After our failed one night stop at Arefu, we were picked up by a driver to make the 1.5 hour drive to Balea Lake for our highlight of Romania. The drive was short, but the roads were so incredibly windy that I had to put my music on and just stare out the window focusing my best to not throw up. Luckily for me Nick answered all of the driver’s questions and attempts at deeper conversation so I did not have to. Romania has the second most bears out of any European country, after Russia, so we were hoping to see at least one. It is more common to see them at night or early morning, but there was one just hanging out on the side of the road for us. He was super fluffy and looked quite young. The views to get to Balea Lake were stunning, with many waterfalls, forests, and mountains.

When we arrived, we checked in to our camper’s hut, a small cottage with a few rooms filled with as many bunk beds as possible. There was a large common dining area with wooden tables and benches, a fireplace, a bar, and large windows facing a stunning view. We booked here for 3 nights so that we could have a starting point close to the trail for the next morning, have a place to leave extra stuff while hiking, and a place to sleep after 2 days of backpacking. The place was fully booked so I was happy I’m someone who books things in advance.

To get to the actual lake and the merchant stalls that line the parking area surrounding it was a 15 minute walk through the ‘Balea Lake Tunnel’. It was a tunnel for cars and pedestrians through the mountain which was a perfect shelter from the quick changing weather. Since we had arrived on a Saturday, the lake was crowded (understatement of the blog). At the lake we took some photos and watched the many tour buses pull in and disgorge swarms of people to look at the lake. Around the lake were beautiful views including herds of sheep moving across the sides of surrounding mountains, small waterfalls, windy roads getting to Balea Lake from the other side of the pass, and scenic cabins.

There were around 20 merchant stalls along the road. Many of them were the exact same shop on repeat with a few of the hot food vendors selling (some) variety. Nick guessed that they likely all used the same suppliers. In general they sold some combination of smoked sheep cheeses, various types of pastramis, corn, candies, fudge, jams, vinegars, berries, waffles, carved wooden items, and various woolen clothings and rugs. We shared a raspberry cup, grilled corn, hot dog, and cheese and garlic langos for lunch. Nick also got some chocolate which was like a less dense version of fudge; I thought it tasted like hot chocolate powder.

For dinner later on we ate at the large grill tent. To be honest, we got excited and ordered too much food, but that was probably good in preparation for our big hike. A few micis, chicken breast, stuffed mushroom, and spicy sausage. For dessert there was raspberry and whipped cream flavored soft serve ice cream served in large sweet bread cones. I thought it would be like a regular cone with ice cream inside the cone itself. I ate all the ice cream from the top of the cone before giving Nick the rest. As it turns out he ended up with 1/2 cm of ice cream and the rest of the cone was stuffed with bread chunks. I felt so bad.

At 6:15am we made our way from our hut to the start of the hiking trail behind the parking lot of the hotel that sits on Balea Lake. By 6:30am we were officially starting our big 2-day backpacking hike. The lake was so much nicer than the day before. The fog covered half of the mountain tops, but there were no people around. It was very tranquil. Above is a screenshot of our trail breakdown with distance and elevation change. The entire hike was up and down steep mountains, which was gorgeous but pretty tough. The trail itself had sections that were easier than others. Some sections were super muddy, full of slippery loose rocks, or washed out by rain. We took the whole hike slow and steady, which my knees were thankful for.

Following lots of up and down we arrived to Fereastra Zmeilor (Dragon’s window) which is the spot from which our hike would stop being the same on the way in as it was on the way out. If we had gone left (following a blue and white cross symbol), it would have taken us a different route to our mountain cabin for the night. Nick and I went right to continue the route to the Moldoveanu peak instead. Shortly after arriving to this junction we had to pass La trei pasi de moarte (three steps away from death), which is where we used chains to climb up and down a steep section. It was not as bad as the name suggested. For us, anyway.

For most of the hike we did not run into that many people, but at this section we just so happened to run into a large hiking association club of around 20 people. As I was slowly using the chains to descend a steep section, a man from the club slipped and fell a far way down the cliff side. Luckily for him he was with a group of hiking enthusiasts who were prepared with first aid. I’ll admit that witnessing that freaked me out and I ended up being frozen on the chains for a few minutes, holding up the line. Nick had to talk me through how to get down the last 20 cm. This was the second time that Nick and I have seen someone take a big fall while hiking. When we ran into the group later on in the day they informed us that the man had arrived safely to the hospital.

