Mohos Peat Bog – walking on the water experiment

I loved Tinovul Mohos (Mohos Peat Bog) from the first moment I understood its meaning. Besides the fact that the hole place looks out of this world, just understanding the genesis, will give you goosebumps.

Long long time ago, The Volcano Mohos erupted and in the crater left behind there a lake formed. After some time, The Saint Ana Volcano erupted and covered with ash the lake in the Mohos Crater. From then 7 meters of ash and peat created a surface above the lake. A few plants adapted to this very acid, very poor soil and they create a dwarf like landscape.

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Walking here is like you are in a children story, where dragons have burnt everything in their way. The dwarf pine which is the only one surviving in this environment looks wretched and almost dead, just a few hints tell you that they live, but their height is not bigger than 6 meters.

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Besides the dwarf pine there are some other small plants adapted to the life in the peat:  bog-rosemary, bog cranberry, blueberry and some carnivorous plants.

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At the entrance in Mohos Peat Bog, you will meet your guide and you will enter together. There are entrances each hour. The guide spoke with us in Romanian and Hungarian, but I hope they have a version in English too. Both of the guides we had were great story tellers and funny, they answer you questions, they teach you a lot of things and tell a lot of bear jokes.

After a 10 minutes of information you enter the peat over a wooden bridge, and afterwards on wood steps that will guide your visit inside. If you step outside them your foot will submerge in the moss carpet impregnated with water like a sponge. We first realized it because we entered with our dog and she doesn’t step exactly on the wood , and her feet would sing a few centimeters and then we tried on our own.

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They say this is the wild animal way across the peat, the know where to step in order not to sink, but in other area the risk is real. But this path is constructed right at the edge of the peat with access to 2 most amazing lakes.

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As you enter the peat you can see how the forest changes, from green tall tress as you enter into an area with the dwarf pine, struggling to survive. And as you watch in the distance you can map the exact limits of the peat because the vegetation changes drastically. The blueberries area is next, and from here to the first lake.

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There used to be around 200 + lakes, while now are there are only 15 left. In this trip you get to see 2 of them. The lakes in Mohos Peat Bog have a special petrol-like look – a dark blue that is completely opaque and seems denser that water. These lake communicate with the underground lake with a hourglass-shape of 22 height.

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You are standing on a wood bridge and looking at the lake from any position you can not take a pick to see what it is inside, only the reflection of the sky and the forest.

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And you realize that beneath you is a huge underground lake and only a 10 meters layer of peat separates you from the 10 million liters of water, and this water is an example of who the tar-like water.

From here you go to the next lake and you get to see the carnivorous plants better because of the opens of the area. Then you exit, not before you wind int he wooden path created in the dense pine forest.

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The guide will wait here an you exit the peat and return to the starting point on a dirt road.

Due to high acidity of the water and of the soil, due to the volcanic origin, everything in this place look from a different story. it is a place where the underground sends messages to the surface, where everything is connected

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To sum up the hole experience, you walk in the crater of a volcano that become a lake and it was covered by ash and peat so now you can walk on this thin ground and in order not to sink, there is a wooden path you have to follow. Are you up for it? Not that is dangerous, but it definitely is exciting.

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The Mohos Peat Bog is situated at 1050 meters altitude, 100 meters higher that Lake Saint Anne. I suggest from here you go to visit the lake. You have all the information in our Toura itinerary in Harghita and Covasna County

Visit Mohos Peat Bog

If you want to visit the Mohos Peat Bog, follow our itinerary on the map. As you arrive in the area you will pay a parking tax of 10 lei (2 euro) for the car. After parking you go to buy tickets – 5 lei /person (1 euro). The entrance is every 2 hours: 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, 18:00. I think when it is busy the guided tours are each hour.

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I said you something about walking on water and I was not kidding. here is the proof from our itinerary recording:

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As long as you are in the area visit some of the most beautiful villages in Romania .