In the cradle of Pádis waters, on the Kék-Magura ridge

Itinerary

• Start from the center of Pádis (Padiş) on the hiking trail marked with a yellow triangle, follow it all along the ridge up to the Varasó saddle (Şaua Vărăşoaia).
• Descending from the ridge, at the Varasó saddle (Şaua Vărăşoaia) turn left onto the macadam road marked with blue stripe that leads back to the starting point.
• At the right turn intersection after Varasó shelter (Cabana Vărăşoaia) turn left and continue along the hiking trail with the blue stripe marking until the end point at Pádis (Padiş).

Detailed description of the tour

Start the hike from Pádis (Padiş), on the main street lined with tourist hostels, taking the branching yellow triangle marked gravel road heading east. Ruined, dilapidated buildings mix with newer more cultured accommodation buildings, but the settlement grew larger by the end of the 2010s. Until 1956, only shepherd huts stood in this area, as well as an unused, dilapidated military building that the army allowed to be used for tourism purposes, renovated to become the first shelter of the plateau (the Pádis shelter), but it burned down within 2 years and was rebuilt only in 1963. After it also burned down, a camping site operated there, and finally a local mining company built a housing block for its workers, where hikers could stay. There are no other permanent settlements on Pádis.

We start at an elevation of about 1300 meters, facing a 341-meter elevation gain until the Kék-Magura peak, to be covered in 3 kilometers, so the path is moderately steep. In the first half kilometer, we see the last few hundred meters of the asphalt road leading to Pádis – around the mid-2020s, the connection to Cluj County is planned to be built, behind the road rises the 1466 m high peak (Vârful Biserica Moțului) with the Mócok church on top.

Following the yellow triangle marking, after half a kilometer we turn north, and the gravel and rocky surface gradually disappear as we enter the area of the former pine forest. Unfortunately, it is only former, as there are hardly any trees left, most of them also dead, the drying caused by climate change and the pine bark beetle attacking the pine forest is to blame. The monoculture pine forest is not a natural formation at this altitude but was planted after the earlier mixed forests were cut down.

The path is extremely difficult to follow due to fallen trees (as of autumn 2024), most markings have disappeared together with the trees. From around 1500 meters altitude, the condition of the pine forest improves, from here we walk in a very atmospheric, wild, dense pine forest.

Blue hill

If you do the hike at the right time, the slope of Kék-Magura (Măgura Vânătă) is truly painted blue by the endless blueberry fields – 'Măgura' means hill in Romanian, and 'vânătă' means blue. Near the peak, the landscape is dominated by pine forests, alpine meadows, and blueberry bushes in the undergrowth. The path winds among these, especially on the larger meadows and in areas damaged by tree death, where the trail is often easy to lose sight of. Unfortunately, there are many such areas, especially on the south side of the mountain block: climate change and the beetle mercilessly destroy what was once wild pine forests, widely harvested by forestry.

Soon we reach the summit of Kék-Magura, marked by an old, crumbling wooden shack. This used to be an observation point, now it is no longer possible to climb it, and it is recommended to keep a safe distance! Without the lookout tower, we cannot see over the tops of the trees, so we must be content with the sparse northeast panorama the pines allow. We can see the Meleg-Szamos valley and behind it the highest peak of the Bihar Mountains (Nagy-Bihar, 1849 m) is also visible on clear days. Near the summit of Kék-Magura, we reach a rocky carpeted meadow with a new partial view. In the Ice Age cold, blocks of stone cracked by freeze-thaw cycles are uncovered in patches, elsewhere covered by soil.

Wandering the meadows

From here, we walk on the ridge. Markings may only be painted here, the meadows provide few hints for the right direction, and the tourist traffic is not sufficient to leave a visibly trodden path behind. Do not worry if you stray from the path; rather use a mobile phone map that shows your own location, to help find the correct trail again.

We do not touch the peak of Kis-Magura (Magura Mica), the hiking trail passes next to it. We begin the descent after the long winding stretch in a pine forest more beautiful than ever. The path is finally easy to follow, and although yellow stripe markings also appear, do not be disturbed and interpret these as triangles as well. As the slope gets steeper, we leave the dense forest and continue the path in a shrubby grove toward the Varasó saddle (Şaua Vărăşoaia). There is also a chance for a view here: the nearby Varasó snow (Vărășoaia) is visible even in bad weather, but with some luck, we can also recognize the northern mountains of Bihar, including for example the Horgas Peak (Vârful Cârligatele).

Meanwhile, we see the passable road that branches off the main road of Pádis and leads to the shepherd lodgings at the Varasó saddle. We need to reach this along a steep grassy slope scarcely decorated with trees. On the slope stand many shepherd lodgings, around which we will likely encounter flocks and the dogs guarding them. Intense grazing still takes place on the wide meadows of Pádis today, preventing the picturesque meadows from reforesting.

On the road, turn left to join the tracks of many other hiking markings (red stripe, blue stripe, red dot) as well.

Sinkholes, shafts, lakes

The road runs along the edge of the Varasó meadow (Vărăşoaia) and pine forest before reaching the edge of the wide pasture where we can witness some of the Karst phenomena characteristic of the Pádis plateau. The meadow is perforated (literally) by numerous sinkholes ranging from 10 to 50 m in diameter. In some, especially during spring snowmelt, water accumulates and they temporarily function as small lakes. The largest among them is the Varasó lake (Tăul Vărășoaia), which lies directly beside the road, deepening into the plateau surface. In the mornings, a thin surface fog layer typical of the area forms from the evaporating water of these small lakes.

The admiration of the natural beauties is likely interrupted by the barking of shepherd dogs guarding the flocks. Problems with them are rare, they are accustomed to humans but are indeed large and numerous. For more lively signals, the shepherd belonging to them will appear sooner or later and calm them down.

We pass next to Varasó shelter (Cabana Vărăşoaia) on the passable macadam road, which started as a milk collection point. The Varasó meadow was a busy route for mountain shepherds for two reasons: the permanent lake provided water for the animals, and here they passed when heading to or descending from the nearby ridge crowned by wide pastures.

After covering 1.7 km on the gravel road, turn left continuing to follow the blue stripe marking. The hiking trail continues as a forestry road that is not particularly wild but opens nice views of the gentle slopes and pine ridges of the plateau. The greatest excitement is caused by the few streams that can be easily crossed, even in rainy weather. Approaching Pádis, another lofty view opens onto the Mócok church (Biserica Moţilor). The wooden shack standing on the rock cliff is named after the local ethnic group, who are named after their hairstyle – 'móc' means braid.

The hiking trail ends at the mountain rescue base of Pádis on the asphalt main road, from which we only need to cover 250 meters to return to the starting point.