I was thankful the weather was cool and cloudy with all the elevation gain we had to do that day. I think with the backpacks on it would’ve been torture if it was hot and sunny. The trail was not wet anymore, either, as it had been the day before due to rain. If I had seen that man fall and the trail was wet I would’ve been hiking even slower and way more stressed out. After some time we made it to the summit of Arpașul Mare (2468m) and shortly after that Mircii (2470m).

At Mircii we sat and ate a small snack. The views changed a lot in that time since the fog rolled in and out. We had met a man named Dan on our hiking who was 51 years old and incredibly fast, bounding on the rocks like a mountain goat. He would be very far ahead of us, then wait for a long time for his co-worker who was behind us. It was nice chatting with him during the times we were at the same spot. He was (like several people we’ve met on our travels) absolutely horrified that we did not have kids yet. I ate some waffles and Nick had some nuts before we continued on.

Following the two peaks we descended a very steep section of trail with loose gravel rocks to Lacul Podul Giurgiului, a small lake with gorgeous views. The trail was very open which meant options for places to pee were limited. In the end, I had to decide to just go for it whenever I could see that hikers were at least far enough away in the distance that they wouldn’t be able to see too much of me ‘behind’ my small rocks. It was unfortunate to see people did not come prepared for packing out their toilet paper, every time I found a place to go pee I could see that I was not the only one who had the same thought in that place.

No surprise at all at this point, but after the lake it was yet again another climb up. Nick and I reached the saddle of Mount Podragu (2462m), where we had amazing views of cabana Podragu in the valley below. This is the cabin we would come back to later to spend the night. The cabin had mountains on three sides and a long valley behind. There were also a few small lakes in the valley that if it were hotter we would’ve loved to swim in. Turning right down the pass from the saddle would take us to the hut once we returned from our out and back to Moldoveanu Peak.

The trail from this point onwards was so nice and easy. Most of the trail was ‘flat’, relatively speaking, or if it had up and down it was gradual and smooth. We were much faster during this 1/3 of the hike than we had been during any of the other sections. That was good, because if we had kept the same pace we would’ve been at the mountain hut after 8:00pm. Nick and I stopped for a lunch break on a nice spot that overlooked part of the trail and showed Moldoveanu Peak in the distance. Up until this point we had been unsure with our pace if we would even get to the peak. Eating our lunch, we felt more optimistic that we would be able to.

For lunch we had food we bought from a merchant the day before at Balea Lake. One giant loaf of bread, half a small wheel of smoked sheep cheese, and two types of pastrami. The cheese was not my favorite so Nick got to eat most of it. The pastrami, however, was unreal. We started by eating bear pastrami, which was the best pastrami I have ever had. To be fair, I’ve only had a few pastramis, but this one will be hard to beat. It was so tender and flavorful. Nick had to keep an eye on me to ensure he would actually get half. The other pastrami we had was deer, which was also good, but we both felt it would’ve been easier to eat if we had a knife to cut it into thinner slices. I felt so much better after our primitive and fun lunch.

We went slow and steady up the remainder of the trail, ending with a last push up a steeper section and we made it to Vistea Mare marked with a cute flag. There were many people there. Once at this part of the trail we could see why it was so crowded. There were three possible trails to the top depending on where hikers had come from. From this peak it was another 15 minutes of hiking in the final section called Spintecătura Moldoveanului, which was the most scary part of the hike, with steep drop offs at either side, and chains to finally reach our goal of the day.

Finally we made it to Moldoveanu Peak! This is the tallest peak in all of Romania and the 360 views were absolutely phenomenal. We were not alone up there, but it was still nice. There were many places to sit to enjoy the views. I ate the rest of my nuts and it was a well deserved rest. The day was not over, though, as we had to walk all the way back to the saddle of Mount Podragu that we had passed earlier in order to hike down into the valley for the night. The way back was a bit slower with the stress of ‘will we have time to make it?’ having left.

The hike down to the mountain hut was steep but beautiful. There were sheep and herding dogs, the lakes were shimmering, and the mountain hut looked so cozy and inviting after such a long day. We finally made it to the hut at 5:50pm, making that day an 11.5 hour day including our 3 breaks. We guessed it was maybe around 10.5 hours of actual hiking. That was the longest day of hiking we have ever had together. It is hard to say exactly how many km we did as all of our sources contradicted each other. Nicks downloaded trail map said we went 18.5km, the online blog I read to prepare said it would be 20.5km, and my phone, which is usually the most accurate, said we went 27km. Based on how long it took us I’d like to believe my phone was correct, but we may never know.

