Los Roques de Garcia
Near the Parador is a line of rocks is what is left of an eroded mountain range. I was simply trying to get away from crowds and went walking along a road and then cross country toward the first formation. Luckily, I intercepted a hiking trail ; there were a lot of people at the start, but most just took a few photographs and turned back. At the 3/4 of a kilometre mark there were few people left .. some of them serious hikers. I watched and photographed some rock climbers .. made me nervous .. I just don’t see how they can do it. The elevation here is 2,200 metres (7,217 feet) and as I'd just come up from sea level I really noticed the extreme height.
Slipping and sliding
Suddenly I was doing a bit a climbing myself as the path went up and around the most northerly rock formation. There was a clearly marked path but small rocks on the dry ground lead to a lot of slipping and sliding. Great views into the adjacent valley
I saw only three plants on this hike .. a round shaped shrub with reed type branches (Retama del PIco). To me, it looked similar to the Mormon Tea plant I saw in Colorado last September. A plant with yellow flowers (Ceso del Pico), . Finally, a strange shrub with spiky branches which looked a bit like coral. There were a few bits of long grass and one or two succulents. As I descended into the valley there was a single spruce tree, well above the tree line.
Retama del Pico
Paragraph.
My book failed me ...
The plant at the top of this set is the one with the 'coral' branch which I have not been able to identify.
Codesa del Pico
Paragraph.
Lonesome pine ....
This was the only tree for miles
The only sign of life
It was odd that there were no birds to be seen, then I realised that that may be because there is no prey. In fact I was going to say there was no sign of life, but while enjoying the view I was joined by several lizards .. most camera shy. I like the way the colour of this one matches the nearby rock.
If I had only known .....
As I went along the valley floor, my sense of´ ‘Job well done’ didn´t last long. I thought the trail would go around a large rock formation and rejoin the road. instead, it went up to a saddle, then up again to a ridge ... I knew not what was on the other side. If I had only known that I would be going up and over the ridge (far left in the photo to the left), I might not have embarked on this hike.
I was resting mid way and followed two youngsters who had just passed. At this point my vertigo (which had been surprisingly quiescent) really began to kick in and I wondered if I could make it. There was a sheer drop off to my right and the path was mostly dirt with the occasional rock to provide a firm foothold. Luckily, I saw another couple to my left and veered over to follow them on what proved to be the ´true’ path. Even so, I was exhausted by the time I got to the top .. so was really pleased when I saw the Parador about 500 metres away.
The fine print
Date of travel : March 2008
Country information : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife