Hiking the Sierras

While waiting for our new bicycles to arrive we decide to do some hiking in the Parque Natural de La Sierra de Grazalema.  The north-eastern edge of this national park is located less than 15K (in a straight line) from Olvera.

Yesterday we followed the narrow 2 lane road that wind up into the hills from Zahara. It is great motorbike route, albeit with limited sight lines around the corners, one has to take the corners pretty slowly. A long vehicle would easily occupy 2/3 of the road width in the tight corners.

The top of the pass is call Puerto de las Palomas (port of the doves). There is a viewpoint and a small parking lot. A trail around the high point of land starts and ends at the parking lot.  It is rated as an easy trail. There are no long climbs and the trail is well used, albeit rocky at times. It is only about 3K out and back but the views are spectacular.

                 Below are a couple of photos from the walk around Peurto de Las Palomas.

Today we went back to the park to try another hike.  Los Llanos del Rabel.  For all of this walk we were on a gravel road. It was more like a scenic stroll down into a dry river valley. The steep banks were covered with trees.  We walked about 3K to reach a single track path that looped up the side of one of the mountains.  

At the entrance to this loop we met another couple who were at the trail head sign post. I asked them if they knew how long the loop was.  The answer was interesting!   They told me that the loop was closed due to the dry conditions and fire risk.  Then he asked if we had our hiking permit.  Hiking permit???  He explained that due to the fire risk all hikers were required to obtain a permit. We told him that we did not know about the permit and decided to hike back to the trail head. On the way back we stopped to chat with a nice German couple. They told us that just be chance they discovered that they needed a permit for the hike. They told us that they had been told that the rules were strictly enforced and that the fines for non-compliance were high.    As we started to leave, the fellow told us.... "If you get stopped by the authorities, tell them that you are on our permit but had to leave earlier than your friends."    We didn't see anyone on the way out so we didn't have to make excuses for that lack of a permit but we thought that it was very nice of this gentleman to make this suggestion.

This hike obviously goes through property that is used for agriculture.  Below is photo of one of the many trees in this area.  Also there is a photo of the entrance to the walk.

Can you guess what type of tree this is?  It is not an oak tree.  What are those acorn looking seeds?
The answer is below.  Scroll way down below the photo of Olvera.

An early morning shot of Olvera from the highway.

Hopefully the bikes are ready for pickup tomorrow.....




It is an almond tree.