Romp Stomp Tromp

The beginning

While in Agaete, we also took a monster hike up to the mountains. Gran Canaria has a totally different feel up in the pine forests. We hiked about 1000 meters up through small villages, roads of all sizes and shapes, cave dwellings, almond and orange groves, and up up up. At one dodgy point we had to walk across the wall of a dam, a little over two feet wide, with a 40-foot drop on one side and a posse of angry dogs on the other. One of the oddest trails either of us have been on. But beautiful, and flanked much of the way up by gorgeous prickly pear cactuses, huge blooming agaves, and weird tabaiba plants. The pine forests are usually clouded over, and though it rarely rains, on certain slopes the constant mists provide lots of moisture. We rounded a bend in the trail and went from dry, crunchy pine forest into what looked like a cloud forest, with lichens draped on every branch.

The early middle (oops, wrong turn, check out the guard dogs)

The late middle

Pressing on, we dropped down a steep trail with truly spectacular views, including out over the ocean almost 100 km to the Pico de Teide, Spain’s highest mountain, on the island of Tenerife (see below, right upper corner). It was one of those places that pictures simply can’t do justice to, with jagged mountains and cliffs on several sides, a beautiful valley on another, and a stunning coastline to finish it off. Wow. If you ever get a chance to visit the Canary Islands, do it.

The end (almost, we still had to go down)