Discovering the Lost World

Itinerary

• From Glavoj Meadow (Poiana Glăvoi) to the Csodavár junction we follow the stony forest road and the red stripe trail marker.
• At the Csodavár junction we turn right to the blue dot trail, which we follow through Csodavár (Cetățile Ponorului) to the junction at the end of the opposite slope.
• At the junction we turn left to the yellow dot trail, which we follow back to the previously followed forest road.
• On the forest road, at the red stripe marker, we turn right and walk to the Csodavár shelter (Cabana Cetățile Ponorului).
• From the shelter we start back on the red stripe trail to the nearby right-hand branching hiking trail.
• On the wide road turning off to the right, we take a detour on the red triangle trail to the Hamlet Cave (Peştera Căput). (In the last meters, in the dry riverbed, there are no markers.)
• From the Hamlet Cave (Peştera Căput) we return to the wide, unmarked forest road, which we follow to a fording on the right to the Hideg-forrás (Izvorul Rece) meadow.
• At Hideg-forrás (Izvorul Rece) we turn right onto the yellow cross trail, which we follow between the sinkholes of the Lost World (Lumea Pierdută). The trail makes a loop uphill, first follow it right, and take a short round-trip detour to the Black Sinkhole (Avenul Negru), then continue following the trail on the other branch, eventually returning to Hideg-forrás (Izvorul Rece).
• At Hideg-forrás (Izvorul Rece), follow the yellow cross trail to the right, then immediately turn left into the forest. Stay on the trail up to the Ponor Meadow (Poiana Ponor).
• At Ponor Meadow (Poiana Ponor), leave the trail and follow the unmarked path to the bottom of the meadow.
• At the bottom of Ponor Meadow (Poiana Ponor), before the creek, turn right to the red triangle trail, which we follow to the ford at the end of the meadow's spur.
• On the far side of the ford, keep straight on the blue dot trail, cross the wooden bridge, then turn left and take a round-trip detour to the Ponor Spring (Izbocul Ponor). Then return walking to the meadow under the bridge (crossing the bridge again).
• From the meadow follow the blue dot trail right to the beginning of Ponor Meadow (Poiana Ponor).
• At the beginning of Ponor Meadow (Poiana Ponor), turn right to the unmarked tire track leading back to Glavoj Meadow (Poiana Glăvoi).

Detailed description of the route

The great gate of the limestone castle

Our hike starts from the popular tourist center, Glavoj Meadow (Poiana Glăvoi). The meadow is a centrally located area on the Padiş Plateau, from which many famous sights can be reached by a short walk. Accordingly, services, guesthouses, and buffets increasingly operate in the meadow. In summer, the beautiful meadow fills with tent campers, which visibly struggles to bear this level of load.

From Glavoj Meadow, we set off southwest along a stream that winds its way into the green field, following the red stripe markings on a wide, rocky forestry road, which we follow for a long distance through the pine forest. After a long winding section, to the right there is a resting place and a signboard under the trees beside the road: this is the Csodavár (Cetățile Ponorului) junction, where we turn right onto the blue dot trail. We descend along a narrow path through mossy, increasingly rocky, dense pine forest, occasionally hearing the roar of the stream below. Finally, on a steel cable-secured rock staircase serpentine, we face a dramatic sight: opposite us unfolds the Csodavár, with its 73 m high and 30 m wide opening, the monumental Great Portal, the highest cave entrance in the Carpathians.

Csodavár is the largest and most famous cave system of Padiş, remarkable for its huge limestone walls and natural stone gates. Deep below, confluencing stream waters have carved an extensive cave system into the karst mass, which has collapsed in three places, creating a triple amphitheater surrounded by nearly vertical 100-120 m high rock walls. The main stream of Csodavár is the Vár stream, which here joins waters from the Lost World sinkholes and from Ponor Meadow, and after about 2 kilometers of underground flow, breaks out again at the Galbina spring (now at 815 m), creating perhaps the most wild spectacle of the area, the Galbina stone forest. The stream then calms down and first flows into the Köves Körös, then continues its way in the Black Körös towards the Tisza.

