Izbucul Carașului

If Cheile Carașului is among the promoted and well-known attractions in Banat, it must be mentioned that the place where the Caraș River originates, forming these gorges, is also extremely spectacular but not as well-known, not as promoted, and certainly not visited as much by tourists.

On the one hand, this is due to the fact that access requires covering a longer distance on foot, and on the other hand, because it is not among the most promoted tourist attractions in the Banat Mountains. The place where the Caraș River originates is called Izbucul Carașului, and this is due to the fact that in karst regions, most springs are called "izbuc" due to the different way in which underground water reaches the surface.

Izbucul Carașului is located in the middle of the forest, and there are several hiking trail options to reach it. The first and perhaps the most commonly used marked tourist route is the one that starts from Lake Buhui. To reach this lake, there is a trail option starting from the town of Anina, either from the Sigismund district near the cemetery or from the Orașul Nou district.

Follow the blue stripe marking (from the Sigismund district – Maial, the trail also intersects with the yellow stripe marking indicating the European trail E3 coming from Ochiul Bei, in Valea Beului), and once you reach Lake Buhui, you will notice signs with a yellow triangle marking towards Izbucul Carașului (Izvoarele Carașului).

While some time ago, the trail to Izbucul Carașului had no tourist marking, only a path beaten through the forest, now access to this very beautiful and extremely interesting place in the middle of the forest is much easier with the help of the yellow triangle marking.

This trail to Izbucul Carașului reaches the area of Cantonul Silvic Cârneală following the forest road, and from here, it descends to Izbucul Carașului through a path in the forest. The path crosses an extremely wild forest, where human intervention is almost imperceptible, especially if you follow this trail in the spring or summer months after the vegetation has grown considerably.

Being a karstic area, most of the time, Izbucul (or the spring) Carașului does not have water right at the surface water outlet, so the underground water emerges a few meters downstream from the small opening of the spring. Therefore, to catch as much water as possible at Izbucul Carașului right in the area where it springs, it is recommended to come here in the early spring months and after heavy rains.

It should be noted that even if you choose a hike to Izbucul Carașului in the summer months or after periods of low precipitation, you will find water a little downstream from the spring, where due to the high calcium and other mineral content, you will notice a series of micro-dams formed from travertine, giving a special appearance to this area, similar to the travertine thresholds formed on the waterfalls on the Beușnița Valley.

The duration of the hike to Izbucul Carașului depends on the starting point and the walking pace. From Lake Buhui to the spring, the estimated time is about 2 hours, and if you choose to start from Șaua Cuptoare, the estimated time for the last hike I chose this trail was about 2.5-3 hours, depending on the walking pace.

Text & foto source