Picos de Europa

Amazing. How could someplace so extraordinary be so unknown… so obscured? We had a couple of extra unplanned days due to logistics in Carlos’s flight, and we needed a place to stay. We wanted a shorter drive, and noticed there was a national park along the way, the Picos de Europa. We had never heard of it (and the guide book only had a page on it), but this was just what we needed: some hiking to recuperate from all the night time partying we had been up to. And man, what incredible hiking. The Picos are kind of what would happen if you took the most dramatic parts of Yosemite and squeezed them into a small area… and then dropped them in the middle of Spain. It’s surreal.

We did three hikes here and they were all pretty spectacular in their own unique way:

• PR-27 (De Brez): a quick hike as we only had a few hours to do it. This hike started at a cool little town called De Brez, and wound up at the foothills of the eastern most range (Montanas Oriental)… Lush green trails along the way, and impressive views of the snow capped mountains at the top of the route. We met some nice Brits along the hike who make sure we didn’t get lost and warned us about some of the roads further into the park.
• PR-23 (Horcados Rojos): This was an awesome trail staring from the top of the Funicular at Fuente De…. It climbed something like 400 meters to one of the peaks which had a refuge hut and lookout point. Only problem was we were wearing sandals and the snow hadn’t quite melted yet. Sketchy! Fantastic Views though, and we met a couple from Ireland along the way who had it even worse than us: Tivas and injured ankles. Did I mention that the beat us to the top? :(
• PR-3 (Cares Gorge): This was mostly a flat hike, but the path was really cool as it was carved out of the side of a steep canyon. One wrong step and you fall 1000 ft. to the river below. Very dramatic, and great photo opportunities. The drive out here was just as hairy as the Brits warned us it would be.

I mentioned that we had met a couple from Dublin along one of the hikes… turns out that they were actually staying at the same pension as we were! We went on a couple of hikes together… amazing as both of them were nursing foot/ankle injuries. Ben’s injury was quite spectacular as she had broke her foot only 3 months ago. She injured it on an outing known in Ireland simply as “hunting”. Sounds benign but apparently it is an extreme sport there, performed on a galloping horse involving hurdling obstacles and racing hounds… Dick Chaney, eat your heart out. Anyway, hard to imagine the injury after watching her hike some tricky stuff. Simon and Ben: Good Times! Cheers, and hope to see you again some time.

Here are some pictures of our hikes and such:

http://picasaweb.google.com/richmosko/PicosDeEuropa

…and here is where the park is located:

Map of Picos de Europa

Tags: Spain,Picos de Europa,hiking