Romanian National Parks

On my to-do list in Romania is to hike all of the National Parks.  As a note to self, and also to entice others to go and visit these beautiful places, this post provides a map and links to some of the parks.  One of the best things about National Parks, in Romania or elsewhere, is the geology associated with the breathtaking views. This post is about some cool places in Romania where you can see awesome geology and experience great landscapes, views and culture.

View Romanian National Parks in a larger map
Apuseni Nature Park (Rom. Parcul Natural Apuseni): best known for the beautiful karst landscape and its numerous caves.
Bicaz Gorge - Hasmas National Park (Rom. Parcul National Cheile Bicazului-Hasmas): best known for the spectacular Bicaz Gorge
Calimani National Park (link in Romanian) (Rom. Parcul National Calimani): located in the Calimani volcanic chain.
Ceahlau National Park (link in Romanian)(Rom. Parcul National Ceahlau): Ceahlau Mountain is also called the Olympus of Romania, because of its significance in the history of the Dacians, the ancestors of the Romanian people.  Ceahlau was considered to be the sacred mountain of Zalmoxis, the ancient deity of the Dacians.
Piatra Craiului National Park (Rom. Parcul National Piatra Craiului): one of my favorite places to hike. Beautiful Mesozoic limestone landscape.
Retezat National Park (link in Romanian)(Rom. Parcul National Retezat): best known for the beautiful landscape sculpted by long gone glaciers, it is the park in Romania with the highest number of mountain peaks over 2000m in height.

Pinnacle Park, Western Australia

Last year I had my first trip in the Land Down Under.  I was in Perth for most of the time, but my first escape to the bushland was to visit the Nambung National Park and to see the pinnacles.

© RomaniaRocks

The trip in itself was awesome: my friend and I took off from Perth, driving "on the wrong side of the road", checking religiously the gas level in the tank to make sure we are not stuck on the road, no gas, in the middle of nowhere.  The car windshield cracked midway there... you get the picture, it was a blast.  The trip was fantastic, the geology great.  The pictures show these pinnacles, which are believed to be syngenetic karstic geomorphological features formed by karstification and lithification of aeolian calcarenite.  The origin of these features is controversial, which explains why I was confused reading the info in the park, but here is a recent paper discussing the subject. The pillars are produced by

simultaneous karstifcation and lithifcation of aeolian calcarenite

Eolian calcarenites are sands consisting of fragments of carbonate-skeleton organisms such as foraminifera, mollusks, red algae, echinoderms.  These skeleton fragments were transported by wind and deposited as dunes or other eolian land forms.  Shortly after deposition, these sands were affected by karstification (dissolution) and lithification (the process of turning a sediment into a rock), resulting in the formation of the pillars.

© RomaniaRocks

© RomaniaRocks