Getting to explore gorges is always a great way to spend some time into the heart of the mountains where you can chill for a little bit and forget about daily routines, but everything turns out into a great experience full of adrenaline as soon as you find yourself in the middle of a canyon where the water is above your knees and the stones are embracing you slowly.

Visting gorges might be one of the best mountain tracks anybody can follow when it comes to a walk in nature without being needed to be well equipped and make any special effort to enjoy the wilderness of the mountains because it's that kind of path created by either a river or some other water sources that dug into the heart of the mountains leaving behind nothing else but a place which can be visited by any human being who's looking forward to fill its lungs with some fresh air and forget about daily routines.
Actually, this is how most of the journeys begin and when people find out if they have this passion for travelling and find answers to the permanent question about what you prefer between sea and the mountains.
You could go just for a BBQ or to enjoy a night spent in the tent with the galaxy above your head, or to simply stand and stare to the beauty of nature, it's always one of the best places where you will find some answers and make some great decisions.

And through the many gorges, I got to visit, some were very long, some very short, and some very narrow, there was always something unique each one of them had.
It could be the architecture of the stones and their colour, the other tourist attractions they were leading to, the animals that were living there or the fauna, but there were never two gorges alike. There were even some where I got to see nature unleashed with lots of landslides but never a place where you will get to walk through the water and sneak between the rocks which were slowly coming closer to embrace you... until the last summer.

The gorges which are going to offer you a different perspective than what you've seen so far in my posts are called Crivadia Gorges, and they are located really close to one of the main national roads of the country that plays one of the most important roles in connecting different counties and great cities.

A road that when you cross it, you don't really have any expectations from it since on both of its sides you will see nothing else but lots of tiny villages of poor people where you could barely find someone to offer you any information. Actually we were heading home from our 14 days roadtrip around Romania when we noticed a small path that leads to a church on one of the hills, and that was also the beginning of our journey since from the church we didn't walk more than 10 minutes until we found the river which was slowly creating art through its flow.

The expedition started with the thoughts that being in the middle of the summer, most likely there won't be too much water, but the more we were walking the deeper the water was becoming and the narrower the path between the stones was turning up.
That's why I'd most likely call it a canyon rather than some usual gorges you see in the mountains because the feeling you get once you see the stones keeping you in a warm hug, it's hard to be described into words, but actually something that you need to feel in order to understand it.
The tiny stream that opens up your trip seems friendly enough to make you believe that you could cross the entire place without getting any water into the boots. Even the sun which no matter how deep you get into the heart of the mountains, it always finds a way to follow you and warm up the water, but you can forget about it as soon as the clarity of the water is lost and the canyon decides to keep you for himself instead of letting the sun accompany you further.
And I can't really comply about it since you need to feel this experience properly in order to remember it for a lifetime, and while you are focused not to get your boots wet, you will soon realize that the water will reach above your knees in just a matter of time, now praying not to reach the pockets where you have the addictive gadgets, ha!

But how beautiful is it? There is nothing you can see around you other than stones and the endless path through the water which is connected with a cold wind that comes along the canyon but which maintains the water warm enough to not make you freeze and actually become more curious to see what is coming up next.

Crivadia Gorges is not just a simple walk through the water and some stones, but it actually leads to a beautiful waterfall and the last customs tower of the area which dates since the 14th century and where you will find lots of rare plants specific to the limestone rocks.

The surface covered by the canyon is of 10 ha and it represents a protected area which is barely known by people other than the locals, which is often described as the place that is never touched by the hot days of the summer being so rich in forests and different plants that make it become a real oasis of silence and peace.
The canyon is split into 3 sections, the first one where you meet the peace of the river that is not going above your ankles, the 2nd one where the stones are coming closer and the water will go above your knees, and the last one where the water flow is very stirred and it's tasting your balance while the water is reaching your hips.
Of course, the water level depends on the period when you are visiting the canyon but we still got to experience this in a hot day of summer and that's why I would not recommend to be visited during the winter or any other season because the water temperature will be pretty cold and no one wants to return with a flu from the holiday, right? :)

The height of the stones varies between 70-100 meters and they can come close to just 1,5 meters, so if you are a claustrophobic person, you might not enjoy this as much as I did, but the trail overall has 1 hour and a half until you reach the end of it measuring just 1 km length, and you can simply just visit the first 2 parts of it to taste the experience.

Crivadia Gorges are located in the village with the same name (Crivadia), Hunedoara county, on just 20 km away from Petrosani, making the connecting between Petrosani and Hațeg.

To reach the gorges you have to be very careful while you are driving on the national road DN66 which often gets over some bridges, because one of rivers you'll cross is called Crivadia, and right after it there is a small path on the right that leads to a church where you can park the car and walk no more than 100 meters until you discover the canyon. Right after it, the things are pretty clear since you will go through the water against the water flow and let yourself embraced by the stones and their mystery.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾

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