daknis Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Hello from Latvia! We are coming over this summer to see the beauty of your nature and we have some questions to ask, as the route is just started to draw on the map. 1. Maybe someone has the files of Romanian Genshtab topo maps (1992, 1:100 000) to share? Our local map shop wants ~15 EUR per one file :) (actually I'm interested in any .ro maps now, as I have only 1:500 000 road map, especially if they are Ozi Explorer calibrated). Anyway, I see, that Open Street Map looks pretty good at your country, any comments? Is OSM OK for offroading? 2. How about camping? We prefer to sleep in our tents and away from any people. In some countries this is not allowed everywhere. Also - is there any driving restrictions off road? For example, here, in Latvia you are not allowed to drive on beaches and in some nature reserves, but there sometimes are no signs, you just have to know it. 3. Every advice on must-see objects and must-drive roads are welcome. Our profile is "away from big cities, deeper into wilderness". For example, previous summer we drove around Lake Baikal. Here are "some" pics (scroll down for off road) https://picasaweb.google.com/peteris.daknis/Baikalbildes10?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPn39fyQpcv3Jw&feat=directlink Thanks, Pēteris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f_zoltan Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 (edited) Re: Questions about camping, etc... Welcome Peteris! I think you have great chances for a perfect trip in Romania. I'll give you a link you should study first, some of your problems are discussed there. Then you can come up with more specific questions and maybe a planned route, so we can help you efficiently. http://forum.club4x4.ro/showthread.php?68345-Swedish-Expedition-to-Carpathian-Mountains-2012 Some answers: -There're natural reserves here too. Those are off limits for offroading, ofcourse! That's why you should decide a sketchy route, to have a basis for discussions. -You can camp in a lot of places, in organized conditions or not. Depends also on the area you plan to visit. - About the maps, a lot of us use Garmin GPS-s for offroading, they can tell you what maps they're using. Tell us what you'd like to see and we might be able to help you with other maps too. Don't know much about OSM, I need to make my homework to tell you anything about that. Edited January 20, 2012 by f_zoltan Samurai incepator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daknis Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Re: Questions about camping, etc... Well ok, got some answers there, thanks. Some quick questions: Is the end of april OK for driving mountain roads, or are they still impassable due to lots of snow? If no, which is the earliest spring time, when roads are passable and rivers are calm enough for fording. Recommend your favorite destination (like cave, mountain summit, just scenic (off)road and etc.) which is not like usual tourism object, where any tourbus can stop by and someone is collecting an entry fee. You know - like a real goal of an expedition into the wilderness. It's kind of difficult to find such info on the web. If there are any geocaching.com users here, you can just point out your favorite caches. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daknis Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Re: Questions about camping, etc... Oh, and by the way, I got the maps I asked for. You can get them here: http://mapy.mk.cvut.cz/list/data/Rumunsko-Romania/100k.Topo.Oziexplorer.Maps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f_zoltan Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Re: Questions about camping, etc... It's a matter of luck and also one of chosen route if April is good for passing the mountains. It's easier to give some examples, even if the Transalpina is not necessarily part of your route. To understand the Southern Carpathians, I can tell you that in late October 2008 the Transalpina was way too snowy to pass with 4x4, but the next year I passed it with a 4x2 tourism. Also, the last Fall the same route remained open until the last days of November. In the last days of May 2010 some parts of the Transalpina looked like this: http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff39/f_zoltan/20100528Transalpina/DSC_0482.jpg what means in April it was definitely unaccessible. In March 2009 a relatively low mountain pass in roughly the same area (around 1800m) looked like this: but right below 1500m it was suddenly springtime. The Transfagarasan has even moodier weather, it officially opens only in July 1-st and often closes down in late October. In the proximity of its opening the road might still look like this: http://images.flowers.ro/IPuploads/monthly_01_2012/post-1-0-59740700-1327871774_thumb.jpg The only certain period for the Meridional Carpathians is between June and September, this is the period with minimal surprizes. On the other hand if you choose to visit the Apuseni (Western Carpathians), those are lower and there is a better timespan. I'll let guys in that area to detail the weather you can expect there. Samurai incepator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daknis Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 Re: Questions about camping, etc... Thanks! This was helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts