Touristic routes Vidra – Stana Pietrile – Saua Pietrile – Varful Mogosul – Izvorul Vidrutei – Valea Vidrutei – Lacul Vidra – Vidra
Touristic route: relatively easy, difficult in winter
Guide mark: partial red cross, yellow stripe
Duration: 5-6 hours
Our track to “Poartea Soarelui (The Sun’s Gate)” starts in Vidra, 20 kilometers far from Voineasa. From Zan Hotel we’ll get there by car and then we walk to Fratosteanu Top. We start our journey from Tranzit Hotel and head to the south, where, on the crest we’ll spot the rocky cliffs of Pietrile Top and Saddle separating it from the massive Purului Top. We cross the road going round Vidra Lake to the intersection with the road to Voineasa. We’ll keep going ahead, turning west to cross Vidruta branch of Vidra Lake. We’ll walk for about 2 kilometers far from the intersection, avoiding the forest roads climbing by Mogoselul and Mogosu streams, affluent rivers of Vidruta. Before reaching Pietrile stream (red cross guide marks, 1.5 hours). We start climbing up on the path going into the spruce forest. In the beginning, the steep is abrupt, but step by step it becomes milder and the walk more pleasant. We cross a small forest, going south and then again through the forest. After an hour and a half we get back to the alpine clearing Pietrile, close to the sheep cot with the same name. We climb up through the deep vegetation around the sheep cot and stop in Pietrile Saddle. From here we have a beautiful sight towards north to Lotrului Mountains and Vidra Lake. We can see the hights of Cindrelului and Sebesului Mountains fading away in the distance at north-west.
From Pietrile Saddle we follow the road on the crest Ştefanu- Măceşului Valley, eastwards, on the first serpentine going round Pietrile Top (1877m), imposing through its calcareous cliffs.
To the south, the valley of Tocan Stream deepens and to the west we leave behind the massive silhouette of Puru Top, with its glacier cauldron on the north. The road goes upwards step by step and we we soon get to a small plateau where there is a beautiful view towards Vidra Lake on the north. We go round the rounded top (Boarneşu -1923 m), the road going in serpentines to the south close to the spring well of Pietrile stream.
Going on the western side of the top, we look at Turcinul Mic basin abounding in chalkstone beaks, and downwards a portal (“Piatra Soarelui”), a former cave which collapsed. Down, on the edge of the forest, in a picturesque setting, there is Boarnesu sheep cot. Eastwards the basin is closed by Fratosteanu Mare Top (2053 m), the last bastion of Latoritei Mountains on the east of the main crest. The road follows afterwards Mogosu Top through the south and takes us on the northern side of the crest. We cross a small saddle and head for the northern side of the crest, above Paraginosu Mountain and closer to the edge of the forest.
In front of the Northern edge a forest road goes away from the crest road. We head to the north, then eastwards to Vidrutei spring, crystal clear and cold water coming out of calcareous stones. From here onwards we follow Vidrutei Valley on a path and then on the forest road visible from Cotul Vidrutei.