A one day hiking trip to Șaua Strunga (almost)

A one day hiking trip to Șaua Strunga: returning to the western side of the Bucegi Mountains

Do you remember from one of my previous articles The shiniest hiking trip from Moeciu de Sus to Guțanu Meadow how beautiful the northwestern part of the Bucegi Mountain appeared?

Well I liked that place so much that I decided to go back there as soon as possible and also share it with other mountain lover friends. Thus, after 3 weeks since my last mountain adventure which started in Moecius de Sus, I am back here with a group of 10 people, my family and one of my closest friends.

Starting the hiking trail in the morning: how to get to the starting point?

At 9 o’clock, in sunny but chilly morning, we are beginning the hike from the barrier of the forest road, where we enter the Bucegi National Park. If you are coming here from any direction, the best location to put on the GPS is Mistral Resort – I talk about more of how to get to Moeciu de Sus here.

Reading the tourist indicator and choosing the path to follow 

The hiking route we follow is marked with a red cross. Initially, the path is wide, being actually a forest road. After let’s say 10 minutes of walking we come across a tourist indicator sharing us 2 directions, one to the right and another to the left.

The first one is marked with the red triangle and leads to the Guțanu Meadow and far away to Omu Peak that is the highest peak of Bucegi Mountain, on the other hand, the second indicator announces us the direction to follow for reaching Șaua Strunga.

Because my family and I have been to the Guțanu Meadow before, our initial plan is to hike to Șaua Strunga by following the red cross, and than to descend back on the path that connects Șaua Strunga with Guțanu Meadow – marked with a red stripe – and from here forward down on the red triangle which would lead us to Moecius de Sus.

If all of the directions and indicators seem confusing to you, I insert here a map of the terrain, so you can understand better what I am talking about. Plus, if you are new to the Romanian mountains and want to start discovering their beauty, I recommend you to read Worth seeing places in Romania: The mountains, an article that might help you in the new journey ahead.

Let’s go back to our hiking story. The indicator tells us that Șaua Strunga is about 2 hours and 45 minutes away from this point. Because is currently winter and lots of snow on the foot path we expect to be walking more than that. For now we are just happy and pleased to be in this fresh chilly mountain air. It feels so good and just refreshing!

Finding another hiking routes and entering the Grohotisului Valley: crossing little streams and wooden bridges 

The first portion of the trail continues on this large forest road surrounded by forests on each sides. Soon, walking along the Bângăleasa Valley, we meet another tourist indicator and the foot way splits into two.

To the right, the hiking route symbolized with a red triangle climbs to Bucșa peak and goes to Cabana Bolboci, a place which could be reach in 7 hours. To the left continues the route we have to follow, that enters now in a different valley, called Grohotișului Valley. I the beginning, there is a large and well beaten path. Although there is a quiet thick layer of snow, going forward is rather easy due to a beaten path that seems to have been crossed lately and the terrain is also flat at this point.

Hikers know the sense, is like that foot path you can walk on forever with no worries or without getting tired being accompanied by the warm rays of the sun, but as we expect, shortly, the dream fads away, and as we move further into the woods, the terrain becomes steeper and the path way narrows too. The snow layer is starting to grow as well and the path is no longer so battered. A few times we have to cross small streams of water either on wooden bridgesor directly through them, in this last situation, we are lucky because the water is not really deep.

The Grohotișului Valley is very beautiful and quiet. The scenery with the river following, the fir trees covered in snow and the morning sun light highlighting the little details of the forest is wonderful and invigorating. So, even though going up gets challenging because of the steep terrain and the thick layer of snow, the stunning environment makes us to not get tired, but rather curious and excited about what’s coming next.

Entering the Pravalelor Valley and being wonder struck by the spectacular view over the Bucegi mighty steep 

We cross the last wooden bridge on the Grohotișului Valley and, from here, we enter Prăvalelor Valley, where the hiking path gets even more challenging due to an accentuated inclination. In another thoughts, nature rewards us with a wonder struck view over the rocky steep of Bucegi Mountains which are probably raising far in the distance. The question is do we have to get far up there? The land scape over Prăvalelor Valley that finishes up with the high rocks covered in snow gets us a little bit intimidated.

Indeed, Abruptul Branean al Bucegilor, the Western Steep of Bucegi Mountains, how is called in Romanian, is standing grandiose, looking pretty tremendous in front of us. We have to pause here for catching our breath, taking photographs and also the courage to continue climbing.

Going up through a never ending thick forest 

But we don’t hike straight up through the valley, however, the path leads us to the forest, there the inclination of the terrain is emphasizing, we go up very slowly, having many breaks for catching our breath. The heart rate is definitely pumping and we can notice how we grow in altitude step by step. Breathing gets heavy too.

The forest is simply beautiful, charming and extremely silent. Apart from us, we haven’t seen anybody else during the entire hiking trip.

The forest is finished but the steep climb is not

After a steep long climb, we are beginning to see the end of the forest, where the meadows are surprising waiting for us. Getting out of the woods, we realize that the steep path is definitely not over yet and at this phase, the snow goes up to our knees, which makes the ascent even more challenging. But, again, we are motivated  and our attraction is consistently drawn by the mighty astonishing mountainsstanding in front of our eyes.

We have to thank people who came on this route before us, making the path through the high snow. We just have to advance straight up the mountain and we do that, but with many steps because is difficult, not to climb, but to not pause for admiring all of the surroundings. There are rock formations and mountain massifs everywhere!

Discovering the "Saua Strunga"

On the right side, we can observe Șaua Strunga, the place were we want to go and which is looking like a deep, wide gap between two enormous rock formations, more exactly “Colții Strungi” to the right and “Strungile Mari” to the left.

The hiking routes intersection: where to go from here? There is no safe posibility to reach Șaua Strunga today 

Slowly, we reach the intersection with another trail – the red stripe – and are now on a level curve. We stop at the path intersection to take a break, admire the views and decide what’s the next step because to the left, so to Guțanu Meadow the foot path is not beaten or visible, a sign that nobody has been on this route lately, a fact which make it of course difficult and dangerous to climb on.

To the right, the hiking route is visible and also beaten, another people have been to Șaua Strunga lately, thus, we decide to continue the ascend to this place even if moving forward is not easy. After a short space, because the path gets dangerous to climbing, being very steep, with deep snow and slippery here and there, we decide that for our safety is better to stop and go back.

Taking a longer break to enjoy the beautiful place we are in 

We descend back to the intersection where we make a longer break and sit for enjoying the views we are offered to see, eat some snacks and drink the hot tea we carried up until here. Oh, and take a group photoof course to remember this moments.

What we can see from here? 

Let’s make a description of what it is seen from here, so when you go there, you can notice the things you are surrounded by. Looking up at the Western Steep of Bucegi Mountains, we can see “Strungile Mari” and “Colți Țapului” on which are curiously standing a horde of black goats.

Turning our backs to the mountain, from left to right are seen “Bucșa” and “Dudele Mari” mountains, while far in the background are spreading the “Iezer Păpușa” Mountains and to the right is raising up the ridge of Piatra Craiului Mountains which have many picturesque villages at its feet.

Being blessed with a perfect weather 

The sky is crystal clear allowing us to delight in all of the corners of the horizon. There is no wind and the weather is sunny and warm, so it feels like we can stay here forever to get as much as possible of the fresh clean air and of the pleasant unique views.

We are trying to find out if we can take the trail going to the Guțanu Meadow by walking towards it, but soon we realize that the snow is here and there to big, having ice below it as well.

Going down the mountain by following the same path we've been climbing on 

After a well deserved mountain sun bathing, the decision is to descend the mountain by following the same path that got us up here. Even if the plan was initially different, due to the rough and unstable conditions of the trail, we consider that is better to keep every people on the group in a safe state, rather than achieving the initial plan.

Going down through the deep soft snow happens to be much easier than going up and even very enjoyable too. We are back in Moieciu de Sus in approximately 2 hours, being happy and glad with the hiking trip we just had and, for sure, we will came back to these place in the spring or summer when there will be no snow, so we can reach Șaua Strunga and beyond.

Today's important lesson about hiking: knowing when to stop 

After this hiking experience I learned that is a lot better to know when to stop rather than putting yourself and the other persons of the group in danger. When you encounter rough conditions caused for example by the weather or the terrain, your priority is at first to keep you safebefore aiming for that goal of climbing a certain peak, especially if you are not having a lot of experience of dealing with such things. Put safety first! Remain with this thought in your mind next time you are out on a hiking trail.

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