Vol.28

Quick Facts

Fun meter: If we didn’t get lost, I guess it would be fun
Location: Moya
Adventure: Hike
Type: Mountain and waterfall (that we never saw)
Time: 3 hours
Level of difficulty: easy or hard, your choice
Good for what ages: 3+
Cost: free

Overview

We went to see a beautiful waterfall. It had been raining a lot and we finally had a few warm sunny days. We were excited to see it flowing majestically. But, we went the wrong way and never saw it. 😦 Sad Serenity. There are a number of trails, a small flat out and back and a big loop. The first leg is great for little kids. We saw a ton of them at the beginning on the river trail. We planned to do the big loop which climbs and circles the canyon, but started too late in the day and kept getting distracted looking at things and taking picnic breaks. We ended up turning back after an hour and a half of hiking.

How To Get There

It takes about 25 minutes from Las Palmas to the trailhead for the Barranco de Azuaje. Take Highway 2 along the north coast, then the gentle curves up the mountain along the 75 to the 350. No need to rush this one and no one will get car sick. While you can technically drive off the main highway to the trail head, it is a very narrow 1 way and we saw many people get stuck. Better to just park on the side of the highway and walk the small road in. It is easy to recognize as the turnoff is on one side of a narrow 1 lane bridge. The Parking here is a bit wild, so please be careful.

“Cariño, allí estaré

Donde el sol y la lluvia

se Besen.”

— Unknown

The Old Ruins

Right at the beginning of the hike, we took a side trail that went up to some old ruins. It was a natural hot spring resort for many years that is now all broken. It had some interesting graffiti. I had fun scampering up the old stairs as there were all kinds of levels. It was so cool!!!!!! This would definitely be a pretty great spot to bring my sketch pad and spend an afternoon drawing and listening to music.

The Unusual Underwater Tail

It has been raining for weeks. Wet, wet, wet. Which is not normal, as we live on a desert-ish island. Everything is so green right now and it’s beautiful. Flowers in all directions. When we started out, the trail was pretending to be a small river. I don’t think it is normally like this. We had to jump from rock to rock but that still didn’t stop my shoes and socks from getting wet. It’s pretty flat and made of cobblestones, but there was a small dirt path on the upper bank.

Picnic

After we completed the mini “river” trail we arrived at a small picnic area, where we had a quick snack before heading to find the waterfall. Lots of tables under huge eucalyptus trees full of little kids. I counted over 50 kids with families. The picnic space is super popular. It’s a 10-15m walk to get there, just right for littles. It looks like a great place to go on hot days to hang out and play in the shade.

Up, Up, Up… and Up

We started looking for the waterfall. After 10 minutes following the river, we ended up at a fork in the path. The straight path was completely covered by the river, so we took the uphill path to the right. That trail goes up and up and up…………… no kids in sigh. Just serious hikers. After an hour of climbing, we hit the top of the canyon and had an amazing view. We’d ask people where the waterfall was and no one knew. We were not going to see the waterfall that day. 😦 Maybe next time. We also learned that everyone does the loop in the opposite direction. So double oops.

The path was pretty narrow for the early climb, but with some good music and a support daddy, Sojourn, my 6 year old brother climbed just fine. When I hike it really helps to have music. We saw huge cactus forests, what looked like the foundation of an old fort, bunnies and wonderful wildflower fields. We did about ⅓ of the full loop. My parents would like to do the whole hike. We just need to start before 2pm. The people we met on the trail said we should plan 4-5 hours including a nice lunch break. Maybe less if the trail is more dry. There were lots of people with dogs on the long hike. It is dog paradise up there. If you have kids my age and older, This would be a great day.