A new day means a new adventure right?
And so a new place where we've set our tent to spend the night before hitting the road again, this time to a wilder place which feeds the inner adventurers we have in our hearts.
If you are wondering what part of Romania we are roaming this time, it's Bran.
Yes I know, everybody heard about Bran Castle or the house of Dracula and you might expect to see a post from me about that place, but as I always said that Romania has a lot more than that to offer to the tourists, I would literally contradict myself making a post about that castle.
Don't get me wrong, I've been there when I was a kid, and our tent was just 5-10 mins away from the castle and we've seen it every time we were getting down to the city for food or to the market, and even though 15 years passed since I visited it, it's no less impressive and beautiful.
But through my journeys and adventures, I'm struggling to promote Romania further so people will get in mind more unique and interesting locations that make this country beautiful and worth visiting, other than the castle and the stories with Dracula and vampires :)
Anyway, our adventure will not be devoid of mysterious details, nor about all kind of emotions that we are going to feel during our 5-6 hours long journey that will sum up no less than 15 km in the heart of the Bucegi Mountains. But just to make everyone happy, I'll also leave down below a picture with the famous Bran Castle we managed to see from the road before starting to hike the mountains.
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Now that we clarified everything, we are ready to put the backpacks on and begin hiking through the forest that offers a panoramic view.
Depending on the time of the year you are taking this trip, you might find a barrier that won't allow you to drive too much into the forest, but we were lucky enough to not find the forest road blocked and we managed to drive a few more minutes and save a good part of the trail because it was a very hot day of the summer and who enjoys walking too much without having any kind of shadows to stay away from the powerful sun rays?
Around 50 minutes away from where the barrier was found, we encountered the first point of interest that did bring some sadness into our souls because we were sitting in front of a memorial monument for the military who lost their lives in the accident from 2010.
It's called Monumentul Israeliților (EN: The Israelite Monument) and the accident was produced during a common exercise between Romanian Air Force and Israeli Air Force where the helicopter CH 53 hit the peak of the mountains (Guţanu Peak, 2246 m) and exploded without leaving any chance to the people that were on board to survive.
A pretty sad and painful monument to find during a walk into nature, but a good reminder to appreciate life as it is because you never know what the next day will bring you.
So we continued our walk enjoying what nature has to offer to us and eating fresh strawberries for the rest of the trail before we entered the forest and the first challenge of the trip began, talking about a very slippery path that is going to make a big part of your energy run out in just a few minutes.
The path between the forest is probably the most challenging part because there are very few places to rest close to none because the slope is quite narrow and if you meet other tourists you have to be very careful where you put your feet on.
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After another hour spent hiking between the forest, we reached a very welcoming and beautiful glade where most of the tourists were resting before continuing the journey, so we took advantage of the fresh grass to sit for a while, eat some fruits and recharge our batteries.
Over here we got to see a group of tourists with around five tiny girls not older than 12-14 years old who were collecting lots of tiny flowers and seeds found on the ground. Yet another great reminder that everything we truly need for a healthy and beautiful living is found out there into the wilderness of the mountains, without requesting anything in exchange other than leaving the place as we found it and keep the empty bottles and garbage inside of our backpacks until we find a trash can.
In the end, if we could carry these bottles in our backpacks when they were filled, I see no efforts to also carry them when they are empty.
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I think there is no needed to say anymore how you feel when you have such a panoramic view in front of you because the words will never be able to describe it anyway.
But after the exhausting hike between the forest, this landscape came as a deep breath of air that made our batteries get recharged faster reminding us that we are not too far away from our destination.
The glade you see - also has a name which is Valea Gaura and it's a common point of interest because soon you'll get to meet all kind of road signs that will lead you to more sightseeing attractions.
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Even though the waterfall has an English name too (Devil's Mill Waterfall), the one you will find on the markers will be just in Romanian that entitles itself as Cascada Moara Dracului which makes the announcement we are just 15 minutes away from it.
A quite exciting announcement if you are asking me, because we all know how much we are waiting to see such markers after a long hike, but I learned by myself that I should never have 100% trust into them because you are never going to cover the distance left in the indicated time just because you already did lots of efforts and your energy is not full anymore.
But since we were going to get back into the forest and only be able to notice the peaks of the mountains embracing our path between the tall trees, it was a great moment to forget about the indicated time we read on the sign and take the best of our journey because we were making our last steps before our adventure was coming to an end.
This time the forest was way friendlier, leaving you more light and a larger visual angle that could make you see the river that was accompanying you and which was making you feel that you are not alone.
The water that flows comes right from the waterfall and it represents the point where mystery and inexplicable things can be noticed because even though you see the water coming from the waterfall, there is a part where lots of rocks are in front of the tiny gap created by the river which should not make the water stop from crossing over them, but somehow no matter how longer you wait, the water never appears on the other side, which makes the people believe that the destination of the water is unknown and that it could have some connections with the afterlife and especially with the hell since there is not just a small part where the water disappears but actually the end of it while it will never come out anymore, not even at the bottom of the trail. That's also where the name of the waterfall comes from.
Anyway, after more stops admiring the fresh nature and beautiful landscapes, we found the last marker that was announcing us we are just 5 minutes away from the waterfall.
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Over here we started rushing our hike because the excitement level was increased thinking that we are just a few steps away from the waterfall we've been waiting for so long to finally meet.
We crossed the water one more time and gone up and down a few more times between the trees until our pupils got dilated by the beauty of Cascada Moara Dracului which was waiting there, welcoming and ready to convince the tourists that the efforts made to reach it are well paid in the end.
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Since we visited the waterfall during a hot day of the summer, the debt of the water was quite reduced which also came with a bonus for the more energic tourists that could take advantage of the two metal steps mounted on the rock to climb the first level of the water and get closer to it.
Unfortunately, if the level of the water is increased, this thing can't be done due to the currents created that will make it very hard for the people to climb the rock without getting wet or (hopefully not) falling into the water.
Anyway, as much as I loved climbing waterfalls when I was younger, this time I decided to wait at the bottom of it and enjoy it properly because I'm sure the best view it's still from the bottom since if you climb it, you'll manage to admire just a half of it.
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Cascada Moara Dracului is located on the altitude of 1575 meters so if you are looking for some fresh air with a scenic view, you can consider both the glade and the waterfall a perfect destination to do it.
The water falls from the stone walls placed at the height of 20-25 meters and it follows a slope that makes the waterfall be split in two different levels which are creating a great show during the winter or early in the spring when the debt of the water is increased.
The course of the water follows the ditch created just for a short time until it goes into the subterranean and never comes out again, leaving behind lots of question marks and mystery for the tourists who are noticing it, the rest of the ditch being covered by stones.
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Over here the time almost flew away without even realizing how much time we spent to the waterfall, but just because we weren't ready to say goodbye to the beautiful landscape, we stopped one more time in the glade to take the dinner before returning to where we left the car.
We are used to seeing our efforts spent hiking the mountains being paid at the end of the journey, but this time we had the beautiful surprise offered by nature which made our path from the beginning to the end be full of points of interest, scenic landscapes and places that you could hardly turn the back to and return home. Definitely a great experience to remember and maybe repeat sometime.
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Devil’s Mill Waterfall is situated on the western slope of the Vladeasa Mountain, near Stana de Vale and Dragan Valley which can be reached from different mountain trails depending on what other places you wish to see other than the glade, but we began our trip from Șimon Village after we crossed Bran. The trail we followed is considered a medium to hard one, but which makes the waterfall be safely visited even during the winter.
The village is located 190 km from the capital (Bucharest), 34 km away from Braşov and 5,5 km away from Bran Castle.
SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾
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