Cottage Izvorul Muntelui  – Curmatura Lutu Rosu – Dochia Chalet – Jgheabul cu Hotar – Dochia Rock – Izvorul Muntelui Chalet

From the Cottage Izvorul Muntelui you can reach the Dochia Chalet (on top of the Mountain Ceahlau) and comeback to the base of the mountain in the same day. Following two touristic routes, this way you’ll experience more of the beauties of Ceahlau Mountain. Both routes are marked on the map and are safe to walk on. Along the routes you’ll also encounter small panels that will tell you few things about the area where you’re located: flora, fauna and other interesting facts.

The route that you’ll use to climb the mountain is called Lutu Rosu located on the east side of the mountain and its bookmarked with a blue line. The route starts at the Cottage Izvorul Muntelui (797 m) and goes to Curmatura Lutu Rosu (1020 m) and after that to the Cottage Dochia. The route is about 6 km with medium difficulty and accessible all year long. There are moments when heavy snow or extreme wind conditions all causes all the routes that are going up the mountain to close.

Fun fact: when the temperature is -9C on Ceahlau and the wind is blowing, the human body will be experiencing a wind-chill factor of -20C, -23C.

The trail starts near the cottage and goes through the forest until the point called “La arsuri”, after which you go up to the Edge Rachitis. When you’ll go up you’ll see Piatra cu Apa, Polita cu Crini and Detunatele each one with its own legend and memories.

The Reservation Polita cu Crini is announced by a panel that tells you that here you’ll see zada, the only conifer tree that lost its leaves. From here the route goes up through massive limestone rocks until a small plane at the base of the Rachitis Tower where there is a big rock called Piatra cu Apa.

Then, the trail continues to go up the mountain and soon you arrived to a rock formation called Detunatele – it’s the sign you’re almost on top of the mountain. From here you go through the spout of the cottage and after a few minutes you reach the cottage Dochia from where in a sunny day the view is really breathtaking.

The route that we took to get down the mountain is route 3 and is called Jgheabul cu Hotar, marked with blue triangle. The route starts at the Cottage Dochia, goes through Jgheabul cu Hotar, the Dochia Stone and reaches the Cottage Izvorul Muntelui after 7.5 km. The route is accessible all year long, with few exceptions and has a medium difficulty.

You start at the Cottage Dochia, go around the Peek Lespezi, arrive on the plane of the Detunate, go through an area filled with “jnepeni” (jnepen – small conifer tree, with tough branches that can help you on the way down), near the rock called “Vulturul lui Traian” (Traian’s Eagle)a nd reaches the plane La Izvoare.

Then, the trail continues to go through the forest and passes the Dochia Stone. The route becomes a simple walk in the forest at this point and it doesn’t takes long until you’ll reach Cottage Izvorul Muntelui again.See all the routes from Ceahlau Massif.