An Aerial Hike

I will just say that this was one of the most unusual hikes we have ever embarked upon.  It’s called Caminito del Rey. 

We joined our tour in downtown Malaga at 8:55 am and quickly headed north in a big luxury bus toward the Caminito.  First, there was a stop in the village of Ardeles for coffee, extra water for the trek, or breakfast.  Oh, these quaint Spanish towns!  I think Stan and I should consider staying in one for an extended bit of time just to experience life in a hillside village with only 2500 residents. How nice it would be to be able to call every single person there by name.  This town is in the heart of Spain’s olive oil country.

Including the round-trip bus trip to the Caminito and the hikes in and out, this excursion lasted a full seven hours but it was fantastic! 

Once under the sea millions of years ago, the earth’s tectonic plates moved toward each other and changed the face of the earth at that time.  They may still be moving, but we will never know it.  In this part of the world, the crust of Africa pushed toward the crust of Europe pushing the sea floor upwards and out of the ocean to form the Baetic System.  This mountain range runs upwards from southwestern Spain to mid-country to the east.  It isolates Malaga from the rest of the country. 

Here, three rivers came together to cut and over time, form three immense, deep, and colorful limestone, sandstone, mineral-laden canyons.   

The discovery and application of electricity ushered in the Industrial Age.  It created an urgent need in the early 1900s for a reliable and powerful supply of power.  Spain is a very dry country, but in this place the three rivers flowing from the mountains offered an uninterrupted supply of water to drive a hydroelectric turbine.  A railway was also needed.  Engineers designed a concrete walkway perched alongside the three canyon walls to enable workers to build dams, bridges, and the railway.  This process started with men hanging hundreds of feet down on ropes with no other safety gear.  Only two men died during the perilous construction here, one from a train accident and one in an explosion.  None died from falls.  The king, Alfonso the 13th, came to inaugurate the great work in 1921.  He walked the workers’ treacherous concrete and steel walkway alongside the canyon walls.  It is from the king’s visit that the people began to call the way the Caminito Del Rey. 

These days, the concrete walkway although decrepit, is still visible.  It has been replaced by a sturdy wooden walkway mounted to the canyon walls on stainless steel mounts that allow visitors like us to be thrilled to walk along the sides of the canyon, view the beautiful stone and waterworks of nature, and to cross the suspended bridge with the river 1,000 feet below. 

What a hike!  What a day!