Let's travel together #238 - Cheile Bicăjelului (Bicăjel Gorges)

It's not hard to get fascinated by what surrounds you while on an adventure because nature can easily make you fall in love with it, but what happens when you step away from the crowd and follow less known paths?

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Not for a few times, nature surprised us with its beauty and made us say "F#ck it! This is so damn beautiful!" - but just when we thought we had seen everything, we ended up following another path in the mountains but which is hidden from the crowd and from where tourists are usually gathering.
And since we are maniacs when it comes to exploring less known paths and finding the treasure within the treasure, we couldn't say no to another quick journey out there, after quite a while spent asking for indications and checking maps out for possible routes to follow.
Cheile Bicăjelului is actually really close to Cheile Bicazului presented in the past week, being part of the same mountains and having just a stone bridge almost covered by the forest that separates the two.
But while sometimes I say that it's stupid that people don't promote more this country with better road signs to lead you there, this time, after seeing Cheile Bicăjelului I can easily say that I'm not mad anymore, because there are this kind of spots in the nature which truly deserve to remain unknown and only get bothered once in a while by the real adventure lovers and those who know how to leave a place as they found it without polluting the air, waters and what not.

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I actually took these pictures for myself with the thought of keeping some sort of guidance if I ever get to explore this part of Romania again and can't find the entrance on Cheile Bicăjelului anymore, being in doubt if I should share them on my blog or not, but considering all my followers are cool people, I know that this place won't be in danger if it's being explored by any of you, so here we go with the curve, road signs, and bridge that you should follow and cross in order to enter the gorges that made me fall in love with them in just a matter of time.

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After just 3-5 minutes of walking through the forest right after you cross the stone bridge, you will start seeing Bicaz River which is the main architect of this place and the "guilty" one for all the wonders and beauty you can see on the border between Transylvania and Moldavia.

However, beauty is not everything that this place offers, but also a pinch of adrenaline that starts not long after the journey begins with some huge boulders you need to climb, but where the real nature lovers already arranged everything with some hooks and iron handles that you can either hold with your arms or step over to move further.

It's not the first time when I see this kind of details to make a journey safer and easier to be followed and I did cross over tens of these iron handles before, but I'm still asking myself why some of these were vertical since it makes no sense to grab them because they are mostly dedicated to putting your feet on and hence why they should be horizontal. However, considering that we arrived in this place after quite a rainy period and that's also why the water won't look that crystal clear, it's not excluded to have these rocks fall from their original placement and make the iron handles less easy to use.

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After you leave that part with the boulders behind, you will reach the first bridge over the river which adds another pinch of adrenaline to your journey which is the right spot to reconnect with nature without meeting too many tourists on the way. Actually, during our exploration there we haven't met anyone else and we did spend a while on the track even though we didn't manage to complete it entirely.

Both the bridge from the picture along with some others that can be met further are fairly new, this track being a pretty wild one with just a few tourists daring to follow it and climb stone walls on their own, without any help from those who arranged the gorges in the last 2-3 years. Though, there is an important sign just before stepping on the bridge that should be taken into consideration to avoid any danger and have this little help last longer, namely, to not cross more than 2 persons on the bridge at the same time.

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Before having the bridges arranged to cross the river, you could either follow these gorges through the water but only during the summer when it was warm enough and the depth and flow of the river weren't that big, or by stepping from a stone to another, which again, should have been done only during the hot seasons and not when it was winter or raining outside because they turn out pretty slippery and no one wants to return home with something more than just a few bruises.

However, even though the trail has these bridges, you won't get to make the whole track exclusively on them because the biggest part of the journey is through the forest and on the rocks that are quite predominant here and you should be very careful where you put your feet if the rocks are wet. This is also the main reason why we couldn't enjoy the full 11 km long path and even reach some more interesting bridges hanging at high altitudes because the stones were still wet and didn't make us feel safe enough to go further at that time.

