Rodna Mountains are the highest and most spectacular mountains in the north of Romania. They are like smaller Fagaraș Mountains, which have covered their rocks with alpine pastures, but have maintained their imposing and enchanting appearance.

We were going to have a relaxing weekend with our family at Resort Magnolia in Viseul de sus. Since we were already going to Maramures, the idea of going a few days early for a hike with our tents in Rodna Mountains springs to mind.

The idea also appeals to Calin, Adina, Fineas and Laura, so we begin with the preparations and searching for a good route.

We are not ready for the ascending (and especially descenting) on Pietrosu Peak, Ineu Peak is too far away for the time we have, so we choose an easier route, beginning and ending in Stațunea Borșa:

• day 1: Stațiunea Borșa - Horses' Waterfall
• day 2 : Horses' Waterfall - Gărgălău Saddle - La Cepe Peak
• day 3: Gărgălău Saddle - the former Puzdrele cabin - Stațiunea Borșa

Day 1: Stațiunea Borșa - Horses' Waterfall

Parking: End of Stațiunea Borșa
Route: End of Stațiunea Borșa (920m) - Horses' Waterfall (1300m)
Markings: Red Triangle
Length: 2,5 km
Height difference: +380
Time: 1 h
Water source: 100 m from the waterfall on the way to the chairlift
Camping: near Horses' Waterfall
Tracking: AllTrails

After more than four hours of driving and traffic, we finally arrive at Stațiunea Borșa, around 8 PM.

The plan was to arrive earlier, since we still have to go to the waterfall, to find a camping place, and we would like to do all these before the night falls. But sometimes roads deteriorate, bridges get destroyed, and we had to go around, so the drive took an extra hour.

Slightly in a hurry, we arrive at Stațiunea Borșa and park our cars at the end of Waterfall street. There is not a lot of space for parking, nothing arranged, but since it is Wednesday and there are no other cars other than ours, we easily leave them on the side of the road.

By 20:20 we are equipped and we start our route, following the red triangle.

The route starts slowly, on a rather straight path, and continues on the forest road, next to a former quarry. In the beginning the climb is easy and we are able to chat while we walk, but at one point, it derives from the road and it becomes something more serious.

We start to sweat and breathe heavily, we become increasingly quieter, but we keep going. The fact that it is the first hike with heavy backpacks this year is noticeable. We would like to take more breaks, but the sun rays that come right behind us are fewer and fewer, so we can’t afford to waste time.

At one point, the climb becomes gentle again. We take advantage of this to catch our breath, drink some water and look at the sunset.

Now that the sun has set, we have every reason to continue at a brisk pace.

We start to go through meadows that we take into consideration to set up our tents in, in case that we don’t find a better place near the waterfall. There are many appropriate places for the tents and fireplaces.

The river on the side of which we walk is noisy. I get startled a few times, thinking that I can hear the waterfall, but we keep on going. We walk with our eyes in the ground or searching for a place to set our tents in, and suddenly we remain silent. In front of us is the Horse Waterfall (Cascada cailor) in all of its beauty.

We don’t have time to admire it for long, so we take our backpacks off and we split up. Some of us go to find a good place for our tents - which we find a little more towards the valley, on the left river shore, in a small meadow - And Miriam and Adina go to the spring to fill up the water bottles - the spring is approximately 100m from the waterfall, on the way to the chairlift.

When we finish setting up our tents, it is already night out. Instead of supper we eat the  remaining goodies prepared for the road and we get ready for bed. We also manage to take the food out of the backpacks, which we put into bags and hang them in a fir tree at a distance, so that we don’t lead Papa Bear on, in case he passes through the area.

