Valea Sighiştelului

Useful Information

Location:	Sighistel. (46.525459, 22.556513)
Open:	no restrictions. [2023]
Fee:	free. [2023]
Classification:	Gorge Karst Cave Intermittent Spring
Light:	n/a, bring torch for caves
Dimension:	Peștera Corbasca: L=300 m, VR=40 m, A=500 m asl. (46.5335064, 22.5732625) Peştera Răsuflătoarea Blidarului: L=268 m, VR=12 m, A=430 m asl, T=9 °C. (46.5342367, 22.5805911) Peștera Drăcoaia: L=1,963 m, VR=112 m, A=470 m asl. (46.5334857, 22.5837119) Peștera Măgura: L=1,885 m, A=550 m asl. (46.5316481, 22.5943521)
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Valea Sighiştelului.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

Valea Sighiştelului (Sighistel Valley) is a narrow canyon in a karst area, with steep limestone walls, sections which are only 2 m wide and at least 15 m deep, and even several large semi-wild caves. Despite being a popular hiking tour and numerous entries on Google Maps, the valley actually has no marked trail. People simply walk in the river bed and try to avoid the deep parts. Probably gum boots are better than trekking shoes for this walk. And you should definitely go during low water, in late summer.

But lets begin at the beginning. As often in Romania, its quite tricky to even get there. The road E79 is a normal road, and Ștei is a nice town, in the southern outskirts road 75 turns east, signposted Turda and Campeni. Still a normal paved dual-lane road. After about 6 km in Câmpani, a village which is actually built along the road, a single lane paved road turns off on the left to Sighiştel. And now the infrastructure degrades very fast. The single lane paved road ends at the village, the main road through the village is gravel and sometimes quite narrow. The village which is built on both sides of the river is connected by bridges which seem too fragile for a car. It's necessary to cross the river twice to finally reach the end of the gravel road and a campground, which is actually just a meadow with some apple trees.

The walk through the 5 km long gorge is not really difficult. There is no well-marked trail, but the valley is popular and there are dirt tracks created by the visitors, which are often destroyed by the next flood of Sighistel brook. Dirt tracks on the side lead to several small caves of different size and difficulty. Take a helmet with headlamp with you and be careful. Although being popular, if you have an accident, it might take quite long until someone finds you. Despite the lack of development for the trail, the gorge is very well documented on the internet. All accessible caves have numerous detailed descriptions, though most are in Romanian.

Peștera Corbasca (Corbasca Cave) is the first cave in the gorge. It is 300 m long and has some nice speleothems. They are rather well-preserved as the cave is high above the valley and thus most hikers miss it. The passage leads to a chamber where it splits into two branches. The left branch ends at the Lacul Cristal, a cave lake with some calcite crystals.
Peştera Răsuflătoarea Blidarului (Blidar Breathtaking Cave) is despite the bombastic name is actually waterfilled and thus only for cave divers. In AUG-2017 cave diver Mihai Besesek reached a depth of 13 m. The cave is the intermittent spring of a short tributary, and there is a second spring right below.
Peștera Drăcoaia (Dracoaia Cave) is the main cave in the gorge. It is freely accessible, and any visitor to the gorge walks through this cave, which is unfortunately easy to see. The floor is level, but most speleothems on the floor are destroyed. It seems the cave is reactivated in times of high production, but the amount of water actually flowing through is even then low. The cave is almost 2 km long, but most parts are difficult and require caving gear. Normal hikers visit the 150 m long main passage, which is large and easy to explore with a low but continuous ascent to the end, where it narrows.
Peștera Măgura (Magura Cave) is located in a side branch of the valley. The trail through this branch ends at the show cave Pestera Ursilor, which is only a few kilometers away. While rather long, this cave has narrows and labyrintic side passages, which are only for cavers. It's possible to follow the main passage which is rather spacious for some 100 m. The cave is in a better state than others in the gorge, a result of its remote location. Please do your best to keep it that way.
Peștera Pișolca (Piscola Cave, 27) (46.53243136156913, 22.590979496261035) is a river cave, typically up to 30 cm deep in the main passage. Definitely only with gum boot. The passage is about 2 to 3 m wide and 6 to 8 m high, slanted to the right by about 20°. The short walk in is not really difficult, but the spectacular part is actually the entrance portal.
Peștera Coliboaia (Coliboaia Cave) (46.53087494025669, 22.59726766190494) is a nice cave with speleothems, but it's definitely a wild cave. To protect visitors and cave, it was closed by a wall with iron bar gate. Accessible only on caving tours with the local speleologists. The entrance portal is of decent size and worth a look.