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As much as I used to get upset that I didn't manage to complete a trail that I wanted to discover before, during the time I figured out that sometimes is better to not push your limits too much and risk your life but look out for the best part of everything and be glad that you got to see another piece of that place which most likely you won't get to see too often.

And that's exactly what we did, delighting our eyes with lots of stunning landscapes and beautiful memories added to our backpack of journeys until the next time we will get here.

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Both Cheile Bicazului and Cheile Bicăjelului are part of The Cheile Bicazului – Hășmaș National Park which is considered amongst the most beautiful places in the country where you can get so close to nature and reach high altitudes just by chasing some gorges. And I totally agree with that.

It's been more than 10 years since I and my family visit all kinds of outdoors places and have seen tens of gorges where most of them are usually a pretty easy and short walk in nature, remembering just a few other names that offer you as much as Cheile Bicăjelului did. And if you intend to follow the whole route, then the 11km will fly away in just 5 hours of hiking which is amongst the best things you can occupy one day of your life with.

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Still at the beginning of the trail, you can notice and admire a very interesting rock which seems like no tree can reach it, still being able to be noticed from the distance, that is known as Santinela which is a popular attraction of the rock climbers who dare to go higher with 261 meters which is the height of the stone wall.

Bicăjel Gorges are very close to Cheile Bicazului and so the indications to reach them are quite similar, being needed to follow the national road DN12C until you enter Gheorgheni and from there follow all the way to Bicaz which is where the scenic route ends. However, before all the booths with souvenirs, there is that curve shared at the beginning of this post with the proper entrance to the gorges.

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SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾

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Hi @gabrielatravels, you certainly are the adventurer and must know just about every part of your stunning country. This hike looks quite hectic at times, but so worth it! Lovely blog and well-deserved rewards!

Hi @lizelle ! Thank you so much for the kind words! It's ironical that we have quite a few famous travel bloggers and vloggers in Romania but they promote any country out there but Romania. I wish I could get advantage of being that famous so I can take my work to the next level and make people be more aware of what gems Romania hides. Too bad this will be just a beautiful dream until I figure out how I can succeed..

I totally get what you say Gabriela, you could be one of your country's best tourism marketers!
We have a wealth of amazing destinations here in South Africa that people from all over the world visit, yet many of my country's travelers choose destinations across the seas without having explored their own country first! Great to expand one's views, but the grass is not always greener on the other side especially when there are jewels right on the doorstep!

Indeed! It's so sad to see people all around the world being focused on travelling and exploring the countries from abroad instead of first being aware of what their home country has to offer! I mean I'd love to see foreign countries but I can't do that since I know there's a lot to see first at home.

I think the way down is more difficult than climbing up. The trail is quite challenging. But you made it. Congratulations 🥂

There was no going down but only climbing actually, lol. But thanks for stopping by!

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One of the best routes to travel!

Such a stunning area to hike through @gabrielatravels 😊😎
The bridges are pretty cool and the way to climb up too.
Thanks for sharing. Have a great weekend!

Thank you! Hope you have a nice weekend as well!

You are welcome 😊 thank you kindly 🤗

very nice walk and it was not scary to climb so far?

Not at all. It was just a small section the one we climbed but the things would get pretty serious of we would continue, reaching big altitudes

Hiya, @LivingUKTaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Top 3 in Daily Travel Digest #1654.

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Woohoo! Thank you 💞

That is so amazing. Il ike all

Very challenging your journey may you be healthy always wait for me on such a trip may your day be pleasant

Wow awesome photography i love the nature

everything on this earth has a very amazing beauty, although it can not be seen directly but with this orbit I am proud to see it.

Yeah the chain is a great place to explore the world virtually through others' posts

Hello, @gabrielatravels nice day, Visiting this location would have been quite the adventure; the view is just amazing. I adore the vibrant photographs you took, which tempt you to go to that wonderful location. Thank you very much for the wonderful information and image collection. Enjoy your day.

I'm sad that I didn't reach the end of the trail which is a lot more spectacular but one day I'll definitely write again about this place and share a complete experience 😁

This is amazing