We descend clinging to steel cables over car-sized boulders to the cave opening, which almost hangs over us: it yawns from the depths and towers above, while its huge rock formations suggest great depths. One can descend on a secured technical path to its bottom, where we can see the swiftly flowing underground stream, which can be crossed to a neighboring doline inaccessible from the surface—however, this should not be attempted without an experienced cave guide, as movement in the gallery is extremely dangerous.

Exiting the castle courtyard

The hiking path bends upwards opposite the gate, at the base of its huge walls, made accessible by metal stairs. We climb over them on the doline rim, then descend on a stony trail trod through rubble to the next doline. This 'courtyard' harbors the lowest surface point of the Padiş (950 m), and at the base of the opposite cliff wall bluntly gapes the 'Gate of the Underworld'. The path turns back here to find an exit from the amphitheater in the rubble channel of the opposite wall via the Tulogdi ford. The path is almost improbably steep, punctuated by rock stairs, so we ascend gripping chains. Finally, we reach the forest and turn left at a signed junction to the Galbina circuit on the yellow dot trail.

The path passes through mixed impenetrable forest with pine-rooted soil, ending at a point that appears as a dead end: a painted arrow on a dark limestone plaque on the right indicates the direction forward. The trail narrows to a fissure barely a meter wide, into which we must briefly climb down. After the rock stairs, the narrow rock corridor becomes passable, though use of hands might be needed. The walls, a few meters high, form a continuous rock wall giving a somewhat claustrophobic experience, and we have to share the narrow corridor with fallen tree trunks. Caution is advised on the slippery, rocky ground, though the section is quite short. Below, we walk again on a forest trail; to the right, a rock 'biting into a mountainside' with a tall elongated cave entrance is visible, but soon we return to the trail to Csodavár, from which we earlier stepped back onto the forestry road.

Comfort at the tourist house

Turning right onto the forestry road, we follow the red stripe marking to the nearby Csodavár shelter (Cabana Cetățile Ponorului). Originally, the forest building accommodated experts working on the plateau—forest and mining engineers, researchers, and speleologists—until a renovation turned it into a 20-room guesthouse. The cozy house is a real oasis on the Padiş, thanks to its continuously operating restaurant. Its location is ideal: many attractions of the plateau are easily accessible from here.

From the tourist house, we walk briefly back on the forestry road to the red triangle hiking trail junction, turning right. Shortly after, on a wide macadam road, after two curves near a ruined building, we turn left and follow the Medve stream (Valea Ursului) for only a few meters to reach a spectacular karst phenomenon, the Hamlet cave (Peştera Căput).

The big appetite of the Hamlet cave

We can stumble to the cave entrance along a wide stream bed, but in wetter periods, water flows here through the huge limestone mass oval opening. Sometimes it trickles, other times it roars, indicated by the smoothly worn bed bottom showing that larger masses of water occasionally attack the cave, which resounds as it swallows it. There is also water flowing in dry periods, but then below the bed it flows in the depths. The stream falls into the passage with a high waterfall, visible from above and from the side if water level allows. However, go no further inside: the 1873 m long cave chambers and shafts are dangerous, and a sudden flash flood could easily trap those inside.

Returning to the forestry road, do not head toward the guesthouse, but start in the opposite direction! The road is unmarked but unmistakable, as its wide gravel track does not branch. Alongside, a periodic stream circles its own sediments. We are in the Bear Valley (Valea Ursului), which borders the Lost World from the north and west, and it is not surprising it is named after the large predator favoring extensive natural forests. The Lost World (Lumea Pierdută) was the last wilderness on the Padiş plateau, discovered only in the mid-20th century, and still retains its primeval forest character. When it was explored, supposedly not even birdsong was heard here, hence its name—derived not from Czárán but from one of the first researchers of the sinkholes, Marcian Bleahu, and it refers to the site's late discovery.

