Senderismo a Los Cahorros

Hiking was so much fun last weekend, I decided I needed to do it again.  This time we went to a place that was closer to Granada, in a town called Monachil.  We all took a public bus just outside of Granada.  From there we walked up to a national park type area.  We stopped to eat our lunches, and then we began our hike.  This was a lot more of a hike than last week.  The path was narrow and rocky, and actually difficult to climb up.  This made it more fun though.  We also saw the ruins of a little hide out/fortress for the Republican Party during the Civil War, so that was interesting.

 

There were some suspension bridges, which weren't too scary until you were about halfway across and it was swaying and you're trying to hold on to the ropes on the sides, but they aren't any more stable than you are.

 

After all the uphill climbing and bridge crossing, we were walking along the river, so that should be easy, right? No, it was actually terrifying, and totally awesome.  We were walking on a strip maybe about 18 inches wide, with the rocky river below us to our left, and huge boulders to our right.  Sometimes the boulders would jet out a bit, and we would need to hold on for dear life while we leaned back over the river and passed it.  Other times only part of the boulder would be sticking out, so I could climb over it or crawl under it on my hands and knees.  It was really fun.

 

Then we were out in the open again, just climbing up the mountain side.  I'm really glad it got cloudy soon after this, so we weren't in the sun for too long.  Instead of going back the way we came, we kept going along this way to go over and then back down the mountain.  It was interesting to look down across the gorge and see where we had been walking before.  We also stopped at a little cliff that jetted out over the gorge.  I climbed over some rocks to get all the way to the edge so I could look out over it.

Then we climbed down a bit more, and all of a sudden we were back in the village.  I relaxed in the park, eating the snack I brought (batido de cacao, which is like chocolate milk, and a croissant), while we waited for the bus back into the city.  This hike was shorter than the one in Las Alpujarras, but it was a lot more fun and exciting.  I am already planning to come back with my friends to do it again.