan exploring inside the cave.

                                                There was a stream running in the cave.

                          

First section was iluminated by daylight, so we were able to make photographs with cameras fixed on tripods. My camera can make three different exposures on a single frame, thus being able to span a great differences in light levels. This function is called HDR mode (high dynamic range). This function saved a day in the cave. When we emerged out of the cave after a while we saw some tourist approaching and later we met with a large group of city people on the road leading towards the cave. It was obvious that the unusually hot weather lured lots of people out into the mountains.

 Those who went into the mountains were rewarded by seeing beautiful crocuses everywhere.

Folowing cascading brook we soon arrived in a wild gorge with high vertical walls on either side.

Those walls rised into the height of about 200 m. Neither me nor Ioan had any idea that such walls exist in Leaota! Making photographs in the valley was a difficult deal, because of cloudy skies and hazy atmosphere. The contrast was so great that we had to utilize ND Graduated filters to keep details in the skies and on the ground at the same time. I was using my old Cokin ND Grads, which were scratched from long usage. My new filters were awaiting me in Bucharest, where I got bought them at F64 by Ioan. They were for only a half of the price they costed in Prague.

 When the sun came out walls were shining above our heads. It would be wonderfull to get up those walls if there were a trail up the cliff.

Beech forests in Leaota. As I said many times before, those forests look very differently then in our country. Here lichens make the trunks to look almost white, they look like birches from a distance. In my country they are dark grey with almost no lichens on them.

                                                 Gagea flower occupies sunny spots in forest.

                       Snowdrops and crocuses occupy even shadowed spots on the forest floor.

                     With incresing altitude north slopes were covered with snowfields.

 Later a hedgehog was scared with our presence a did not let us to take a good image of it. We talked a lot about everything during our ascent. Ioan told me that he was attending a concurs on photography at Carpati site. If he won he would spent 10 days in Leaota doing lanscape and wildlife photography. This trip could be considered a preparation trip for this job. I was very pleased with that and was proud that I can participate on exploration of less know ridge. Leaota doesn't receive so many visitors as neighbouring ridges. I have yet to hear about any Czech tourists there, most of them go elsewhere.

We were following a tourist trail. It was marked with a blue stripe and occasional bear paw, a reminder that there were bears in the area.

                                              A trail through mountain spruce forest.

                                        The trail climbed on steep section at the end of the valley.

                               At one spot we deviated to the left and lost the trail which went more to the right.

Lost and found lens! Here we got onto the ridge at the first mountain meadow. While taking photographs of crocuses (lying on my belly) I accidentally and unknowinglly dropped my Pentax lens out of my bag. I discovered that I lost it a while later on different spot. I returned to the first place on meadow with crocuses and seeing this image in from of me brought a BIG relief. This lens is my trusty macro and short telephoto (100mm/4) which I had bought back in 1999.

After short portion of forest we emerged on alpine meadows with first views toward Iezer-Papusa and Piatra Craiului.

                                          Views opened towards the highest peak Leaota, 2136 m.

                                                       Here crocuses occured in great numbers.

                                                              Taking pictures of crocuses.

                                                Late afternoon on the main ridge of Leaota.

                                                      Great view towards snowy plateau of Bucegi.

Crocuses and snowfield alternated. The truth is that crocuses appear immediately after the snow melts. They follow melting snow.

Snow remnats follow the rim of the crest on the lee side, where there were greatest accumulations of snow during winter.

                                                                    Snow field at sunset.

                                                           The Sun sets behind Piatra Craiului ridge.

We found a perfect sheepfold where to stay overnight. Although we were very tired we attemted to do some night photography. Don't forget that I was travelling on the last night and Ioan woke up very early at Breaza to be on time in Brasov. To iluminate interior of the sheepfold with warm light, Ioan had carried a candle, which survived our winter Vrancea traverse.

I devoted more then half an hour to complete fifty 30 second exposures to make startrails image. I merged pictures together in startrails program later at home. This is the result. Have a look at my previous post about Vrancea winter traverse, where I speak at length about night photography. The fact is that I usually try to do some night photography on every trip, if the weather and subject matter cooperates. Sometimes I do get good image, sometimes I don't. Nevertheless, for me this is a game I am passionate about.

Sunday April the 29th.

The morning dawned clear. We woke up even before we heard the sound of alarm clock. Outside there was so much light as if we overslept for the sunrise. I ventured out to check the light and to see if it was worth of the effort to get out to do early morning photography. There were no nice colours outside. It looked like as if the daylight came too early or the sun rose too late. I suspected that a hazy atmosphere was to blame for having no rich colours on landscape. The colours were extremely muted and only small area of the sky had some richer colours. I saved the day by taking shots with my telephoto. Thus I was able to get some crimson colours above Costila Peak in Bucegi and orange glow around the sun.

