Attraction
Mestecăniș Pass
Mestecăniș Pass is a 1,096 m crossing in the northern Eastern Carpathians, between the Obcina Mestecăniș ridge and the Giumalău Mountains, in Iacobeni commune. The DN17 (E58) crosses it, linking the Dorna Depression with the Câmpulung Depression, that is, Vatra Dornei with Câmpulung Moldovenesc.
Mestecăniș Pass lies at 1,096 m, at the south-eastern end of the Obcina Mestecăniș ridge, between it and the Giumalău Mountains, in Iacobeni commune, Suceava County. The pass links the Dorna Depression and the Câmpulung Depression on the DN17 (E58) national road between Vatra Dornei and Câmpulung Moldovenesc, two towns 43 km apart.
The pass has an asymmetric cross-section: the slope facing the Bistrița Aurie is steeper than the one facing the Moldova valley. The Suceava - Vatra Dornei railway does not climb over the pass but runs beneath it through the Mestecăniș tunnel, 1,647 m long; the nearest stations are Mestecăniș and Valea Putnei.
The pass is crossed by the red-stripe marked trail that descends from Mestecăniș peak on the Obcina Mestecăniș and climbs towards Giumalău peak. The Codrul secular Giumalău old-growth forest reserve lies nearby.
The pass also lay on a historical route: in May 1600 the army led by Baba Novac, general of Michael the Brave, sent into Moldavia, marched through Candreni and over Mestecăniș towards Câmpulung and Suceava, pursuing Prince Ieremia Movilă.
DN17 (E58), sat Mestecăniș, comuna Iacobeni, județul Suceava