Vol.44
Quick Facts
Fun meter: Really cool
Location: Gran Canaria
Adventure: Hike
Type: Mountain Canyon
Time: 2-5 hours
Level of difficulty: Medium
Good for what ages: 5+
Cost: Free
Overview
Gran Canaria has canyons everywhere. Some big and open, others tiny and steep. Barranco de Mascuervo has a flat tree lined riverbed with long climbing hills on both sides. You can tell that when it rains, it probably gets pretty wet. We chose a looping trail that climbed up the side of the canyon to get big views, and then came back down to a steep trail to play in the shade of the canyon. We did the hard climb first and then most of the hike was down hill.
Dad invited a bunch of families with kids. We all handled the climb up alright, but had to do a lot of sliding on our butts on the way down. You need to have good shoes. We found an awesome place to picnic with shade and no wind. During some point in the 2nd part of the hike, we got off trail because dad let the little kids be the navigators. What were you thinking dad?!? The cloud layer from Las Palmas disappeared and it got hot! There were all kinds of bright green ponds along the canyon, and I really wanted to swim, but the adults wouldn’t let us.
How to get there
The trailhead is only a few minutes away from Tamaraceite, where we went to horse camp. It is so close to Las Palmas. I think we only drove 10 minutes to get there from Las Canteras. Just drop this link into your google maps. There is a bus that goes right there, and took one family less than an hour, which isn’t terrible. So no car required if you don’t have one.
The person who designed this hike on wikiloc did a wonderful job. We missed out on the caves but that is okay. We’ll see them next time. You can see how different it is in March from August when you compare their video to my photos.
The group
We put out an invite on the Expats of Gran Canaria with Families facebook group. We had kids originally from Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Czech Republic and the USA. A fun mix. Five families in total, 7 adults and 12 kids between the ages of 8 months to 12 years old. There was even a baby strapped to its mother for the whole hike. It was a good hike for the 4-8 year crew and everyone had fun because we took lots of breaks. Be careful on the way down, it got steep. You also shouldn’t let the little kids navigate the hike, looking at you dad.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE HIKE?
The Climb & The Picnic
The hike up to the picnic spot was a good sized trail. We had to watch out for mountain bikers as they came down the hills pretty fast. But you could see them coming. We chose to do the climb first while everyone had energy. There was not much shade, so bring hats and lots of water.
We had the picnic at the top of our trail. We found a little covered area that was a small ruin in which we sat on rocks and ate the picnic that we had packed. It had shade, and was protected from wind. I couldn’t think of a better place. It had huge views of the valley. My family had packed sandwiches, canned tuna, cheese, some juice and tons of fruit and veggies. Dad even carried a huge can of lychees, which I absolutely love!!! As for the veggies, I had an entire cucumber covered in chili powder, lime and salt. It was delicious.
The Way Down to the Canyon
The entire hike was 6.67KM and 271M in altitude gain. After the picnic, we started going down hill. It was actually really steep for 10 minutes. It was so steep that most of the kids, (including me) were inching down while sitting for a part of the time. Keep watch on your kids during that part in case they fall.
The Baranco
The rest of the hike was not crazy up or down, the barranco is actually pretty flat. There are bamboo and eucalyptus groves and lots of shade. The kids had so much fun exploring. If no one stopped, I bet this hike would take 1.5 – 2 hours. But we took five. We got a bunch of photos up close of a really pretty dragonfly and flowers. We had a great time, I would definitely recommend this hike.
Traveling With Serenity 