Day 2: Horses' Waterfall  - Gărgălău Saddle - La Cepe Peak

Backpacks route: Horses' Waterfall (1300m) - Gărgălău Saddle (2159m) - La Cepe Peak(2101m)
Markings: Red Triangle, Blue band
Length: 5 km
Height difference: ~600m
Time: 2 h 45 m
Water source:
- 100 m from Horses' Waterfall on the way to the chairlift
- near Gărgălău Saddle
Camping: near Gărgălău Saddle / Gărgălău Saddle refuge hut
Tracking: AllTrails

No backpacks route: Gărgălău Saddle (1859 m) - Gărgălău Peak (2159m) - La Cepe Peak (2101) - Gărgălău Saddle(1850)
Markings: Red Band
Length: 7 km
Height difference: +420,~420

Some of us slept more, others less, but we all faced difficulties waking up when the alarm rang. After we get out of our tents, we get refreshed, eat a quick breakfast, we pack our tents and we get ready to go.

At 9:20, the water bottles are filled, we take a few necessary photos at the waterfall and we start climbing uphill.

The ascent from the Horses' Waterfall to Șaua Știol, on the red triangle is the steepest ascent in our route. On a 600m distance we go uphill on a more than 200m height difference. In the beginning we climb over boulders and huge roots, and then through the bed of a river, then through grass. The walk is supported and soliciting, but we keep going forward.

During our climb we meet a flock of sheep, which also walks to Știol Meadow. The dogs bark at us, but, as the shepherd said, “they don’t do anything”.

After fifty minutes of serious climbing through sultriness, we arrive at 10:10 at Știol Saddle, where we take a long break.

At approximately 10:30 we get things moving. Starting from Știol Saddle up to the Știol lake area (Bistritei Spring) the path is quite smooth and rather flat.

The route is at quite a distance from the lake. If the lake were not half empty and if there were no news of rain in the afternoon, we probably would have taken a break to visit it. But as it is, we admire it from a distance and continue our hike.

After the lake area, the path is not as straight - we are slowly but surely approaching the last climb with the backpacks on, and it shows. However, it is incredibly beautiful. The grass is a strong summer green, the route goes through some juniper islands, and high up, near the crest we can see rhododendron spots.

At 12 o’clock sharp we are in Gărgălău Saddle. It took an hour and a half from Știol Saddle, and two hours and forty minutes from the Horse's Waterfall, including breaks. Not too bad.  

We leave the backpacks and we start looking for a place to set up our tents. There are many places for camping here, but there is news of rain with possible electric discharges, so we look for a place that would not be exposed.

We start heading west, exploring the marked route and the crest. We find a few nice places, a few small lakes, and hidden rhododendron bushes.

In the end we set up our tents in a mini floodplain with a pond and a small dried up lake. It is the same place where I slept six years ago, when I came here. It is a beautiful secluded place.

We set up the tents, ate lunch, it is past 3 o’clock and the rain still does not appear, so we take our raincoats and water bottles in a small backpack, and we head to Gărgălău.

There is not long to go. There are approximately 2 km and 270m of height difference, but in front of us Gărgălău looks imposing.

Although we have no backpacks, the sun and the hot air slow down our steps, but in a short while, we get into our rhythm. For our coolness, we pass a small patch of snow where we have a little snow fight and forget about the heat.

After the snow, there is a steep climb, a mild one, and then we reach the peak.

We wait for the rain, but the sky seems to clear up, so we vote to see if we go back or forward. We decide to continue the route on the crest and go to the area of La Cepe (At the Onions) Peak, where an interesting crowd of boulders can be seen.

On our way back, ahead of us, over the Maramures Mountains raises a huge cumulonimbus, as I have not seen in a long time. From far away, thunders can be heard, and when we get back to Gărgălău we see how the rain that was coming from Pietrosu has reached the Puzdrele Peak and it seems like it is approaching.

We get to the tents dry. We are glad that we’ve escaped the rain so far and that we can get started on supper, when suddenly our peace is completely disturbed.

It is not a thunder, but a RO-Alert, on Laura’s phone. I repeat what I can remember from it: “RED ALERT! … huge volume of precipitation…. storm… electric discharges… don’t leave your home … close the windows…”.