The mountain hut was built with large stones and wood. They have about 70 beds according to the blog I read, but I didn’t count them. Another night to be thankful I book things ahead of time, because they were also fully booked. Our room slept 12 people and even with the window open the smell of hikers who had gone up and down massive mountains filled the room. For dinner, we bought some bean soup and potato stew. The soups were delicious after a hard day. Since sunset wasn’t until 9:00pm Nick and I got some hot chocolates and sat by one of the lakes after dinner. It was nice taking in all the surrounding views.

We watched as one donkey, then two, then three, then all of a sudden 20 donkeys slowly made their way back to their barn for the night, which was situated behind our cabin. Nick was convinced we’d be the last ones making it to the cabin (we are not used to finishing a hike so late if we start early). He was wrong, though, and we watched people make their way down to the cabin and more continued to do so even after we went inside.

The bunk beds had no ladders or steps so to get on top Nick and I had to pull ourselves up, which was tricky according to me and easy according to him. The temperature with the window open was so nice. At 2:00am a guy decided he couldn’t sleep and started watching a Joe Rogan podcast on his phone with no headphones full volume. I could not believe it, why not use headphones? We had run into this guy earlier on the trail and he had been shockingly rude so it seemed on brand for him. Luckily for me, someone on a bottom bunk went to him and told him to shut it off which he did. Most hikers we meet are so easy going, friendly, and helpful. It always shocks me to run into guys like him.

In the morning we packed up our backpacks at 6:30am. Breakfast started at 7:00am, so I was afraid of being stuck waiting in a large line since so many people stayed there. Thankfully we ended up being second in line so our breakfast did not take long at all. Nick had a cheese omelette and coffee, while I had two fried eggs, bread, and a hot chocolate. Having a bigger breakfast was so nice after all the hard work from the day before. By 7:50am we were back on the trail, ready for our final day. The second day was half the distance of the day before and had slightly less elevation gain thanks to not having to do 3-4 peaks. I wouldn’t say it was an easy day, though, as we still had several steep sections of up and down.

The hike back we followed the white and blue cross symbols, going the route we had seen earlier on day one as an option. This trail felt steeper to me than the one we did the day before. We saw beautiful lakes and valleys. In the morning, fog rolled in and out covering some of the viewpoints. By late morning the sun was out and it got much hotter. I was thankful the hot and sunny day was our short day and not our long one. My knees were a bit sore (I am used to hiking with poles) but they managed. It was nicer to hike on the relatively flat trail below ‘three steps to death’ than have to do the chains again.

Once we made it back to Fereastra Zmeilor (Dragon’s window) everything was trail we had hiked before on day 1. In some ways this was nice since nothing was a surprise anymore, even though I knew we had tough sections left. With no time pressure at all I was able to go nice and slow. I think there were some sections where Nick may have regretted telling me there was no rush as it was a bit on the slow side for him.

After our final large ascent, it was a short distance descending to Capra Lake. This is where Nick said we could have lunch, so I nearly ran down that trail. We rinsed our sweaty faces, necks, and hands in the cool water before digging in. Our lunch was leftovers from the day before, unfortunately no more bear pastrami, though. The lake was crowded that day, as the weather was so nice. It seemed like many families and friends do the short hike from Balea Lake to there for picnics. We took a relaxed lunch break since we knew once we finished the hike we would have nothing to do anyways.

The last push of the hike was an easy ascent up the pass then slowly making our way back down to Balea Lake following our blue and white triangles again. The views were great, as usual. According to Nick’s downloaded trail map our distance today was 8.5km, the blog I read said the same, and according to my phone it was 14.8km. We made it to the end of the hike at 2:20pm, which included our incredibly long lunch break. In total it was 6.5 hours, but estimated maybe around 4.5 hours of actual hiking. I was so happy to be done. Passing through town we got nutella langos. It was so nice to get back to our cabin to take showers, and re-pack our belongings we left behind.

We both agreed that our hike was easily the highlight for Romania so far. The views were comparable to most of the other incredible hiking we’d done and we were so happy to have added it to our itinerary. In the evening we walked back to town expecting to eat at the grill tent again. We got there as they were packing up, so dinner was at the restaurant by the lake instead, where we shared ribs and traditional Romanian donuts with sour cream and blueberry jam. Everything was so good. Afterwards, we walked around the lake, sat on some rocks and chatted more about our hike to kill some time. That night we both slept 10 hours in our two person bunk bed.