Travel planner: A one-day adrenaline – filled mountain experience: the Seven Ladders Canyon (now revamped)

My third attempt to climb the metallic ladders pinned to the rock at the Seven Ladders Canyon was successful this summer. My first trip to the special canyon close to Brasov was about 11 years ago; I was in my early 20s, had no fears and lots of energy, so I crossed the canyon like a breeze. The second attempt, a couple of years ago, was unsuccessful however – the ladders were shaky and the whole experience was terrifying – I chose to return after climbing only a few stairs of the ladder. Luckily, the metallic ladders were replaced last year, and I got to feel the adrenaline again while crossing the beautiful canyon carved by the Sapte Scari river. Some of the ladders pinned to the rock are long – the longest is 14 meters, and going up that ladder was not a walk in the park, especially as the lower half is quite exposed to the waterfall to the left. My senses were tight and my eyes to the sky as I climbed each stair of the long ladder. However, the whole experience was less hard than I remembered it from over a decade ago. And luckily, if you find the whole experience tiresome, you get to return on an alternate route through the woods, rather than go back down the ladders. The renovation of the ladder system was accompanied by a well-designed zip line system across the forest. To get to the Seven Ladders canyon, one has to walk through the woods, a bit up the mountain, for about an hour, starting in Timisu de Jos, very close to Brasov. If you go by car, drive slowly while in Timisu de Jos, as you might miss the small entry to the part of the village where the track to the canyon starts. The road is not paved, and one can see an indicator to the canyon only when driving from Brasov to Timisu de Jos. We missed the entry the first time and had to return. But once you’re there, be ready to be amazed. The trip through the forest is equally amazing – the scenery is so beautiful at the start of the track, as the road follows a small river – which gets bigger as you go up, and which becomes the Seven Ladder cascade through the canyon. Large, visible tree roots make up the path through the forest. The zip – line above our heads was supposed to open on September 15, 2014, and once operational, will make the return trip quicker and more exciting – some of the lines were placed quite high up in the trees. It will cost RON 50 – or some EUR 11.9 to cross the forest once via the zip-line system, while crossing the canyon is RON 10 – or EUR 2.3 per adult, and RON 5 – or EUR 1.1 for kids. For children, they also rent some safety equipment for the canyon. The whole trip to the Seven Ladders took less than a day for us – in total, about four hours since we set foot on the path in Timisu de Jos, to being back in the car and on the way to Bucharest, so it’s totally doable if leaving Bucharest in the morning and planning to return – tired, yet excited – to Bucharest on the same evening. If you’d like to camp, that’s possible as well, and quite recommendable – there are some great places for camping near the river on the first part of the track, plus the local authorities have created special camp fire places on the route. We'll see each other there!