The crimson glow lasted only a couple of minutes. Then it was gone. On photographs taken a while later there are some warm tones, but to the naked eye they were almost invisible.

                                                               Sunrise seen from Leaota.

                                                          Ioan making early morning photographs.

                                                 Self-portrait with Leaota Peak in background.

We were standing one beside one, each of us making his own set of images. We even didn't bother to ask each other to poze for the camera, since we used selftimers on our cameras fixed on tripods. In this way we saved some time in short window of early morning light.

By 7 o'clock the light was flat on the east side of the crest. We slowly returned towards the sheepfold.

The look out from above the sheepfold was incredibly beautiful. This scene with snowy peaks in the distance and large green valleys reminded me of Nepal Himalaya, even though I was looking at European mountains.

The Leaota Mountains are perfectly positioned in between higher mountain ranges, thus offering great views in each direction.

 

The season was perfect for watching fields of crocus flowers and we spent a lot of time making crocus photographs.

                                                                Crocuses were almost everywhere.

With increasing altitude snowfields became more frequent and larger. There we met with large footprints of a dog or a wolf. It could be either a dog or a wolf, there was no way to tell the prints appart. They were in printed in soft snow and had already melted to some degree. Only behaviour or the animal could tell us what species has left these traces.

There was no reason to think it was a dog. What a reason could explain its presence here at the end of winter season? Sheep with dogs wouln't come here for another month. On one snowfield there were two tracks converging into a single line. This behavioral is typical for wolves.

A single line leading across snowfield. We were sure thes two animals must have been wolves, not dogs.

Ioan was here in winter two years ago and had written a superb artricle about it, called In the tracks of the wolves (Pe urmele lupilor). when I was in godeanu last November I saw similar track of snowfields. Then I was, too, thinking of wolves not of dogs.

Burned trees clearly communicated that the area is from time to time swept by wildfire. Sometimes the fire is set up by people to clear pastures. I already photographed this tree on my first trip through here in September 2009.

After reaching the top of Leaota peak we took a rest by the stone heap atop. The heap itself was topped with old stone cross adorned with Cyrillic carvings. Since Romanians adopted latin alphabet quite recently (around 1860), the creation of the cross must predate this event.

                                                                  Great views from Leaota peak.

Later we met with several people carrying skis to the top. They thought they would find enough snow here. But the effort came to naught. They made no skiing here and returned to the car in the valley withoug making a single line in the snow.

Piatra Craiului with some remnant of snow. Each day there was less snow then the day before.

Only Papusa seemed to have enough snow. But closer look reveals that the peak was crossable without walking on the snow. The trail could be completed walking on grass only.

           On Bucegi plateau there still was a lot of snow. Our night shelter is visible on foreground ridge.

From the top we descended towards subsidiary ridge, where we have never been before. On one peak we wanted explore two lakes marked on our map.

                                                                 Ioan reading the map in Leaota.

                                                   The subsidiary ridge which we wanted to follow.

            Soon we reached a place with abandoned sheepfolds. Views towards Leaota peak were great.

                                                     The same view taken with 14 mm lens.

                                                               Looking out of the sheepfold.

                                                          Next to the sheepfold there was a lake.

                                                                  The lake with reflections.

                                            Crocuses bloomed on the ridge in great numbers.

Crocuses with Leaota peak in backdrop. The greatest problem was to avoid my camera's shadow appearance on the image when I want to compose flowers with the peak in a single frame.

                                                                  Crocuses set against the sky.

                                                                        Backlit crocuses.

Reaching an intersection with another subsidiary ridge we left our rucksacks atop a hill and set off further to ascent the highest peak in the area without them.
On the image above is visible our traick for the next day. it follows the ridge on the right.

                                                             Last snowfields on steep slopes.

The peak was hit by a wildfire last autumn. Now, crocuses were shining out of blackened ground in great contrast.

In front is another subsidiary ridge with two lakes, which we wanted to explore, thus abandoning the former idea of following the bigger ridge all the way down. In the background snowy Bucegi plateau is visible.

                                                                            Me in Leaota.

                                                          Juniper groves in Leaota.

                                            Scary woods in the saddle on the subsidiary ridge.

                                                               Last snow on forest floor.

                                                                Crocuses on lakeshore.

            Another lake on the crest. The crest from which we descended is seen on the horizon.