The forest where even the birds fall silent

At the meadow of the Hideg-forrás (Izvocul Rece), fed by the cave streams of the sinkholes above, the yellow cross trail joins. Following it right, we cross the stream bed and begin ascending into the Lost World. The path penetrates a confusing, primeval atmosphere, an impenetrable forest dominated by pines and moss cover. The first shaft cave opens on our left; although not easy to notice, its enormous dimensions blend into the chaos of the forest. The more than hundred meters deep Twin Sinkhole (Avenul Gemănata) is characterized by a thick rock bridge, proclaiming that two sinkholes merged here. There is no point going closer; it is easy to slip, and below one would only see darkness. (At the bottom, huge blockages of felled logs and ice accumulate.)

The cave is connected with two other sinkholes, and the wide stream flowing below is connected to the next shaft cave. Higher up, beech trees dominate the still natural forest appearance. The trail branches; first take a detour right to see the Black Sinkhole (Avenul Negru), the most frightening of them all: a huge circular, narrow rock chimney, with a vertical shaft about 110 m deep. There is no chance to see its bottom; better keep a distance, as it is the most dangerous point in the area. Returning on the trail, the ascent ends, and the path changes to a gentle slope. Fallen trunks hinder progress, but the path is fairly easy to the smallest sinkhole, the clogged Pioneer Sinkhole (Avenul Pionierilor), which is much smaller (9 m deep) and rather a rock fissure in the mountainside. Thanks to its mossy, broken walls it is still a nice sight, though falling in is no more promising of better views than deeper sinkholes. The trail also touches the Covered Sinkhole (Avenul Acoperit), a classic cave cavity behind which nearly 40 m deep abyss yawns. From here, the trail turns back to the previous route and leads down to Hideg-forrás and the forestry road.

Transylvania's most beautiful drainage

This time we follow the transport road to the right, but the yellow cross trail soon turns left into the trees. An ascent begins, climbing steeply under huge spruce trees, interrupted by a small clearing. Higher up, we reach the highest rim of Ponor Meadow (Poiana Ponor), where an unmarked tire track branches to the left from the hiking trail. Turn left here, and before descending to the stream bank, look around carefully, as this is the best vantage to see the huge, bowl-shaped depression. The pleasantly undulating, 'wrinkled' turf divided by a braided stream is cut in two, and though invisible behind the pines, two sinkholes at the meadow corner drain the water underground. Its flow varies: after snowmelt it floods heavily, activating other sinkholes, making a lake on the meadow. In a few weeks, the split drainage also swallows this lake, and the water flows underground toward Csodavár. Rarely, the lake grows so large that water spills over the low rim on the basin's far side. Incidentally, 'ponor' means sinkhole in Romanian.

The 'Ponor circus' (here 'circus' refers to the circular shape) radiates a true bucolic idyll: the flat basin floor and its wavy outer slopes are enclosed by lush pine forests grazed by flocks, only the rocky Kulisszák cliffs, visible on descent to the left, form a harsher element in the landscape. (One hides an interesting cave: sitting in its small alcove you can reportedly clearly hear voices coming from the middle of the meadow, even speech.)

Below, we join the hard-to-notice red triangle trail, turning right before the stream into a valley joining from the north. The meadow spur is bordered by higher mountains; here, we cross on a ford and turn left. (The crossing might be difficult when the stream is swollen; in that case, go upstream to find a ford.) On the far side, do not turn off but follow the blue dot trail straight. The short branch leads through wild valley scenery along a rocky bed fast-flowing stream to the Ponor Spring (Izbucul Ponor). The water emerging from the cavern under the cliff base sinks in the higher meadows, beneath the Padiş settlement. (The non-karstic Magura ridge also drains here.) Due to a siphon, the spring cave was only explored for a few tens of meters. (There used to be a sawmill here in Czárán's time.)

From the spring, descend and cross the wooden bridge leading right. The blue dot trail leads back to Ponor Meadow, which we immediately leave on a right unmarked trail. Along the track with tire marks leading through the trees, a rocky point on the left spotlights with an informational board—from here you can see the entire meadow nicely. Continue ascending on the road, which does not enter the forest but follows the pasture corridor towards Glavoj Meadow. The trail is unmistakable, also used by herders and foresters with vehicles, and in about 10-15 minutes brings us back to the starting point, Glavoj Meadow.