What should we do in this situation? The weather apps say, actually, that there is a chance of rain, at night, some less, some more. Some show as if right now there is rain with thunder and lightning. However, the quantity of precipitation is small, and the wind is in ok parameters. Moreover, it was supposed to rain in the afternoon, but it is already evening, and the rain has not come. It can’t possibly be that bad, we think.

We realize that we have three options:

1. To come down from the mountain. If we take the red alert warning seriously, this is the safest option. But not if it is past 7 o’clock, and we have five hours to go down,
2. To believe the weather sites that show little rain, and sleep in the tents, according to the plan. But who could sleep peacefully in the tent, after we’ve received the red alert warning? What if the storm really comes, and we knew and still did nothing? Who takes responsibility? This isn’t a good option either.
3. In Gărgălău Settle there is a new refuge hut. How would it be if we were to pack up our tents and move in it? We don’t like the idea, but refuge huts are built with this purpose in mind and it would be a minimum precaution we could take.

We choose the third option and pack up our tents at full speed. It seems like we can already hear some thunder, and like it starts to rain. Every second now we are expecting the arrival of the storm, so we hurry up as much as we can, and we run to the refuge.

We manage in the end to conquer the disappointment and the mixed feelings, and we delight in a delicious cheesy polenta with sausages. For dessert there is homemade hot chocolate and biscuits. We savour them while enjoying the sunset, which stops the rain and the wind so that it can be admired .

The storm never came.

Day 3: Gărgălău Saddle - the former Puzdrele cabin - Borșa Saddle

Route: Gărgălău Saddle - the former Puzdrele cabin - Borșa Saddle
Markings: Red Band, Blue Triangle, Blue Dot
Length: 13 km
Height difference: +140m/ -1200m
Time: 5 h
Water source:
- Gărgălău Saddle
- near the former Puzdrele cabin
Tracking: AllTrails

In the morning we hear the rain falling on the roof of the refuge. We imagine that it is raining cats and dogs, and we rejoice at the thought that we chose to sleep here. But when we get out, the rain proves to be only a rare drizzle, and by the time we have washed our face, it stopped.

We eat the milk semolina, we get equipped, and by 9 o’clock we are ready to go

We continue for about 30 minutes on the crest route, to Galațului Saddle, and then we take a right  to the blue triangle route.

The hike to the former Puzdrele cabin is easy and offers beautiful views to Borșa, to the crest peaks and to the afferent edges. Moreover, this time it was green and sprinkled with rhododendron.

At 10:30 (1h 30m from Gărgălău Saddle) we get to the former Puzdrele cabin. Judging by the route and how well we managed so far, we see ourselves as having reached the destination, so we afford to take a longer break to enjoy the view.

At the cabin, we take a right, on the blue dot, and to our surprise, a slightly difficult piece of route is waiting for us. On the map, the road that goes through the forest seems to be on a level curve; we did not expect steep climbs on huge boulders and roots.

After over an hour, we reach the top end of the future gondola. From now on, we have about 6 km of descent on a dusty road filled with small rocks, next to concrete mixers and excavators that work on the future slope, mostly in the sun. By far the hardest part of the route.

Conclusion

It was a short and relatively easy route, but definitely memorable. It is a route that I recommend if you want to explore the Rodna Mountains at leisure.

The only lightly difficult portions are the climb from the Horses Waterfall to the Știol Saddle on the first day - but this can be avoided if you climb the chairlift through the Știol slope - , a few steep climbs through the forest, and the endless road at the end - for roads such as these I still haven’t found a approach in which we don’t arrive at the end exhausted.

If you’ve read to this point, you are a hero. The story ended up being way longer than I expected.

If you’ve enjoyed it, or if you see things that can be improved upon, tell us too. Here in the comments, on facebook/instagram/twitter or in a private text. We appreciate any feedback!

Till next time!

Thank you, Laura, for your help with the translation!