The small, crowded train was moving sluggishly, yet noisily. The diesel fumes were getting swept inside the train car; this isn’t what you’d call mountain air. The 27 km trip took 45 minutes. But, after this second train, we were finally there: the gorgeous beautiful nice dull city town of Zarnesti.

What’s great about Zarnesti? Well, this is the starting point for conquering the King’s Rock – Piatra Craiului. The route we were embarking on – perhaps the toughest marked trail in Romania. But, as any action movie, it all started peacefully – with a walk through the Zarnesti Gorges.

… which was continued by a moderately steep ascent through the forest. Did I mention that we were carrying food for 3 days, clothes for temperatures between 0 and 40, sleeping bags and tents? Or that I was also carrying a 1.5 kg DSLR+lens, a 1.5 kg tripod, a few filters and some other accessories?

The forest opened up to a beautiful mountain landscape, the sort that made Piatra Craiului famous. We sat down on the grass to rest, when suddenly (as it happens so often on this blog) we were attacked by some vicious animals.

Having escaped the crazy sheep, we carried on and arrived at Curmatura Chalet, where we spent the night. The facilities here were standard: running water (at a spring 50m away), electricity (when the generator was on), restaurant (food was not very varied, which sucks if you don’t like cabbage) and heated rooms (if you start and maintain the fire during the night).

It was only 4 pm, so we left our backpacks and went to conquer the closest (and easiest) peak in the Piatra Craiului – Piatra Mica, The Small Rock (1816m).

It may be smaller than the other peaks, but Piatra Mica is not that small. In order to reach the top, we had to battle patches of scree and groves of juniper trees (good practice for the following day). Yet who cares about pebbles and bushes when they have such an awesome view to admire? In the second picture, you can see Zarnesti – lower third, with the former weapons-plant-disguised-as-a-bicycle-factory, Rasnov in the upper third, with the citadel on the right, and in the top left corner, a little bit of Brasov.

The night caught us back at Curmatura, eating bean soup with smoked meat and discussing the “plan of attack” for the following day.