Emily and Russell's Travel Blog

One of the reasons we ended up in the Spanish Pyrenees is that when we were looking for places to land, we saw pictures of the national park here. On Wednesday morning, Russell took a day off from working and we made our way there. After a 15 minute drive to a parking lot in Torla, we boarded a bus into the park. Visitors to the park are limited, and private cars aren’t allowed on the main road in.

From our first steps, it was spectacularly beautiful.

We did one of the most popular trails, to the Cola de Caballo waterfall. The hike is about 16 kilometers, plus some side trails, with a 600m (almost 2000 feet!) elevation gain, and took us almost 7 hours. It was worth it!

The trail goes by several waterfalls on the Ara river, slowly (and at times, quickly) gaining altitude. Emily, Russell, and Emily’s hat all enjoyed the views. The leaves are starting to change color, making us feel better about missing our beloved Central New York autumn.

The trail along the river is sometimes through the woods, and sometimes opens up to the most spectacular views. The valley is remeniscent of Yosemite or Zion, looking up at the grand mountains.

After the waterfalls, the trail opens up to a flagstone path. The trail is heavily traveled, and in this part there were numerous picnickers. The day was sunny but not too hot, a perfect day for a long hike under awe-inspiring cliffs.

The hike ends at the Cola de Caballo (horsetail) falls. The flow is a little light in October but still beautiful.

After the falls, we started to head back and stopped to eat lunch. The trick is to avoid the cows. And the cowpoop. The cows were really a surprise; there were a ton of them at this part of the trail. They are not universally loved as park residents, but apparently there is a long tradition of cow grazing there. We did not see any cowherds tending to them. In parts, we did have the constant song of their cowbells.

We were surprised to see Autumn crocuses, which it turns out are native to the Pyrenees. Saffron is cultivated from crocuses, but not from this species which grows in the wild.

More beautiful views on the way back. We were a little confused by the crowds. At times there were tons of people and at other times none. There must have been some shortcuts to get to the end of the trail. By midway through the hike out, we were definitely feeling it.

We were pretty tired by the time we made it back to the bus ~38,000 steps later. After getting home and resting, we enjoyed a lovely Aragonese dinner.

Truly one of the most spectacular hikes of our lives!