At long last: Grazalema
Our Hike to El Salto del Cabrero from Puerto del Bollar
Postponed from fall to late spring in the hopes of getting better weather, 25 of us headed to
Grazalema (in 5 rented cars) to pick up our guide for the long-awaited hike
to "El Salto del Cabrero" from "Puerto del Bollar". The hardest part of the whole adventure
was figuring out how to get all of us up to the pass,
leaving three cars down in Grazalema and two up top (to avoid the 5 k walk at the end to get
us back down to Villaluenga del Rosario where we were to spend the night. This quaint, quiet and beautiful town
hosts just one place to stay: the "Centro de Espeleología" (the spelunking - I don't know how that's spelled).
Cold isn't the word for the temperature at night indoors, but we had a beautiful day for the hike, the folks
in charge were accomodating and the food darn good. With 12 bunks beds in one room and 6 in the other, we had more than
enough space. Though we'd brought sleeping bags, blankets galore, and a lot of munchies, we all pretty much crashed
after a day in the hills.
Many of the group had been in Cadiz since the end of August and were just itching to get out in the sierras and
see rivers and trees and mountains and woods. Well, at long last, here are some shots of our outing. We not only had
a blast, we got some really good cheese too, right from the factory!
The early part of the trail was a bit less spectacular (as we mucked through the woods. Tell me you've forgotten those
nice green rocks (!) Ryan had an uncanny knack for picking out to land on while leaping over puddles and ooze! Yep, you
got it: cow pies one and all. Up here at the "Goatherd's jumpoff" we dried off and sunned. Don't we look right at home!
End of the trail. If we'd been one hour earlier we would have all taken a dip in the beautiful, but freezing pool
fed by mountain streams. Instead, as the sun was too low to reach into that corner, we just rested.
Happy campers all.
I know I've got lots more pictures, I just haven't found them yet (pict0033, pict0074, etc. doesn't
make for fast scanning through hundreds of photos in dozens of directories...). But I'll find them.
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