OFF63 Comandău – Foișorul celor 3 Provincii – Lunca Jariștei

From Comandău to the Siriu dam you can take two routes, either on the Bâsca Mare river valley, or on the Bâsca Mica river valley. We had already done the route on Bâsca Mare (you can see it here: https://2ride.eu/segment/off20-covasna-comandau-siriu/) so this time we chose the second option. We also had a reason: we wanted to get to the 3 Provinces Gazebo.

The road starts north of Comandău village where from the main road you have to take it towards the East on a forest road. As a landmark, the intersection is near the wooden gate that marks the entrance to Comandău.

The road between Comandău and Varlaam

The route first goes upstream on the Bâsca Mare river valley and then descends on the Bâsca Mica river. During the approximately 50 km between Comandău and Varlaam, the appearance of the road changes very little. In general, the road passes through a vast forest. You don’t really have points from where to admire the surrounding landscapes. The road is quite well maintained, it is well paved so it can be traveled without problems in the rain or on dry weathear. Ideally you should go after it has rained because otherwise it will be quite dusty.

Gazebo of the 3 Provinces

16 Km after leaving Comandău, you will reach an intersection with a forest road on the left. It leads to Foişor. It is almost 6 km to where we will have to climb about 350 m in altitude. The first part of the road looks similar to what we had so far, only a little narrower and less rock  the road surface. We will reach an area where logs are pulled from the forest and there is almost always mud here.

From here the forest ends and the final ascent to the gazebo begins. There are about 2 Km of sustained climbing with a few smoother sections. On some sections you will have to be careful because there are quite deep ditches dug by the rain.

As its name suggests, the Gazebo of the 3 Provinces, was built in the place where the 3 historical Romanian provinces meet: Transylvania, Moldova and Wallachia. It is practically a lookout point and was symbolically built in 2018 to mark the 100th anniversary of the great union.

From here we will have to go back to the main road on the Bâsca Mică river valley.

The road between Varlaam and Lunca Jaristei

At Varlaam is the point where Bâsca Mică flows into Bâsca Mare. If you haven’t had enough of offroad yet, you can turn left along the Bâsca Mare river valley. From here the road climbs gently along the river bank and after a few kilometers you will reach the intersection with the forest road that goes up to the weather station below the Penteleu peak. I don’t recommend you to climb this road on your own with a large adventure motorcycle because the top part is quite steep and there are muddy parts below.

About 18 km from Varlaam we reach a “T” intersection where we will turn left and finally leave the Bâsca river to cross the valley of the Cașoca river, a tributary of the Buzău river. From now on, we are constantly going down the river until we reach Lunca Jariștei right at the base of the Siriu dam. About 8 Km before the end of the route you can take a break and visit the Pruncea waterfall with a waterfall of about 17 m.

This route is quite long because it crosses one of the wildest areas in Romania. It’s perfect for offroad beginners because it doesn’t have any difficult sections (apart from the climb to the gazebo), and being so long gives you a chance to get used to it and gain confidence.