Day 2 – The Domogled Peak

Day 2, Friday, May 7^th, 2010

The Domogled Peak (Vârful Domogled)

Pecinișca – The Feregari Gorge (Cheile Feregari) – The Big Domogled Peak (Vf. Domogledul Mare) – The Small Domogled Peak (Vf. Domogledul Mic – The White Cross Belvedere (Crucea Albă) – Băile Herculane (8:34h, 11 km)

• 08:39 – departure from Pensiunea Dumbrava; although it was raining and the forecast was not great, we tried to keep our spirits high.

  

  We drove off in our cars, passed through Herculane, then stopped in Pecinișca, in a parking lot close to the bridge over Cerna.

• 09:05 to 10:31 – Pecinișca; the light rain in the morning turned into a deluge. The rain was so heavy that while waiting in the cars we had to use our mobile phones to talk to each other between cars. Eventually the rain passed and, reluctantly, we decided to go.
• 10:31, 142 m – hike start; not very enthusiastic due to the uncertain weather, initially we passed close to the (poorly maintained) stadium and some gypsy shelters.

  

  However, the rain made the vegetation look very fresh.

  

• 11:17, 390 m – The Feregari Gorge (Cheile Feregari); our route is marked by Yellow Stripes. We started the hike through the gorge, but St. Elijah shook the clouds one more time and we searched for shelter.

  

  After exiting the gorge, the path turned into a kind of tunnel between the trees.

  

  The rain slowly dissipated and we enjoyed the many flowers present in the Domogled National Park.

  

  

  And we soon reached a beautiful clearing.

  

  From here Vf. Domogledul Mare was not far away.

• 13:58 to 14:24, 1112 m – Vf. Domogledul Mare; we followed the Yellow Stripes marking up to the top.

  

  After having lunch, we headed for the next peak, Vf. Domogledul Mic, on a wide and easy ridge.

  

• 14:55, 1106 m – Vf. Domogledul Mic; we just passed the peak and a hail cloud reached us.

  

  The hail lasted only about 15 min; we were concerned about lightning, but since we had no place to hide, all we could do was to descend. The hail stopped just before we reached a steep passage.

  

  Further down we passed a strange area, full of dead trees.

  

  The path followed a narrow ledge, approaching the belvedere.

  

• 17:24 to 17:54, 535 m – The White Cross (Crucea Albă); just around the corner we reached the belvedere point called Crucea Albă. The place was a bit crowded, but the other group left and we enjoyed the view.

  

  Part of the team decided to take a detour to Jelărău. The lazy ones (the rest of us!) preferred to lay in the sun for about half an hour, then continued to descend for one more hour.

• 19:05, 171 m – hike end; we arrived somewhere in the upper part of Băile Herculane, so we decided to visit the central square, famous for the statue of Hercules.

  

  The town is in a deplorable condition, with deserted buildings beaten by the elements.

• 19:30 – departure by mini-bus to Pecinișca; every half an hour, a private mini-bus was leaving the central square for the railway station. The fare was 1.5 RON/pax.
• 19:47 – arrival at Pecinișca; in about 15 min we were back to our cars. The weather being much better than in the morning, we enjoyed the evening light shining on The Feregari Gorge.

  

• 20:10 – arrival at Pensiunea Dumbrava; packed like sardines, we returned to our temporary home, tired but happy.

Weather

Although in the morning he had some heavy rain, and the forecast was not favourable, the high spirits of the team blew the clouds away, and as it turned out that we were affected only by the tail of the frightening front, so the overall weather was fair, even with sunshine in the afternoon.

Maps & Navigation

Navigation for reaching Vf. Domogled was not difficult. We met the Yellow Stripes on the boulder before the gorge, and the markings were visible on trees or on rocks all way down to Herculane. In the upper part, before Vf. Domogled, some of the markings were even raised on short poles, to help navigation on low visibility.

The route was generally easy, except a steep passage below Vf. Domogledul Mic, that required some more attention.

The alpinet.org site provides the following map: Munții Cernei și Mehedinți.

GPS Data

Track profile details Show 2D track on map Show 3D track in Google Earth

Altitude profile

Note: altitudes are based on GPS readings, so absolute values should be accurate within tens of meters. However relative altitudes between consecutive readings should be quite accurate.