8. Adventure tourism is the new form of tourism in Banat for those who are looking for adventures that create emotion and adrenaline. Adventure itself involves performing activities that offer intense experience, a challenge to overcome physical limits, an opportunity to escape from the comfortable environment of modern existence. Climbing up the vertical stone walls of the mountains, boating on fast waters, jumping with the paraglide from the mountain peaks, diving in deep waters, scrolling through water-filled galleries inside the caves, skiing downhill on steep slopes covered with snow ready to start an avalanche, mountain biking, etc. there are all activities associated with this form of tourism. Seekers of pure adrenaline can find plenty of opportunities in the Mountainous Banat. Climbing or sport hiking can be practiced successfully in the Herculane Baths area, but also in the Nera Gorge and Caraș Gorge. In Cerna Valley and Nera Valley you can practice rafting or boating on dangerous waters. Adventures in a diving suit can be done in the Danube to see what has left from Ada-KalehIsland, situated near Orșova. Diving is also possible in some caves or inthe Devil’s Lake, a karstic lake located on the left bank of Nera. Paragliding jumping can be done both in winter and summer from the peakof Little Mountain. Escalation on rugged terrain with cars (ATVs) or motorcycles (Enduro) can be done on Mount Semenic. The speologists from the Explorators Club Resita are reaching bigger and bigger performances in the caves from the area.
Sports tourism is motivated by the desire to learn and practice certain sports. Winter sports (ski, snowboard, snowmobile, etc.) practiced on Semenic and on Little Mountain are the most frequent in the Mountainous Banat sports tourism. You can also practice summer water sports (canoeing, water skiing, etc.) on the reservoir lakes and the Danube, Orşova and New Moldova. The ridges of the Ţarcu Mountains attract more and more skiers who descend the 1000 m difference on very steep slopes, and not a few times the mountain climbers from the Caransebeș Mountain Club climbed on the frozen waterfalls of the Ţarcu precipices in the winter. The entire area of the Mountainous Banat provides an adequate area for endurance tourism, namely hiking on a motorcycle. Thus, the countryside’s bumps and holescreated due to the shortcomings, become advantages in the development of this form of tourism after the slogan used in the West: “enjoy ratherthanbanish”. Today EnduRoMania is the most wanted motorcycle competition effectuated on rugged terrain. It runs annually at BrebuNou (July), in SlatinaTimiş (August) and in Borlova (September). A special role hasalso the automotive competition “Mountainous Banat Rally”, from the Doman Valley -Anina-Bozovici-Oraviţa. Cycle tourism is the form of tourism that promotes the bicycle as a means of travel. One of the most attractive biking contests on rugged terrain is the annual Banat Montain Bike Marathon, held on mountain and hiking trails both for amateurs and advanced, with lengths of: 10 km, 30 km, 50 km and 80 km.
All the trails start from the Wolf’s Glade, the place of the Jazz Festival. It ascends in Garana on a slope with an inclination of 5-8% and a length of 5 km. It’s only the warming up sector. At first, the trail is on the pavement, and then the tourist village is left behind on a rocky road until a clearing is reachedoffering the cyclist a unique view: Mount Semenic, the village of Grana and Three Waters Lake. The trail is continued on the left and after a few hundred meters you reach Prislop. It crosses the main road and continues on a forest route as if cut with the high and densefir trees. After another 2 km you reach the Molidu Forest Hut, where by turning to the left, the 10 km route separates from the other routes. The shortest route continues by a downhill ride on a path where the bicycle brakes get to the maximum and the cyclist’s soul is filled with delight, and he does not even realize that he arrived to the Wolf’sGlade in a heartbeat, the place of departure and arrival from the trails.
From the Molidu Forest Hut, the 30, 50 and 80 km trails continue to the right until the crossing point of the “water channel”, used to transport coal in the past. Here, the 30 km trail detachesfrom the other two routes and continues to the left on a forest road. It passes near the Demei Canton and after 5 km it reaches the Three Waters Lake, where the trails reunite again.
The 50 and 80 km routes continue to the right, along the forest road leading to Semenic Plateau. After only 1 km it turns suddenly to the right again. Here does really begin the climb on the serpentines in the Semenic, near the wind turbines and the Semenic Peak (1446 m. After a gruelling climb, you reach the alpine void, near Andra Chalet, at 1436 m. The view is unforgettable: Gozna Peak (1447 m), “St. Elijah” chapel and the fir cross. Continue the path to the left on the green meadows of the mountain to the Eagles Lake 2 km away. Near the third peak of the mountain, Piatra Nedeii (1437 m), the route turns to the left and descends to Rotunda Peak (1406 m). From here, it enters the forest on the only forest road, and after 5 km it reaches Radcoasa Glade, a good place for a well-deserved break, a snack and a moment of revival. It descends on a trail that puts the rider’s skills to test and arrives to the Three Waters Lake, from where the three trails continue together on the edge of the lake. Crossing the lake dam, you will have the opportunity to see how beautiful the nature is on a bicycle.
After about 2 km, you reach the entrance to the village of BrebuNou, from where you can start a new 3 km climb that can “exhaust” even those who until now were not tired enough to give up the mountain race. The effort is worthwhile because, once again, nature rewards every cyclist with views that seem to be depicted from a colourful painting. Almost at the end of the climb, the 80 km route detaches from the common route, and the strong and tireless cyclists descend to the village of Goleţ on an unstable ground. Everything that was descended from BrebuNou to Goleţ must be climbed back, 15 km descending and the same for climbing. After crossing Fereuca and the two peaks, LittleNemanu (1048 m) and Big Nemanu (1122 m), the last “bit of energy” is consumed to reach the point of reunion of the three trails, above Garana. A descent to everyone’s liking is all that separates us from an end ofthe adventure on mountain bike trails. The proposed routes are enjoyed by the most scenic mountain biking lovers. They can be shortened or interrupted at any time, depending on time, physical condition and preference. Enjoy nature and its beauties in the Mountainous Banat!