Cozluk Circuit, Măcin Mountains

1. Starting point and parking place

You can set "Mary's Stones" on waze and stop at the edge of the forest after passing a large lone tree. Park at the point noted on the map with start/finish or at point number 2 on the map. If you start from point 2 you shorten the hike by 3 km of flat walking on dirt road, often through the heat. I will describe the circuit route starting from the point marked on the map with start.

2. Forest border (camping, pt.1 on the map) - loop branch (pt. 2 on the map)

Duration 30 minutes

We start from the start on a loop trail. The marker to follow is the red dot, with the mention that in the area at the base of the mountain, it is encountered sporadically. In the first part while the trail stays low, it passes through a forest where there is a sheepfold and a set up campsite, then the trail follows the edge of a young forest. This segment can also be traveled by car to the point marked on the map with 2.

The Our Mountains app helped me to identify the first time where I had to leave the dirt road under the mountain and turn left, up a steep valley, on Cozluk Valley. At the fork where we turn left there are painted stones and some arrows on the red dot marker, so normally you should not miss this point.

3. Loop branch (pt. 2) - Cozluk Spring

Duration 30 minutes

The route measures 16 km from Greci, 13 km from point 1 and 10 km from point 2.

Greci - Crucele Pasture - Cozluk Valley (which we were entering) - Radului Valley - Baia de Aramă - Baia de Aramă - Lake Stones - Conaciu Peak - Poplars Valley - Mariei Stones - Greci

This is the description we were to meet on an information board a little further up. Here you can also pay the 6 lei nature park fee if you meet the ranger.

Continue on Cozluk Valleyso we have water. Don't rush to stock up yet, we'll reach the spring. On the right we leave a mountain that we will try in our turn. The road is wide, the ascent is smooth, we are posing nu-ma-uita flowers, musuroaie and other plants, some of them seemingly unusual.

The road passes through the forest, which is thinning out. There is a large clearing and a canton, both abandoned (the old Cozluk Canton). To the left of the path there is a Cozluk Spring. Refreshment, hydration and cold water supply point. On the second lap done on this route, In May 2023, we found the landscaped spring dried up and fed water from the stream flowing past the stone landscaping.

4. Cozluk spring - the peony ridge

Duration 30 minutes

After the short stop, we follow to the right our marker that passes behind the cantonment and identify good places to camp in the glade near the cantonment. We also pose with beetles or insects like the mother of the lord and climb through the forest. Small flowers like little purple bunches or some kind of spotted white bells are the delight of the zoom zooming phones. In the crowns of the trees there are many branches of oyster, on the trunks of the yasca trees.

We come out on the ridge above the forest. Here there is alpine pasture, straight terrain and a perspective opens up to the neighboring mountains hitherto hidden from view. We roll our eyes and imagine where our route will take us. On this side of the ridge we met the famous bujori, which were blooming, which means that around May 1st they will be blooming. This is perhaps the best time of year for this route, as this route is also known for the visual spectacle of the peonies.

The second time I passed through here in May, and I was delighted by the many red peony blossoms.

5. Peak with peony - La Pârlitură

Duration 45 minutes

On my second experience on this trail, in the middle of May, I saw many flowering peonies, but also some still unopened, on this section of the trail. This is where the natural spectacle of peonies in the Macin Mountains unfolds. There are many bujorisome on the path, some off.

Stop! Belvedere! At a certain point to the left opens a wide frame in which we recognize the town of Greci (we climbed something!) and in the distance the Danube bend before it meets the Borcea arm before Braila.

Gorgeous spring here when on other roads it's all white! Not that snowy mountains don't look magnificent! I've photographed ferns, parrots and a bird's nest built in a dwarf tree. In the more open sections or with a more poorly contoured path, we have to follow the markings carefully, which are there, but they should not steal the scenery. Another forest welcomes us in the footpath.

6. The Leverage - Radului Valley - Baia de Aramă - Conaciu Peak

Duration 45 minutes

The path goes down, but not far, to the Radului Valley, at the point called "The Leverage". We follow a piece of road downstream Radului Valley. Here again, we have to be careful where we leave this valley, at a cliff, in order to climb for a few minutes more steadily on the other side. We go around a peak through the forest, drunk with the sound of birds.

We reach a lake, more like a pond in the middle of the forest. It's called Baia de Aramă. On the banks of the pond, the storks prepared a hearty meal of frogs, roasting their leftovers on a tree trunk.

The route is well marked and easy. We are on Conaciu Peakwhich is forested, we are actually a little east of the summit itself, at 327m.

7. Conaciu Peak - Pietrele Maria

Duration 1.5 hours to the finish point or 1 hour to point 2 on the map.

The road becomes barked, it looks like a forest road cut through the forest for what purpose? We realize that we are slowly losing altitude. The forest road is deep and is cut by high banks. At one point we find a huge crown of oats fallen at the root of a tree. I cut a piece of it to bring back to Bucharest.

We took our big lunch break before heading out of the forest at the foot of the mountain. Once out of the forest, the scenery changes radically, only plowed pasture and grain fields ahead. If we have left the car at point 2, we have to turn right at the first fork, past the wood. If we follow the route ahead, which is no longer marked here, we head towards Pietrele Maria and point 1. Toward the right we admire until we reach the car the rocky abruptness of the Macin Mountains up to near the peaks of Ghiunalțu and Țuțuiatu (the last one is not visible from here), which rise right in front of the locality that is already visible in the distance.

Admire the left this time Stones of Marysome rocks that rise out of the grass. Our road turns right to reach the edge where we parked the car, among the trees where we see the rocks once again.