Hiking Trip - Parque Natural Sierra de Grazalema

Saturday morning I went on another hiking trip with the club from Sevilla. 4 American friends came along too. The group this week was a little smaller because the weather was a little colder. We headed to the the "Parque Natural Sierra de Grazalema," it was about 10 miles west of the town Ronda. 

We started off in the valley along side a river and a forest of cork trees. The remove the thick dry layer off the trees as high as they can reach and take it to near by towns to produce cork products. We followed the river for a while until we opened up onto a large stretch of flat land on our way to the first destination. 

heading into the forest to start the trip

Alex, I, and Sam baseball posin' it up

making our way through the forest

Cork Tree,  bark removed up to about 7 feet

We walked a bit through some flat pasture land on our way to a cave we were going to. We crossed the river and walked through the valley where we found some sheep bones along the way.

the guy was telling us he has full sets of many different animals at his house that he has collected from hikes.

We first made our way to a large dam that was built many years ago. One guy told us it was the first dam to have used the arched shape. It was no longer in use and a few of the Spaniards made it seem that is was a complete waste and never really served a purpose.

 After checking out the dam we headed to a large cave. The name of the cave was "Cueva Del Hundidero" which more or less means the sinking/falling cave.You could go a few miles into the cave, but needed a permit and a kayak among other things to make all the way through. We went in to the river in the cave. The entrance to the Cave was massive. By the time we made it to the river we had to pull out flashlights and head lamps to see.

Entrance to the cave

Inside the cave entrance

 We explored through the cave a bit and everyone sat down to eat. We rested for about 45 minutes before taking off to another point.

Cherelle and I making our way in the dark

As we left the cave, most of the group started to walk to a trail they planned on doing. There was 3 guys who were going to climb up a small mountain to the peak. The rest of the group called us crazy for going, but we tried it out. So 3 Spaniards, 3 American friends and I headed towards a peak called "Tavizna"  It wasn't that hight, a little under 3000 feet, but the path was a very steep incline with a couple parts that were almost verticle" We didn't have any rope or climbing equipment, but these guys had done it before and said it was fine. One guy was literally mid 60's and so I figured if he could do it I could.

The Mountain behind me is the one we climbed

We started from the bottom of the mountain on the backside near the cave. We first had to cut through some really thorny and sharp bushes for about 30 feet. This was really difficult because they poked and stuck to everything. We made it through that part and started up the first incline. It wasn't too steep and the rocks made it easy to get around. 

Heading up the mountain

Rest of group making there way up

 We finally got up to the level where a road cut through the valley. The next part was ridicoulus. we were on flat ground but the first 40 - 50 feet up the mountain were intense! One section of about 10 feet was almost straight up. Cherelle made it up the first part and then decided it was too steep to go any farther. She decided to wait at that spot for us. So the 6 of us, 3 Americans and 3 Spaniards headed up the mountain.

First vertical part

 We made it up the first vertical and then came the second difficult part. They said it was a lot easier after this second climb. The 60+ year old man started off first, Umbrella in one hand, walking stick in other, climbing up a near vertical portion with a 60 foot drop to his back. We asked him repeatedly to let us hold on to the umbrella or to set it down, but he politely declined and kept on his way.

Old guy making his way up to find the easiest route for us

After we got up the second hard part it was pretty easy from there. The incline wasn't as steep and the rocks were really good for hiking; lots of cracks and places to put your hands. We made it to the top and hung out for a bit taking in the views. Over one mountain range you could see the town of Ronda. and off the other side the small town of Montejaque. 

View from top

Montejaque in the background

Video from top

View from top

The river we followed to the cave

About half the way up I asked if we had to go down the same way we came up. The guy said it was the only way he knew up. I started to freak out a bit because I didn't think it was going to be possible to safely make it back down the same way we came up. Luckily we took our time and had no problems. We walked to the small town near the mountain and met up with everyone to head back to Sevilla. We stopped and ate again at a restaurant on the way home. The trip was a lot of fun and something I plan on doing as much as possible.

a sigh of relief after climbing back down the mountain