Baiul Mare Peak - Sinaia, Baiului Mountains

1. Baiul Mare Peak (1,895 m)

Let's admire once again the panorama of the Buceg from Baiul Mare Peak (1895 mdm), but also the plateau Baiului Mountains. In Bucegi we admire from south to north the peaks Vânturiș, Vârful cu Dor, Furnica, Jepii Mari, Jepii Mici, Caraiman, Coștila and Omu. The Baiului Mountains are separated from the Bucegi Mountains by the deep Prahova Valley.

2. Baiul Mare Peak (1895 m) - below Drăganu Peak (1771 m)

0.5 hours / 2 km / red lane / easy

From now on it's all downhill. The wide ridge path will intersect in the first saddle with the 4×4 road that held the contour. As long as we are on the plateau, on the ridge, we always have the option of following the off road (the summer route) or mathematically traversing the ridge, peak after peak (the winter route). If on Baiul Mare we decided to climb the peak, as it was the maximum altitude of our route in this mountain massif, the other peaks we bypassed on the contour. At a certain point we go around Draganu peak by the left, with a quite wide loop, we should not get impatient, as we will return after the peak on the initial N-S direction.

3. Under Drăganu Peak (1771 m) - under Piscul Câinelui Peak (1645 m)

1 hour / 3 km / red lane / easy

All along the way we admire the Bucegii, we try to see the villages at the foot of them on the Prahova Valley or we look on the plateau or towards the Doftanei Valley, on our left. We don't forget to look back towards the Baiul Mare peak. Ahead, to the south, the ridge is slowly losing altitude, even the Piscul Cainelui Peak, which looks quite high on the horizon is already more than 200 m lower than Baiul Mare. The plateau is sunny and friendly, but in the valleys the mist continues to play at will. There is also a blue dot marker, although according to the maps it should only be to be found on the Dog's Foot.

We enter the Cainelui Peak whose summit measures 1650 meters above sea level. We will not climb to the summit, although many climb it for the perspective it offers. We will take the half-right branch that bypasses it on the contour after having first left the contour that bypasses it on the other side, but which continues towards Posada or Secaria on the red band. The branch with the shortcut is hardly visible in the fog.

4. Under the Dog's Foot Peak (1645 m) - Dog's Foot Ridge - Dog's Foot Hut (1000 m)

2 hours / 5 km / blue point / medium

We thus enter The Dog's Foot, a long unpadded ridge, the longest mountain leg that descends from east to west towards Sinaia. From it we say goodbye to the Baiul Mare Peak and its western grohtiosurile. Both on the left and on the right side of the foot there is a hut, the one on the left being a big one, well visible from the path blue dot down which we descend. The marking gets better and better. If we look up we can see under the white cloud in the valley the roofs of the city Sinaia, and in the background the Prahovean (eastern) cliffs of the Buceg Mountains.

Cainelui's Peak loses altitude and near the forest gives us the pleasure of walking on a carpet of needles of larch from the only conifers that are losing their leaves. After 1 hour from the branch, we enter the forest first mixed, then deciduous. The path is completely covered with rusty leaves, but we can't miss the trail as we are now on the best marked segment of it. Too bad that where more markings were really needed, they were missing, an impediment that becomes serious in dense fog. The last few kilometers of descent are quite steep and demand everyone's brakes.

In this second part of the day we met many more tourists than in the first, a sign that the route Sinaia - Piscul Cainelui - Baiului Mare is practiced by many round trip. In particular because of this piece of road I recommend to follow the route in the loop described by me, thus avoiding a difficult climb, heavy at the beginning and quite long. If you do this route uphill, add about 1 hour to the time I have spent.

5. Piscul Câinelui Hut (1000 m) - Sinaia (800 m)

0.5 hours / 1.5 km / blue dot / easy

Passing the former The Dog's Nest Chaletnow private property. From here begins a paved car road, with a parapet in places that descends in steep serpentines. The access from the asphalted road up to here is forbidden to car traffic. In the courtyard of the former cottage I also saw 2 cannons, which I don't know how it is allowed to be owned by someone, but it is clear that not everyone is this owner. We come to the asphalt on Piscul Cainelui street in Sinaia, where we parked one of the 2 cars with which we organized the logistics of this route with different entry and exit points.