Pădure de molid sub zăpadă în Munții Bârgăului, cu soarele printre brazi

Mountain trails · The Bârgău Mountains

Leșu village – Leșului valley – „The Romans' Road” – Piatra Fântânele village

Waymarkingred triangle
EffortModerate
TechnicalEasy
TypeTraverse A → B
Duration9 hours
Ascent+657 m
Distance24 km

A linear trail: you start in one place and finish in another. Either walk back the same way, leave a car at the far end or use the train/a transfer; we'll tell you at the gate what works.

Daylight · Leșu commune · today,

  • Sunrise 07:08
  • Sunset 17:00
  • Daylight 9 h 51 min −2 min vs yesterday

The times are for the starting point. Between ridges the light goes earlier than the clock says, so turn back a good hour before sunset.

Weather · Leșu commune · today,

8° min -0° cloudy
  • Precipitation0%
  • Wind9 km/h · gusts 22
  • UV index2,5
  • Elevation522 m
  • Fri 7° -1°
  • Sat 8° -3°
  • Sun 8° -4°
  • Mon 9° -3°
  • Tue 9° -2°

The forecast is for where you set off. Up on the ridge, count on a few degrees less and on wind you cannot see from below.

What the walking is like

A long climb up the Leșului valley, then on the old track called „The Romans' Road”, as far as Piatra Fântânele. The grade is easy, but the distance asks for a whole day.

Mountain trail

  1. Leșu · 426 m
  2. Leșului valley
  3. „The Romans' Road”
  4. Piatra Fântânele · 1,083 m, official finishing altitude

What we'd tell you at the gate

  • Salvamont records the marking as partly missing, because of the new forestry roads.
  • The official grade is easy, but it is 24 km: the distance is what counts, not the gradient.

Elevation profile

426 m1,083 m
Leșu commune (DJ 173)+657 m of ascent · 9 hours

Not to miss on the way

  • 1

    The name „The Romans' Road” is kept by locals for the old ridge track linking the Leșului valley with Piatra Fântânele.

  • 2

    The Piatra Fântânele end is right below the Tihuța Pass, where the monastery from 1928 and the 31-metre cross stand.

What grows and what moves along the trail

Flora

  • mixed forest, beech and spruce, on the slopes
  • hay meadows with oxeye daisies, harebells and chicory in the clearings
  • black alder and ash along the water
  • bilberry and cowberry under the spruce

Fauna

  • trout and grayling in the mountain streams
  • red deer, roe deer and wild boar at the forest edges
  • pine marten, badger and squirrel in the forest
  • bear, rarely, in the forests at the base

The species above are those documented in the area by the protected-area administration; what you see depends on season, hour and luck.

How long it takes, honestly

The duration is the one in the annex to the Statute of Bistrița-Năsăud County. Linear route: the duration is for the one-way walk.

  • 9 hoursone way, A to B, at your usual pace
  • 7 and a half hoursback the same way (estimate)
  • 16 and a half hoursout and back, with short breaks
  • 13 and a half hoursone way, if you stop for photos and eat on the grass
  • one way, with children, grandparents or a pack full of “just in case”

Sleep at the foot of the mountain

Start from the gate, not from a car park

La Cuib is 180 minutes by car from the start of this trail: a fully equipped kitchen that is yours from first light, a place to dry boots, a garden for the evening. Three nights, the whole house, 1.797 lei.

We checked all of this in .

If you liked this one

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Once you're back down

Sleep twenty minutes from the trail.

The whole house is yours: wet boots by the door, packs in the hall, a late dinner. Parking in the yard and an early start, without waking anyone.

799 lei a night on Booking 599 lei / night See available dates