Power of Nature, Power of Mind And A Lot Of Fun

Yesterday I went on a day trip to one of the most beautiful places of Transylvania (in my very humble opinion of course). The place is called Lacul Roșu. I'm going to write about the place in details in the upcoming days, but today I'd like to share my adventure with you and show you what nature and the human mind is capable of.

The place I visited is at 980m altitude, up in the mountains and only a portion of it is inhabited, the rest is mother nature's territory. It's not the first time I visited the place. Been there quite a few times and knew what to expect. Plus I checked the weather forecast and knew rain is expected, heavy rain actually as 3.6mm precipitation in an hour is no joke. People usually stay home, when the weather is bad, but we still decided to go as it was the only day available for our guests and rain or not, the place is still amazing.

I packed my rain coal, boots and an umbrella, as well as my backpack has a special cover for cases like this, to protect the content from the rain. I've never used it till now as have been lucky to always escape the rain, but this time I was glad to have opted for this gear, when I bought my backpack.

Reality

I believe the last 20 or 25km drive was done in light rain already, but when we arrived at the scene, the rain stopped. I said thank you mother nature and after getting our gear out of the car, we started exploring the place. As tourist attraction there's not only the lake, but the Bicaz Canyon as well, which is an 8 - 10km walk, or drive for the lazy ones, but it's the most beautiful and better to enjoy it walking. Even though we knew rain is coming, we still decided to go on foot as far as we can, to enjoy the view.

Everything was fine for awhile, we walked happily, enjoying the gorgeous view, then it started raining. I took out my umbrella and was fine. The rest had raincoats, which also helped to some degree. Then the rain stopped and we had some time without rain pouring down on us again. Then it started raining again, but this time mother nature was pretty serious about the job and kept the rain on for hours. For us it was obvious that we can't really continue our journey as we planned at home, so the two drivers headed back to get the cars and the rest of us continued out walk. For us it didn't matter in which direction we were going, back or forth as the weather conditions were the same in each direction, so we decided to go on, continue our walk, till the cars could pick us up.

Power of Nature

To give you an idea what bad weather means in this region, this is a photo of how the place looked like. When we see such a scene, we usually say the sky is about to fall down and it usually does. Also, please note, that the walk along the canyon is alongside the road, so there's no pedestrian walkway, no special space for those on foot. Cars are driving by you and sometimes you need to step in mud or on some small rocks, depending on the portion of the road.

Over the years I've seen quite many tourists, who could not be bothered to do their own research, coming in flip flops or even high hills. Trust me, neither of those are suitable here.

I also need to mention that there are no shelters, where you can hide till the rain stops, there are no houses or restaurants to offer you a safe place till the rain passes. You go on and endure what is given to you. There's no other choice.

As we advanced, the weather got worse and was pouring heavily, but our mood got even better. I was walking in front and was smiling like crazy as it was a funny situation. Cars passing by were looking at us and maybe felt sorry for us walking in the rain, but all they saw was the big smile on our face. I need to note, all the drivers were very careful, they slowed down when they saw us on the side of the road to avoid any inconvenience.

The truth is, no matter what gear you have, unless it's a diving equipment, you get wet anyway. So after awhile, it did not matter where you stepped or how you held that umbrella as the water running on the side of the road was ankle deep. There was no way to avoid it either as there was no space where to step, other than in the water.

This may seem like a nice cascade to you, but it isn't. These stairs were made for the water to be able to come down in the case of a heavy rain, like the one we had part of. Usually these stairs are dry, but in case it rains, this is what happens.

At some point we knew we had to stop somewhere, where the cars could stop as well. The road there is narrow, you can only stop at the dedicated areas. So we found shelter under a cliff, next to a parking lot. When we passed the place on the photo above, those steps had no water, but due to the pouring rain, this is what happened 5 minutes later. So much water accumulated already, that a small cascade formed.

The cliff did not protect us from the rain, but offered us shelter from the wind. While waiting, we were laughing like crazy. Needless to say, we were the only brave ones to walk the path despite the rain, but at one point a family of four showed up. Husband, wife, and two kids of 8 and 10 or so, walking in the rain with one umbrella each. They were laughing too and at some point the woman greeted us with a big laugh, we greeted them back and agreed that the situation was funny. Turned out they were not made of paper either.

After half an hour or so, the cars arrived, picked us up and were able to change clothes, get the dry ones and continue our journey.

Power of Mind

I think 90% of people would have been mad as hell, cursing the weather and whining about the rain. We had the chance to do that too, but still decided to enjoy the journey, make the most of it and admire the scene you don't get in a dry weather.

When I started jogging years ago, I remember the first day when it was raining and I needed to go out and do my training. One of our coaches said, running is not an indoor sport! So I went out and did my 5k in pouring rain and could not be more happier. The level of freedom such a run gives you is insane. I've learnt to run door to door to avoid getting cold and never had any problems. Then race day came and guess what? It was raining like hell. Good thing erikah was ready for a rainy run as well. Those training sessions have thought me a lot.

You most likely have heard people saying step out of your comfort zone over and over again. Well, saying it and doing it are two different things. We didn't just step out of our comfort zone, but we enjoyed it a lot as well. Imagine, we could have registered this day in our mind and memory book as a total disaster as it was raining, but instead, it was one of the coolest day of this summer. Instead of focusing on what we didn't have, we focused on what we had and what we could do with it.

Another lesson mother nature teaches you in these situations is to be humble, or nature will humble you. I'm not sure how familiar you are with mental strength in sports and behavior in general. Runners say respect distances or otherwise distances will humble you. This may sound strange, but each distance has its own training routine for a good reason. Your body needs to adjust to that distance, otherwise injuries can occur and will, if you think you're smarter than anyone else.

The same goes to nature as well. This is when you see how powerful nature can be. You may think you know all and you are more powerful and smarter than nature, but it's not true. Nature can humble you in a second.

I had huge respect for the family we met on the road, the two parents, teaching their kids right, at that young age. Those kids will know quite a lot when they grow up, knowledge that will serve them well and might come in handy one day.

Even though I got wet, there are no consequences as I know how to handle the situation. Do I regret not getting a good weather? Not for one second. Otherwise I would have never seen the mountains steaming like in one of the photos above. These are the events that make you stronger each time and teach you how to focus on what you have and enjoy it. Next time I will know more and maybe change a few things.

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