Traverse of the Picos de Europa

Last month I joined a KE Adventures guided group on a one-week hut-based traverse of the Picos de Europa, the highest and most dramatic mountain range of the Cantabrian mountain chain in northern Spain. For those who wish more detail about the Picos as well as its national park, I recommend this website.

This trek has been on my bucket list since before 2020, when it was cancelled due to Covid. Starting above the hamlet of Soto de Cangas, where we spent the prior night, the trek in general went from west to east. The first 3 days we traversed the Macizo Occidental (western massif) and the final three the Macizo Central. (The lower, eastern massif lacks much infrastructure and only occasionally sees overnight visitors). Our fun group of 7 clients and guide, Bruno, hiked almost 55 miles with more than 20,000 ft total elevation gain across some of the most rugged limestone peaks in the world. Enjoy the photos!

Map of the mountain ranges of Spain. The Picos de Europa are the highest portion of the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain

Day 1. Landscape with huts above the Lakes of Covadonga, where we began our 6-day, generally west-to-east trek

European monkshood (*Aconitum variegatum*)

Large-flowered selfheal (*Prunella grandiflora*). While September is certainly not the best time to see wildflowers in the Picos, there were several species still in bloom.

Asturian Mountain cow. We saw numerous herds of this local bovine.

Heather, our guide, Bruno, and the Vegarredonda Refugio, our first night’s lodging on trek

Cantabrian chamois (*Rupicapra pyrenaica parva*) with griffon vultures soaring overhead. We saw so many chamois that, sadly, the novelty wore off.

A small limestone cave. Some of the deepest caves in the world are found in the Picos de Europa.

Either a vulnurable Iberian rock lizard (*Iberolacerta monticola*) or a common wall lizard (*Podarcis muralis*). Where their ranges overlap, the former is found at higher elevations. After looking at dozens of photos of each, showing widely-varying coloration, I’m still not sure which species this fellow is.

Eroded limestone rock formations, known as lapiaces. The Picos are almost entirely limestone.

An Asturian calf joined our group for a short while

View northwest from the Mirador de Ordiales

Some of our group at the Mirador de Ordiales

Our group on the summit of Pico Cotalba. Bruno graciously shared many of the photos he took during the trek.

Day 2. Our group in front of an outbuilding of the Refugio Vegarredonda, where we slept the first night.

With Oliver and Peter, walking by a chilled sheep dog

Merendera, an autumn crocus (*Colchicum montanum*)

Our group descending to the Covadonga Lakes in the mist

Our group at Lago de la Ercina. Due to the geology, very few lakes exist in the Picos.

Another photo of some of the many Asturian cows (and a few bulls) we saw

An orograph at Cabeza la Forma pass, showing many of the nearby mountains, none of which was visible in the fog.

View of the Cabezo Llerosos group with cows

Day 3. The splendidly isolated Refugio Ario, where we stayed the previous night, seen in the morning light

Resting with Oliver and Peter (lower left) on the long descent to the Cares Gorge

Rebecca, seen here descending to the gorge, with a goat in the foreground

The Cares Gorge and path hewn out of the mountain. Although undoubtedly the most popular day hike in the Picos, the gorge didn’t seem overly crowded to me.

The Cares gorge with a tunnel and bridge

A portion of the Cares Gorge hydro plant

Now heading north after a rest stop at Cain at the head of the Cares Gorge. From here it is less than an hour to Poncebos, where we enjoyed a hotel for the night.

Day 4. This day we climbed from our hotel in Poncebos to the Refugio de Urriellu. More than 6000 ft vertical gain. In the rain. I took zero pictures. Bruno’s camera malfunctioned in the wet conditions. Therefore, no photos from that day are extant. I am also trying to erase it from my memory, but without much success.

Day 5. Morning landscape leaving Refugio Urriello. The weather steadily improved this day.

Some of our group descending near Tesorero and Peñas Urrielles

Mountain vista with El Naranjo de Bulnes (Picu Urriellu in Asturian) on the right

The Vagabond Hiker on the summit of Torre de los Horcados Rojos

The unlikely Cabaña Verónica, a high mountain refuge. This building is an anti-aircraft battery, taken from the aircraft carrier USS Palau.

A view from Cabaña Verónica, above the clouds

Peter descending towards Hotel Aliva. Located at the end of a jeep track, Avila is somewhere between a refugio and a hotel.

Day 6. View from the Hotel Avila towards the Royal Chalet

The Teleférico Fuente Dé top station. According to Rick Steves, this cable car is the longest single-span aerial lift of Europe, with cable length of 1450 m (4757 ft)

Descent view from Pico Valdecoro to Espinama, where our final night’s lodging awaited us.

A magnificent Oak on the descent to Espinama

Following this wonderful trek in Spain, my intention was to complete another hut-to-hut trek in the Julian Alps of Slovenia, and then spend a week in the Portuguese Azores hiking around its main island from my AirBnb base. Alas, neither trip panned out the way I planned. As the scenery was spectacular, in a post next month I’ll share a few photos from some short walks I did in Slovenia.

Rather than bewail the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, however, I am now planning my 2.5-month winter trip to Rajasthan (India), Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, and Oman on the Arabian peninsula. The Rajasthan trip has large cultural and wildlife components as well as several day walks. Mountainous northern Oman has some amazing trekking, and my KE Adventures trip in late February encompasses many of the highlights. Lanzarote has long been one of my favorite winter destinations, and the subject of not one, but two blog posts from 2018 and 2019. I’ll probably take a break from blogging for those six weeks. . .

The Vagabond Hiker

Traverse of the Picos de Europa

Comments

Categories

Subscribe for Updates