Mining Ghost Town In Romania

When we woke up on the morning of the second day of our backpacking trip, the peak where we had camped for the night was surrounded by dense fog. However, we didn't let that stop us, as we had a special goal for the day: hiking to an old mining ghost town, with kilometers of unexplored abandoned tunnels leading deep into the mountain.

With this goal in mind, we began descending from the peak. However, we didn't make it far; shortly before reaching the pass, we lost the trail as the fog thickened and the area was still blanketed in snow from the previous winter.

Unable to find any path at all, we decided to follow the map on our phones using GPS. This turned out to be a good idea: even though the mountainside was incredibly steep and covered in snow (one wrong step could have led to a serious injury or even death), we managed to keep our footing by using our tripods as walking sticks. We even encountered some hikers making their way up to the spot where we had camped the previous night.

Several hours later, we reached the road at the bottom of the mountain without any major issues. However, due to the snow, it took us much longer than expected, so we tried our luck with hitchhiking.
Fortunately, it didn't take long for us to catch a ride to the nearest town, where we restocked our food supplies, knowing we wouldn't have another opportunity to buy provisions for the rest of our trip.

After a short break in town, we headed to the opposite side of the valley to begin our ascent of the mountainside where the mining ghost town was located. It didn't take long for us to come across the first signs of mining activity as we hiked up: we found ruins, partially flooded tunnel entrances, and even came across the first abandoned buildings.

We decided not to spend much time exploring these lower tunnels and buildings, as the sun was already low in the sky, and it would take us at least another two hours to reach the actual mining ghost town, where we hoped to find more interesting sights.
The hiking trail was steep and in poor condition, so by the time we finally caught sight of the mining ghost town, the sun was already setting, which created an atmospheric backdrop for photos. We explored some of the buildings and eventually set up camp on one of the rooftops so we could fully explore this stunning location the next morning.

As the sun rose, we packed up our gear and continued exploring the buildings we hadn't seen the previous day.
But as most of them were empty and not very interesting, we hiked further up the mountain in order to explore a part of the mining tunnels. We found multiple entrances to the underground, most of which were flooded. Only one access point further up the mountain was clear of water; it wasn't a regular portal but rather an old ventilation access. Inside the tunnels, we found a shaft and various remnants of mining equipment.

After exploring the mine, we hiked further up the mountainside onto the ridge, where we set up our camp at a nice shelter. Relaxing by a campfire, we planned our descent into the remote, untouched valley the following day.