We have some of the best Apuseni Mountain Running Trails for you. For all of them we give you a description, some photo’s, a map and a gpx file so you can use your own navigation device. Below you can read about all of them. If you choose one you can go to its individual page to see the maps and download the gpx files.
If you would like to try, but if you’re not comfortable taking off alone, you can ask Jordi for a guided run.
Lunca Larga Run 10km – 189m↑
This is an easy walk which you can do even on a rainy day where most other tracks will get muddy. The whole track is on the asphalt and has only 189 meter of total elevation. When standing in front of our gate you take a right on the asphalt road and follow the same road for the whole trip.
You will leave the village of Runc and make your way up trough the Runcului Gorge. After 2,5km you arrive in the village of Lunca Larga of which only 33 people still call it their home. You can continue until the last house and there you have reached 5km. If you turn around there, you have made a nice 10km run.
You can find more details like the map and the gpx file here.
Cheile Pociovalistei Run 11km – 343m↑
This walk is also an easy run without to much elevation. Most of the track is a forest road. There’s a total elevation of 343 meters. When you stand in front of our gate you take a left on the Asphalt road. After 400 meters you take a right and start to follow the blue triangle. From here you pass the last few houses of the village (make sure to scare away the small dogs at those houses) before you run into the forest.
The road will go through the Pociovalistei Gorge. After 5,5km you get to the end of the forest road. From here you can turn around and run back so you finish the 11km run when you get back. If you continue the blue triangle route you get to Scarita Belioara which is another route of its own.
You can find more details like the map and the gpx file here.
Scarita Belioara 20km – 927m↑
The most epic running trail of the area. Scarita is the highest peak in our Area with stunning limestone cliffs. On a clear day you can sometimes see all of Romania’s mountainpeaks from the summit. When you stand in front of our gate you go down on the asphalt road for 400 meters. There you take a right and you will follow the blue triangle markings all the way to the top. (Make sure to scare away the small annoying dogs at the last houses of the village).
The first 4,5 km are on an easy forest road with allready a bit of elevation. After that you take a right and start running up along a small stream. This is challenging, but will take your mind of the actual effort you’re making here. The markings will take you left and soon after you leave the stream and come to the base of Scarita’s rock formation. Here you take a right and the markings will join the red-dot-markings. From here there’s a climb until you reach the top, you’ll most likely not be able to run up, but you can keep a fast hiking pace. Take a look around when your ascending as the views are spectaculair even from here. On top the track will lead you all over Scarita’s plateau until you reach the most spectaculair viewpoint of the area.
You continue this way until you find the blue-cross-markings. These go left and right, but we follow the rightside ones. They take you down through a steep meadow until you reach a forest road. The road doubles as a stream so the first kilometer is challenging. After that it gets easier and you continue down the road towards civilization. There’s about 7 more kilometers when you leave the stream. The first houses you reach are those of Lunca Larga. From there it’s another 4km on the asphalt through Runcului Gorge until you reach Tara Nomada again.
The whole trip is about 19,8km and has 927 meters elevation. You can find more details like the map and the gpx file here.
Zapodie 24km – 719m↑
Zapodie is the place where our neighbors used to go in summer with their cattle. They all had hay-roofed wooden barns there of which some are still standing and a few are still in use. This route is about 24km but there’s no very steep parts in them so you can run all of it.
You start up the asphalt through the Runcului Gorge, through Lunca Larga untill you pass the last house and the asphalt road goes on as an unpaved forest road. Soon after that there’s a fork in the road where you pick the right one. This way will take you through the forest until you reach the high grasslands. There you keep going until there’s some crossroads and you take the left, leading down to the picturesque Zapodie where you find a lot of the barns still standing. You continue the track down and left until you enter the forest again. This road will bring you back to Lunca Larga and from there back to Tara Nomada again.
You can find more details like the map and the gpx file here.
Times to Beat
As any runner I like a small competition. I like to do that with a scoreboard of the 4 tracks that I offered above. You can run the tracks in your own time and show me a recording of your best time. You can always submit your time. If you run a trackrecord you ‘ll also win a small price.
lunca Larga Run |
Pociovalistei Run |
||||
| 1 | Jordi Kromwijk | 0:39:43 | 1 | Jordi Kromwijk | 0:49:32 |
| 2 | Kim Jansen | 1:01:03 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 3 | ||||
Scarita Belioara |
Zapodie Trailrun |
||||
| 1 | Jordi Kromwijk | 01:58:35 | 1 | Jordi Kromwijk | 01:51:13 |
| 2 | Joris Weise | 02:17:17 | 2 | ||
| 3 | Remi Stevelink | 02:47:19 | 3 | ||
Maraton Apuseni
If you like running in the mountains and if you like our area you should consider signing up for the Maraton Apuseni. One of the best trail-running events in Europe. There’s a Ultra-run, a marathon, a semi-marathon and a cross distance. Give it a try and join the race.
