Los Cahorros, Monachil: Trek Sierra Nevada

March 01, 2015

Los Cahorros, Monachil: Trek Sierra Nevada

I’ve been craving a more difficult level of hiking since I got here, the trips we take through my program aren’t very challenging and end up being more of an inclined walk since it has to be appropriate to everyone’s experience and (more importantly) interest level, so when Sharina suggested hiking in Los Cahorros I was ecstatic.

sharina, matt, ashley, me, taylor

I woke up early Friday morning and filled my backpack for the hike, I was out the door by 9 and met up with Sharina, Taylor, Matt, and Ashley shortly after. We took a 20-minute, 1.50 Euro bus ride out of Granada to a pueblo (small village/town) called Monachil, from here it was a long steep walk up to the beginning of the trails.

Taylor and I have been sick for about a week now so hiking so soon after waking up congested proved to be more difficult than we would have preferred. Every so often one of us would stop to “take a beautiful picture of this amazing scenery-wow Spain is gorgeous” code phrase for “I can’t breath, I need to blow my nose, cough up my lungs and sit down”. Not to worry though, as the morning went on our lungs remembered how to function and we were back at it.

taylor, me, sharina

The hike was unlike any I had ever been on, every turn we took was a new and gorgeous view of the surrounding mountains and pueblo below. It was a little more challenging than what we had been doing just like I was hoping for. It all started with a hanging bridge over a gorge and a waterfall. I’ve never been too bad with heights, but the slots in the bridge where I could look down had my palms sweating and my head spinning, I loved every second of it. I like the thrill of knowing in your mind that you’re safe while your body is terrified, does that even make sense? It's similar to a roller coaster, you’re strapped in and not going anywhere, but that wont stop your heart from racing as you scream at the top of your lungs for fear of certain death.

There were other parts we would have to hug tightly to the rocks as we side stepped across a path the size of half of my foot, the river moving below us, and our backpack scraping up against our sides. At some points I was on my knees hoping I didn’t knock myself out with the pieces of rock hanging down as I crawled through small parts of the path, another portion involved jumping on rocks across a stream (and getting pulled up by Matt onto the other side of the river-Thanks!).

We got to use our climbing skills when we decided eating lunch in the middle of the canyon just wasn’t good enough; we wanted to be on the side of it overlooking the valley. Getting up was easy, but as usual getting down was much harder. Taylor and I got stuck in the rocks at one point while everyone got further ahead of us, luckily we got this awesome photo out of the situation:

so calm, so cool, so collected

On the top of a particularly steep trail and rock ledge there was a stray dog sitting by himself looking over the city. We named him Caza (short for cazador in Spanish which means hunter). I sat next to him on the edge of the small cliff petting him and looking over the city. At this point he decided he wanted to be my travel companion for life because he spent the next hour and a half following me back down the hiking trail and into the village. He sat next to our table smiling up at us as we ate our tapas. It was somewhat heart breaking when we had to get on the bus and wave goodbye, but with those huge eyes I’m sure he’ll find another backpacker to latch onto in no time.

I'm so thankful for such a beautiful and sunny day. The 5 of us love hiking in Winona and Los Cahorros allowed us to prove our love of the outdoors to Spain. Hiking is a reset button for me, the experience is always rejuvenating and leaves me feeling happier and healthier than when I started. I attribute this to a mixture of the breathtaking scenery, and quality time with good friends and, of course, the great outdoors.