Călimani Mts NP

Călimani Mts NP

This is a picture of some interesting andesite rocks, typical of the Călimani Mountains, sitting about three kilometres southwest of the highest summit plus me (1981 edition:)). The impressive staff in the hand of the backpacker is a local version of dog spray. Three years before, in the Căpăţânii Mountains, I had been attacked by two and bitten by one of those special, trained to cope with a bear, native mongrel sheepdogs; right afterwards I was instructed to carry a decent wooden dog-repellent like the one in this photo and shown how to apply it full-force to the dog's muzzle. (When the shepherd-instructor delivered the smash I thought the dog would pass away but it just shook its head, then turned round and strolled away.)
yatsek
on Dec 7, 2008 9:25 am
Image Type(s): Hiking
Image ID: 469803

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lcarreau

lcarreau - Dec 7, 2008 9:05 pm - Voted 10/10

I wouldn't want to mess

with those native shepherd mongrel dogs!!!

Perhaps if you bring some raw meat with you,
you can cast the meat down the mountainside ... and the dogs will chase it???

Nice description on your picture!!!

yatsek

yatsek - Dec 8, 2008 11:47 am - Hasn't voted

Re: I wouldn't want to mess

Thanks Larry. Bearing in mind a picture is worth 1,000 words, I have to try hard to make up for the old technologies.
We didn't try the meat method:-), in those years it was hard to buy any meat in the shops across both Poland and Romania, no kidding. The usual technique was to carry some Marlboro cigarettes or/and chocolate. Not for the dogs but for the shepherds. When the beasts came over, you held out the pole (being a Pole wasn't good enough:)) and then you waited altogether – you and the dogs – till the shepherd replaced the dogs. A short conversation: "Hi, where going? Come from?" Polish and Romanian are completely different, the latter is akin to French/Italian. "Cigarette?" Then you gave them a pack (of cigarettes, not a backpack:)) – it was polite to have a smoke together (a bit of a problem for non-smokers); chocolate was also accepted though less enthusiastically. I think this method should still work, wonder how bear spray would work on the dogs.
Now the computer says it's been 170 words = just 17% of a pic – life's tough (though tuff is soft LOL – finally made it 19.5%!!!)

lcarreau

lcarreau - Dec 8, 2008 7:18 pm - Voted 10/10

Re: I wouldn't want to mess

You have a computer that counts the words for
you??? Technology must have advanced itself
over the years, since the last time I visited
Europe in 1979.

I'll be sure to have a plentiful supply of
cigarettes and chocolate with me, the next
time I venture out into your part of the world.

In Arizona, we still rely on pigeons to get
the message out. We used to use smoke
signals, but everybody ran out of cigarettes!

:)))

yatsek

yatsek - Dec 9, 2008 2:54 am - Hasn't voted

Re: I wouldn't want to mess

While venturing, stop over at the East Coast, get the cigarettes, then go to Jolly Old England - on the Continent here they say it's a real bargain; I just wonder whose part of the world Britain is LOL

LukZem

LukZem - Sep 13, 2011 10:58 am - Hasn't voted

Re: I wouldn't want to mess

Perhaps, those bizzare formations are near Tihu summit. I´ve noticed them from Pietrosu-Negoiu Unguresc ridge...

yatsek

yatsek - Sep 17, 2011 10:51 am - Hasn't voted

Re: I wouldn't want to mess

That's right.

LukZem

LukZem - Oct 19, 2011 10:39 am - Hasn't voted

Re: I wouldn't want to mess

To my (your) big surprise, deserted chalets, no dogs/sheep seen during 7-day trek.Times they are a changin...

Tomek Lodowy

Tomek Lodowy - Aug 2, 2016 9:52 am - Voted 10/10

1981

Summer of 1981? Damn it, it seems I haven't even been born yet! Great photo.

Was it any difficult to go hiking in Romanian Carpathians those days Jacku? I bet you had occasion to pass some refugiu huts that turned to ruin along with the economical collaps years later, hadn't you? There are so many of them to find on older maps of the area...

Best greets,

Tomek

yatsek

yatsek - Aug 2, 2016 7:25 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: 1981

Thanks for the question, Tomku. In the Kelemen Mts we spent a night in a then brand new cabin, which (I'm not sure after so many years) may have been this one. We had it all to ourselves, there was a spring nearby, we had a parasol mushroom for supper - it felt like home :).

How was trekking in those days different? First, the camping gear was awfully heavy. Second, we had hardly any maps. Third, those fierce sheepdogs were very common - did they give you any trouble? Plus no mobiles, no polartec etc., no trekking poles, hardly any rain gear...

yatsek

yatsek - Aug 14, 2016 11:28 am - Hasn't voted

Re: 1981 PS

As you probably already know, Lukas was bitten by sheepdogs just a few days ago - not far from where I was bitten in 1978. The curse of the Capatinii Mts? ;-)

Tomek Lodowy

Tomek Lodowy - Aug 18, 2016 7:38 pm - Voted 10/10

Re: 1981 PS

Heard the dramatic story, with happy ending luckily!

The number of my battles with those shepherd beasts last summer is simply countless... one of the worst ones I had somewhere in the wild in Giurgelui, I thought I was heading right down to Borsec, but I lost the orientation completely, finding myself in deeply shadowed valleys nearby Valea Corbului, truly romantic area, but that dozen of big, furious dogs trying to surround me and that not very helpful shepherd... was close then, but victory on my side again :)))

To be honest I think that on some occasions, they, the dogs, made me even more furious and willing to fight than they were... I would say I am rather calm personality, but I try to explain those inclinations with the fact of my father's temperament in his young days and his boxing career :)))

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