Still in the same area that kept my travel blog busy with two other posts about Cheile Bicazului and Cheile Bicajelului, we managed to find another gorge that is worth the attention of the tourists who are in search for some less crowded paths in the mountains entitled Cheile Șugăulu.
As hard as it seems to pronounce the name of this place (both in English and Romanian), as interesting the journey will turn out especially if you love a little adrenaline and hiking the mountains other than with some boots because at some point you might need to get into the water and let the canyon embrace you with its energy.
Anyway, if you are all in for this then you should also take in consideration to do it during a hot day of the summer because otherwise the flow and depth of the water might not be so friendly with you and you might also return home with a cold from vacation which is never too fun.
However, even though we visited the gorges in the best period of the year we had the bad luck to be a rainy period and as blue the sky was, as quickly it became gray which made us think twice about how far we want to explore this path to the heart of the mountains.
Rain was never a problem for us during our trips as we slept in the tent and hiked the mountains for many hours in a row while it was raining torrentially but this time was a little bit different because we stopped to see the gorges on the way to our next destination and we didn't have the full equipment with us. Not to mention about the trekking poles that should never be missing on this trail no matter if it's raining or not.
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However, we still had a few more time left before the rain was starting so we decided to explore as much as we can the gorges before returning to the car and hitting the road again.
What I was really impressed to see though, was how well the whole area is maintained, coming with some stairs and a railing to make some of your hike easier, plus a big and freshly painted informative panel of the trails these mountains are coming with.
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Another feeling that I got while exploring Cheile Șugăului was of tripping to some airy mountain paths which is something that I love to see during my hikes because it allows me to notice more of the surroundings and not be just focused on a narrow path that takes me to destination.
The narrow paths do have their charm too especially if they are next to the water or a ravine, but if it's a cloudy or rainy day, then it's better to be in a ventilated space for safety reasons.
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Though, with so much beauty surrounding you, it would be sad not to also find something about this place which even if it looks like a huge area, the mountains are home to quite a few trails of different lengths but where Cheile Șugăului are not longer than 400 meters.
I know that you might say Ok, cool, but half of that distance can already be seen in the pictures attached! - well, here's the trick because the gorges are actually on side of everything you've seen so far, being represented by a canyon that was dug in the stone walls by a tiny river entitled Șugău.
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Perhaps now it makes more sense why I was putting so much accent to explore them during a hot day of the summer because the water makes its way through a quite shady path and it might be pretty cold even in July.
Though as one beauty can't come alone, keep in mind that the calcareous formations from Cheile Șugăului are unique in Europe and it's a good place where you can find the black goat, lynx, and even the wild cat or the common bats met in the caves because there are quite a few caves and waterfalls being formed in the canyon that you will have to go through to enjoy everything to the fullest.
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A less pleasant surprise is the way you can access the canyon because the most reachable part is at the beginning of the track but which is blocked by a fence and if you go further then you will already be on a quite high altitude which will make it too risky to get down.
However, we still talked with another tourist who seemed like knowing the place pretty well and he said that you can find a better place after around one hour of hiking that will allow you to get to the canyon but I'm not sure how much is worth the whole effort considering that the canyon is just a few hundreds of meters long and so you will spend a lot of time out of it instead of enjoying this one, but it's still good to know that there is one more option to take in consideration if the other one is still blocked by the fence.
And if you are wondering who the heck would add a fence in the middle of the mountains, find out that, unfortunately, we can talk again about the corruption from Romania and how some people tried to take advantage of the rare calcareous formations by mining it illegally.
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Cheile Șugăului are part of Cheile Șugăului – Munticelu Natural Reserve and they are located just 10 mins away from Cheile Bicazului which is hard to miss while you are exploring Romania. In order to reach them you have to follow the national road DN12C until you enter Gheorgheni and from there follow all the way to the gorges located in Bicaz-Chei. You will also cross Cheile Bicazului.
SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾
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