Băile Herculane – Cheile Feregari (Feregari Gorges) – Poiana Muşuroane (Muşuroane Meadow)– Vf. Domogled – Crucea Albă (White Cross)– Băile Herculane

Starting point:Herculane ring road;
Arrival point: the ring road of Herculane, at the point of entry to Crucea Albă route
Walking time: 6 to 7 hours.

Marking:

– Red Point Cheile Feregari – Poiana Muşuroane;
– red triangle Poiana Muşuroane – Domogled;
– yellow strip Domogled – Herculane on the way called Cărarea Pisicii (Cat Path).
Our team consisting of 3 persons (Max, Fane and Stefania) hit the road in the morning of 19.06.2016 with a very promising weather. Later, the weather has been shown to be changeable, and finally rainy.

Our route started with Feregari Gorges which we have to cross up to the end.
After the rocky area from the beginning of the route, the road goes smoothly through the woods giving us the impression in some places that we walk along the alleys of a park. Somewhere in this area, about 1 hour of walk from the entrance to the route, we met the route that climbs directly to the Domogled Peak (yellow strip).

The nice part ends when we got to a meadow,which, due to the abundance of vegetation, we have to round on the right side through the forest. We’ve always tried to not lose sight of the marking on the trees of the meadow.

Finally (about 20 minutes later), we had to cross a glade on its upper limit, to the left and entered the forest. The trail led us to the point where our route has separated from the one that goes to the Mehedinţi Mountains ridge(blue cross).

We followed the road to the left and soon we go up hardly through the forest on a ravine edge full of vegetation. We followed the path and the marking to the left of the ravine.After about 30 minutes of hard uphill we go out in a clearing. 10 minutes later we have got in a forest road. As there was no sign of marking, we wrong going to the right.

After almost 40 min. on the forest road we met a shepherd who guided us on the right path. That was, back to the exit to the forest road and then in the direction opposite to the one we went (ie from the exit to the forest road to the left). From the exit point in the forest road following the correct direction in 10 minutes we arrived in Poiana Muşuroane. At that time (the second half of June), the place is a wonder due to the multitude of flowers.

After a brief stop of hydration and refreshing we headed to the Domogled Peak, crossing the glade. Because of the vegetation, the marking is harder to see, but having the hunting house to our backside, diagonally, it can be found at the edge of the forest.

Through thickets and climbing we then go out in a kind of road that we follow for about 20 minutes. Then we leave it and follow the steep trail that on tight serpentine leads us to the exit from the forest to the alpine meadows under Domogled Peak. The road through the forest does not last longer than 30 minutes. Once we get out of the woods we are surrounded by a sea of blooming plants including wild irises.

The bad news is that at the exit of the forest, the marking is a little tangled. We’ve been looking for it for a while, and we’ve hardly found it. The idea is to climb slightly to the right, cross the forest and we are always keep climbing.

At 13 o’clock, after 4 hours of walk, we reach Domogled Peak and we feel like we are in a botanical garden.

We do not know where to look first: to the multitude of flowers that surround us, or to the peaks and valleys from the distance.
From the top you can see the ridge of Mehedinţi Mountains, Cerna Mountains, the Danube, Băile Herculane resort, Poiana Muşuroane from which we came and a multitude of other valleys and heights and endless forests.

Meanwhile, we find that clouds are gathering and we hear distant thunders, so we start to descend faster than we would have wanted. We accelerate more and more on the steep path named “Cărarea Pisicii”, and in the end we ran down the valley and took shelter from the rain, at the last moment, in Serban’s Cave.

We were waiting for the rain to stop and then we went down to Crucea Albă and the ring road of the city.
We went up road about for 500 m (in the direction of the entrance to the resort) and then we crossed the road and through a small clearing we arrived to Hotel Diana and then in the center of the resort.

The duration of the journey was 7 hours but in this case the time is not relevant because of our “hesitation” moments and unplanned stops.

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