Hiking duration:
- on summer: 6 – 7 h
- on winter: 8 -9 h
Refuges: Comanca Forestry Station, Mânzu Forestry Station, Folea sheepfolds, Bătrâna sheepfolds
Water sources: Comanca Forestry Station, Mânzu Forestry Station
Description:
This is one of the four trails that connect Buila-Vânturariţa National Park to Băile Olăneşti city.
It is an easy trail, with no major difficulties (most of it includes hiking on forestry roads), without too many level differences and it is accessible on both summer and winter.
It starts from the center of the Băile Olăneşti resort (430 – 520 m), on the street that goes up nearby the park to spring nr. 24; 2 km further, you’ll see the Comanca camp and chalet. Before the bridge over the Olăneşti River, there is the arrow-pointer that marks the crossroad with trails no.15, marked with the red cross, and no.19, marked with the blue cross, which ascent the interfluve between Olăneşti and Cheia river. We cross the bridge and continue walking on the forest road that follows the Olăneşti Valley. The trail overlaps with trail no. 16, marked with yellow triangle, until we reach Mânzu Forestry Station. Then we pass a Water Caption Station and we arrive after 1 km at the glades from Comanca, where a church and several houses can be seen. We cross the river and after 500 m we arrive at Comanca Forestry Station (informational panel). Before the confluence with Radiţa Valley, at which we arrive after another 2 km, the road enters the middle gorge of Olăneşti Valley. After the confluence, the valley narrows and another sector of gorge can be found here. We cross the river on the left bank, where the trail follows the river and its many waterfalls. We pass the Alionte Mountain, which has a steep slope, forcing the river to warp. After 6 km from the confluence we arrive at Mânzu Forestry Station (710 m), where the trails separate (arrow-pointer), trail no. 14 marked with yellow band starting to ascend towards the Prislopel Pass.
We continue walking on the road near the Olăneşti Valley and after 3 km we arrive at an information panel and a campground. 1 km further, we arrive at a crossroad and a spring confluence, from where the road leaves the valley and starts ascending on the left, on the slope, to the Olăneşti (Folea) Gorge, at which we arrive after 1 km of ascent, passing a serpentry. We cross the gorge and after another 3 km of ascent on the forestry road among the cliffs we arrive at a confluence of 3 springs, where we find the end of the road, near the ruins of some buildings, at approx. 1320 m altitude. From here we leave the road and ascent on a twined trail on the edge between the springs from the right, through an old mixed forest. After 30-40 minutes of strenduous ascent (200 m level difference), we arrive at a glade at the edge of a young spruce tree forest, from which we change the walking direction from North to North-West. We enter the spruce-tree forest and after 15 minutes of easy ascent we arrive at at a glade where we can see the ruins of an old chalet. From here, in 5 minutes, we go upwards through the spruce tree forest in a much larger glade, near an old shelter near the bank of a small lake (1590 m), north of Folea Peak. It is here that we intersect a tractor road in good shape on which we continue going up through the pastures towards North. After 5 minutes, we get to a sheepfold (on the right) and enter the spruce tree forest again. The road ascends through the forest, until it reaches a forested peak (1770 m), whose southern slope was cut after a wind blow down (view to the Buila-Vânturariţa ridge). We descend towards north through a forest until we reach a glade, from which we continue our ascent to north-west. After 15 minutes, we exit from the spruce tree forest at the alpine pastures, covered with junipers and cranberries, near a sheepfold (1810 m), where an indicator that marks the end of the road can be seen. From here we can ascend in 15 minutes near the edge of the forest until we reach Gera Peak (1890 m), where we find the end of other 2 trails coming to the ridge of the Căpăţânii Mountains: trail no. 18 marked with red triangle, which ascents from the Cheia Chalet and trail no. 19, marked with blue cross, which ascends from the Băile Olăneşti city on the interfluve between the Cheia and Olăneşti rivers.
)