Old trunks
Rising from the water.
Christo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Christo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Christo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Christo — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Szemes Elek — CC BY-SA 3.0
Red Lake, or Lacu Roșu, is a natural dam lake in Harghita County in central Romania, in the Hășmaș Mountains on the upper Bicaz River, at the foot of Hășmașul Mare peak near the Bicaz Gorge. It lies 26 km from the town of Gheorgheni, about 16 km in a straight line from it. The lake formed after a mountainside collapsed in an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 on 23 January 1838, damming the Bicaz River so that water built up behind it. It covers about 11.5 hectares with a shoreline of 2,830 metres, at 983 metres in a hollow with a mild mountain climate. Four large streams feed it, and the Bicaz River flows out of it toward the gorge about 4 km away. Dense spruce forest on steep mountains rings the calm green water, with white limestone cliffs above. Old tree trunks drowned when the lake formed still rise from the water, and small rowing boats drift among them. Rowing boats can be hired in summer, and an easy path loops around the lake. It pairs well with the nearby Bicaz Gorge.
Rising from the water.
Among the trees.
Around the lake.
Hășmaș Mountains, Harghita County, Romania
A landslide in an 1838 earthquake.
The Bicaz Gorge.