Exploring Arpasu Mare Valley
Shortcut of tour:
Victoria - barrier / parking area - forest road - forest trail in main Arpasu Mare valley - junction - Cabana Turnuri - Cabana Podragu - Lacul Podragu; (or: … Gura Podragului - upper Arpasu Mare valley - Lake Podragel / Podragel caldera - main ridge)
Description and guidance:
There are not many high mountain valleys left in Europe with untouched forests and without any form of forest or alpine road. The wild Arpasu Mare Valley is one such relic from that other time, when humans had not yet penetrated into almost every corner and domesticated or eliminated nature for their own purposes.
Access is via a forest road (barrier, but sometimes open, locals know where to find the key behind a tree) to a turning point for timber trucks (distance approx. 4.5 kilometers). The walk along the road offers beautiful views of the mountain stream and the wild hillside forests - but also of less pleasant traces of logging in the old beech forests, which are still being exploited in lower Arpasu Mare valley despite the Natura 2000 designation of the Fagaras Mountains.
After the end of the road, you enter the primary forest. The small path (red triangle markings) winds more or less steeply uphill through the forest with giant firs, beeches and spruces. You are in a dim, cool forest hall that smells of moss and must. Here you experience a piece of the "primeval world". Life and death coexist here: old trees die and become habitat and food for other living creatures. You can feel that time passes differently here - there is no hurry, everything is part of a steady stream of expression of life and relaxed time. Some of the trees have bizarre shapes - such as huge, powerful roots to survive on the steep slope.
If you open your senses completely and concentrate on your sensory perceptions, you will feel how your inner tension eases, how your head calms down, worries fade and your breathing and heart rhythm become calmer. There is probably no better place for "forest bathing" than a primary forest, which has been enriched with a great deal of "life" for thousands of years.
The path penetrates deeper and deeper into the wild valley. Always follow the markings with the red triangle. At a junction, you can decide whether to continue along the Arpasu stream in the main valley (biogenic forest reserve with impressive trees; red dot markings) and further up to Podragel / Podragel caldera - or explore the Podragu valley towards the Podragu mountain hut and the gorgeous lake (red triangle markings).
You can plan the tour as a two-day or multi-day tour and spend the night in the Podragu mountain hut or descend the same day via the ascent route. In any case, we recommend following the trail up to the tree line and experiencing the high alpine mountain landscape and enjoying the wide view.
Map and tour description on Outdooractive:
