Into the Ghimes Hills

Into the Ghimeș Hills

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 17

PERIOD: August 2026

DESCRIPTION: Seventeen young people spent a day walking up into the Ghimeș Hills, reaching the third highest point in the area. The climb asked for stamina, a map read correctly and a group willing to wait for each other, which is most of what we look for in an activity.

The hills were also the subject, not just the terrain. Along the route, the group stopped to look at what was actually growing around them, identifying vegetation, habitats and the small pieces that hold a mountain ecosystem together. That led to the conversation we had come for: how biodiversity and resilience depend on one another, and how tourism, waste, land use and ordinary daily habits press on environments that recover slowly or not at all.

Nothing was taught from the front. Participants compared what they had noticed and worked out between them what young people can realistically do about it, from the principles of Leave No Trace to keeping a respectful distance from wildlife and thinking about who inherits these places next. They came down with tired legs, a clearer sense of what is at stake in the hills above their own villages, and a habit of looking more carefully at them.