                                                     Frog lake, it was full of mating frogs.

The water was blue on surface, but turbid underneath. We hoped to find a stream, beacuse we wererunning out of water and wanted to spent a night in the area.

Newly build sheepfold, not yet finished offered us luxurious shelter overnight. We spent comfortable night on the second floor.

Leaving our rucksacks at the sheepfold we searched for water in these dark and scary woods. But to no avail. We remained without water. Later we filled a plastic bag with old snow and thaw it on a stove to get water for making drinks and food. The snow was far better option then water from dirty frog lake.

Bucegi seen from a subsidiary ridge of Leaota. Evening was approaching, we set off to explore the peak. On alpine meadow we saw a wild boar and a roe deer. I don't put my images here, 'cos they are poor quality pictures. Ioan's 200 mm lens made much better pictures of the animals.

The area is perfectly suited for watching wildlife, but later in the season the sheepfold will be occupied with shepherds and we would have problems with theirs dogs.

Because the hazy air condition continued, there were no vivid colours on landscape at sunset. Orange colours appeared only around the sun itself.

We both were extremely tired after full-day effort. We had no energy to attempt more night photography, like we did in winter in Vrancea for example. We took a single image out of the veranda on the second floor.

Monday April the 30th

The day dawned clear, windless and--colorless. The atmospheric effect continued muting colours.

There were no rich hues in the landscape as if the day come to early or the sun rose too late. I can compare it to an image projected on a screen. When the image is projected in total darkness, you perceive rich colours and good contrast in the image. But whe you turned the room lights on the image would pale and become ugly and borring. The same situation was here in the Leaota.

                                         Despite hazy atmosphere this image came out quite well.

                                                         Moments before sunrise were colourless..

When the sun came out some orange colour appeared. The sun also made visible hut Babele which sits directly on the edge of the Bucegi plateau and some rock nearby.

                                                    Our luxurious sheepfold at sunrise.

                                                       Peacefull morning in Leaota.

                                                             Iezer-Papusa seen from Leaota.

                                             And close-up of the Iezer-Papusa ridge.

                                                      Perfect morning in the mountains.

On the descent we found old brown bear footprints in wet snow. If we found this in the Czech Republic, such a finding would make headlines in our media.

                                Looking into green valley of Dimbovita River. We will be there soon.

                                              Wild valey in Leaota. Probably Valea Ghimbavului.

The last high peak on the subsidiary ridge. We descended into a saddle and went to the left to bypass the peak.

               Looking back onto the heights of Leaota, where we spent two days and nights.

Beech forest of Leaota with fresh greenery on them. Tree trunks are covered with lichens, that is why they look like as if they have horizontal strips painted all over them.

                             We got under big rock that we saw from higher up on the ridge.

                                                          Gravel slopes difficult to cross.

                                                               Not easy walking.

                                                          The last section on rocks.

                                                        Fresh green beech forest. Beutifull!

                                                            Beech trunk with a fountain.

                                                 Flowering trees in orchards below Leaota.

                           Haystacks below Leaota, typical feature for landscape in Romania.

                                   Feared sheepdog of Romania. Luckilly this one was behind a fence.

                                                                   Last look at the mountains.

                                         Brook flowing in Dragoslavele in Dambovita Valley.

                                                  Church and cemetary in Dragoslavele.

                                Flowering cherry tree and a house in side street at Dragoslavele.

                                    Horse pulled cart. They still keep going in Romania.

A side road shop from where we bought some drinks. I don't mention a white stork in the nest above it.

                                               Yet another last look at the mountains of Leaota.

By bus we got to Brasov, where we met with Maria and together moved by train to Breaza. On the image Ioan shows pictures taken in Leaota to his sister.

                      From railway station we were driven to Breaza by a car. Photo made by Catalin.

In Breaza we met wit Irina, Darmina and Catalin for a small reunion proposed by Irina. Girls fed us with a chicken soup.

It is a habit in Breaza that girls make soup and guy make meat on grill. Here I am making a fire.

                                 Night party at Breaza. We had a great time there and then.

                                     Tulips in Breaza. Making preparation for a dinner in the garden.

In the morning we had a breakfast under a cherry tree. In the afternoon we split. I went to Brasov at 4 pm. Maria went there two hours later. Irina, Darmina and Catalin went to Bucharest by a car, while Ioan stayed at Breaza.

I got home on Wednesday morning. Two days after the return home I was back on way to Romania for new adventure in Valea Cernei-Domogled National Park.

New story will appear here later, no so soon.