By: Serenity Pearlman
Hiking, , , ,

Path of the Flowering Almond Trees

Vol.25

Fun meter: Pretty Darn Fun
Location: Valsequillo, Gran Canaria
Adventure: Hike / Festival
Type: Canyon / Flowers
Time: 2 – 6 hours
Level of difficulty: Medium
Good for what ages: 5+
Cost: free
Hint: There are a lot of trails, but going off route didn’t pan out well for us.

Overview

Every year, there is a festival in Valsequillo to celebrate the almond trees blooms. The whole valley is covered in a layer of white and pink flowers. Here in Gran Canaria, spring starts in January. I know everyone one who is looking at a wall of snow or sheets of rain thinks that is just unfair. Stop complaining and move here like we did. =). Anytime from mid January to late February, you should totally check it out. It’s beautiful.

Sadly, due to COVID, no festival. We ended up going on the hike with friends, who had a 5 year old. They are on the private side, so no photos of them. My mom let me use her phone to take a bunch of really cool photos of all of the pretty flowers. The hike was fun, but it was a lot of uphill. We stopped a ton to look at flowers, and even got lost a little and ended up walking on the road to get back.

How to Get There

Hit it dad. Valsequillo is about 30 minutes from Las Palmas up the mountain. Unlike some of the mountain towns, the road here was fairly reasonable and Serenity only got a little car sick. We agreed to meet at the Asador Hijos de Ortega, which is by the main square. There was plenty of street parking, although during a festival, this could be challenging. We saw flowering almond trees on the drive up which was encouraging.

The trail was marked with painted lines on rocks, cliff sides, and it was a bit of a scavenger hunt to find them. Keep a sharp eye.

The Trail of Almond Blossoms

We started at the church square and then walked down from the small town into a canyon. I saw all kinds of pretty flowers and plants. The temperature was warm then cool then warm depending on where the sun was facing. Even dad got chilly and wished he had more than his t-shirt. Bring layers, you will need them. The rain also came and went a couple times towards the end of our hike, so… be prepared. 

The canyon is full of green plants and boulders to scamper on. After thirty minutes, we began to climb up the side of a canyon. No almond trees yet. I was worried we missed them. Maybe we were too late in the year. It was so green in the whole valley, with huge eucalyptus, cactus, water rush reeds, and fields of grass. There were so many amazing picnic spots. This is really the right place to eat jamon, cheese, olives and enjoy the vibe and read my book while feeling the wind and sun on my back. At the top of the climb, we started to see trees in bloom. We even saw baby almonds. While most of the trees were already done, a few were covered in a blanket of soft petals. Sojourn wanted to be a hunter so we made him a spear out of bamboo:)))))

Small hint: when my family hikes, we listen to music and it helps me to hike more.

My flower collage

During most of the time my mom let me use her phone to take hundreds of pictures of all of the pretty flowers we saw on the hike. It was fun and I learned how to use the macro lens to get in real close. My favorite is the flower with the bee on it.

Getting lost

We ended up getting lost. The map our friends were using had us go down a super steed trail and the moms got nervous. Dad had a map that went another way, but ended up too long, and we needed a shortcut to get back without walking in the dark. The short-cut wasn’t short. We were lost and walking on the street with the cars. We even ended up on private property with scary dogs guarding it. I’d downloading wikilok or another hiking app first and following the trail the marked. Either way, the trail is fairly well marked, so don’t stress too much.