Bearfence Mountain is a short but challenging rock scramble, with echoes of Piatra Mica in Romania. Hike the Piatra Craiului Mountains without a passport or an airplane or an international layover! Who knows how we’re supposed to get anywhere in Europe now that Britain has Brexited and Heathrow-to-Europe is an international border crossing?
Max elevation: 3555 ft
Min elevation: 3244 ft
Total climbing: 633 ft
Total descent: -535 ft
Average speed: 15.63 mi/h
Total time: 01:20:19
It begins with pinchy climbs over pointy rocks, and equally pinchy descents.
Then the vista opens up.
I tried and failed to capture the scale.
So Dar will illustrate.
The ridge dropped off to each side, forming a rock bridge.
It’s a fairly lengthy bridge.
After which you get to go down again!
We survived!
You could reverse-scramble back to the beginning, but we had an additional hike on our agenda for the day, so we took the non-scrambly path back through the woods.
Stats
| Distance | 2.5 miles |
| Elevation Gain | 384 feet |
| Moving Time | 57 minutes |
| Total Time | 1 hour, 20 minutes |
| Average Pace | 23 minutes per mile / 2.6 mph |
Recording
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/bearfence-mountain-trail-069059b–2
Equipment
| Backpack | Camelbak Rim Runner hydration pack |
| Navigation | iPhone 6 with AllTrails Pro |
| Shoes | Hoka One One trail running shoes |
| Socks | Injinji Trail Midweight Mini Crew Toesocks |
| Poles | Generic collapsible trekking poles |