Very late in the trip planning, Jimmy Petterson informed me by e-mail that we HAD to do this if we were going to be in southern Spain. It was a tight squeeze. We were driving south from Madrid to Grenada Aug. 16 to visit the Alhambra the next day, but our flight home from Madrid was on the 19th. Standard tickets were sold out and even for guided tour tickets the earliest we could get was 12:20PM. The map below shows the bus route in blue, the Caminito in red and the approach and exit trails in yellow.
We had a two hour drive from Granada and arrived at El Chorro at 11:15. We had to inquire where to park and get on the bus to the northern entry point. Most of the parking is at a midpoint requiring the bus both before and after the hike. At the final bus stop we got off and walked about 100 yards to this tunnel.
The road walk to the trailhead was mostly shaded with occasional reservoir view.
With the 1.5km walk we reached the trailhead at 12:30, thus missing the guided tour. But we were still allowed to enter, and with our picture taking we probably were better off not being in a group. The walkway along the cliffs was built for hydropower maintenance workers, but opened to the public in 1921 by King Alfonso XIII, thus the name. The walkway deteriorated and was closed in 2000, but rebuilt and reopened in 2015.
The dam is immediately after the trail entry.
Looking back up there are two spillways from the dam.
Soon we are on the upper cliff walkway.
A moderate widening of the canyon:
Short tunnel along the cliff:
Ahead is an old bridge walkway.
It’s well fenced off now.
I’m not sure why this relatively short water channel was built this high on the cliff.
Here’s another old bridge.
I’m emerging from the narrow canyon, train tunnel on opposite side.
About a third of the Caminito opens up into a wider canyon with a normal hiking trail.
The red and white pole and wind sock mark an emergency helipad.
Here the path resumes on the boardwalk before the last slot canyon.
In the canyon the walkway is visible ahead with train support on other side.
The walkway winds into side canyons.
View from the side canyon.
A breeze blew down that canyon for some welcome air conditioning.
Looking back at the walkway as we wait for the bridge crossing ahead:
The old walkway is visible under the current one.
This glass platform is popular photo op.
Rock formations on the opposite side:
First view of the bridge we will cross:
Closer approach:
I’m on the bridge.
The older crossing was on the pipe.
View upstream from the bridge:
Downstream:
After rounding the corner at left, there is another bridge over side canyon.
Final view back at the walkway and end of the slot canyon:
The final km walk along the lower reservoir was in the blazing 95F heat.
The total walk was 7.7km. We were prepared for the weather with 4 Nalgene bottles, two of them frozen, but as Jimmy said, most of the hike was shaded by canyon walls. We then had a 5 hour drive to Madrid.
We had a two hour drive from Granada and arrived at El Chorro at 11:15. We had to inquire where to park and get on the bus to the northern entry point. Most of the parking is at a midpoint requiring the bus both before and after the hike. At the final bus stop we got off and walked about 100 yards to this tunnel.
The road walk to the trailhead was mostly shaded with occasional reservoir view.
With the 1.5km walk we reached the trailhead at 12:30, thus missing the guided tour. But we were still allowed to enter, and with our picture taking we probably were better off not being in a group. The walkway along the cliffs was built for hydropower maintenance workers, but opened to the public in 1921 by King Alfonso XIII, thus the name. The walkway deteriorated and was closed in 2000, but rebuilt and reopened in 2015.
The dam is immediately after the trail entry.
Looking back up there are two spillways from the dam.
Soon we are on the upper cliff walkway.
A moderate widening of the canyon:
Short tunnel along the cliff:
Ahead is an old bridge walkway.
It’s well fenced off now.
I’m not sure why this relatively short water channel was built this high on the cliff.
Here’s another old bridge.
I’m emerging from the narrow canyon, train tunnel on opposite side.
About a third of the Caminito opens up into a wider canyon with a normal hiking trail.
The red and white pole and wind sock mark an emergency helipad.
Here the path resumes on the boardwalk before the last slot canyon.
In the canyon the walkway is visible ahead with train support on other side.
The walkway winds into side canyons.
View from the side canyon.
A breeze blew down that canyon for some welcome air conditioning.
Looking back at the walkway as we wait for the bridge crossing ahead:
The old walkway is visible under the current one.
This glass platform is popular photo op.
Rock formations on the opposite side:
First view of the bridge we will cross:
Closer approach:
I’m on the bridge.
The older crossing was on the pipe.
View upstream from the bridge:
Downstream:
After rounding the corner at left, there is another bridge over side canyon.
Final view back at the walkway and end of the slot canyon:
The final km walk along the lower reservoir was in the blazing 95F heat.
The total walk was 7.7km. We were prepared for the weather with 4 Nalgene bottles, two of them frozen, but as Jimmy said, most of the hike was shaded by canyon walls. We then had a 5 hour drive to Madrid.
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