Packed and ready to hit the 90 degree heat
Odd tower at the Science center in Granada
Worn alcazar from 800AD. Great place for a shelter, though.
Please exit the the bus, but before you go...
Not my mountains but nice visa.
This village, Capileira, serves as my trail head but also is endemic to the beautiful villages all through the mountains in Spain. Altitude is 4,711 feet (1436m)
No, no beer yet.
Bye-bye civilization.
There she is at the top of the photo all lit up, Mount Mulhacen, at 11,423ft (3482m). Piece of cake, gulp.
Maybe I should pray. Sadly, all boarded up after electric station became redundant.
Looked a lot closer before. Night fall approaches.
Shepherd shelters dot the path all over the place. Flat roofs are architectural detail from Africa. Apparently Africa doesn't have foots of snow on top of their roofs half the year. Thus, many shelters are roofless. Sure, blame the goats.
Have you ever seen a full moon rise at 8,000ft (1438m)? Not like this one. Like a huge truck, no, Close Encounters ship gone all white, rising from behind the ridge line. Simply epic and a few tears shed in disbelief. Happy the trial was lit up too and off I went "moon walking."
Twilight glow after the sun heads west.
Like a sun shining without illumination, the full moon did my name proud!
Still night? Yes, but at 6:20am and the moon stayed up to see me up and head off on the trail with it's shadow lighting skills.
Star light, start bright, first star I see this morning...err, something like that.
Rising sun? Nope, setting moon.
Simply breathtaking, and not only because of 9000ft (2743m).
Now it's the sun's turn to show her stuff!
First the Veleta peak at 7,854ft (2394m), second highest mountain in Spain.
Second the mountain range.
Third, blind me!
Trail markers are nonexistent in Spain. I counted three my entire trek, but good samaritans have built rock markers (as done in Jordan all over the place) on all the trails, providing for happy trekking!
Countless shelters without roofs (see comment before) dot the paths, but would serve well in severe conditions. I wonder what other animals (REPTILES) think the same way?
Now that's cool!
Gritted teeth, frozen lips and there you have it, the best smile I could come up with at 10,500ft (3200m) after leaving the cabana at 8000ft.
Still cool! What you can't see is the Mediterranean off to the right.
Oh dear, the smiles waning and the altitude and steep trek catching up. Coffee anyone? Not up here. Grin and bear (no bears seen yet).
My goat friends from Bucegi, Romania! Not quite, these are ibex mammals and number 5000+ up here. What they eat is besides me as nothing but a few bits of moss grow this high. If they only knew of the lush grass afforded in the mountains of Romania. Still, I took a photo of all 5000!
1, 2, 3
4, 5
I went so high, I ended up at Mars! That's the top of Mulhacen, or the top of Spain (umm, some Spanish island somewhere has a taller mountain but whatever). Note shelter on right.
Shrine to an unfortunate victim (British apparently) in the month of March. Mountains are mountains and Spring only happens in the valley.
Smiles back, and legs are back too after breakfast on the top of Spain. The day's not over as I have to get to the other side of the range for a 5pm bus. Another goat bar will do!
Vogue shot.
Shadow shot.
Crater lake is the next destination. Hang-on! Major downhill from here.
Number 6 of 5000
Best shot of the day (I think) and goat 7 of 5000
One of two working shelters in area. First come first serve (but doubt anyone gets left outside...Ohana!). No electricity, water, or heat, just a roof and that's grand!
Check reflection!
Number 8 out of 5000
Number 9 out of 5000 but check those horns out!
I told you I was on Mars. This was taken through my sunglasses to show more relief. Sharp sun was washing out all my shots! Where's my moon?
Granada is in the valley.
Nice shot of Mulhacen in background.
One of the few gusts of wind during the day stirring things up on the alpine lake.
One of the few snow flows still left in September. Snow generally begins to fall at the end of the month.
The interior of the second shelter. Kindly, mats are provided and a large table to feast via candle light with fellow guests. So very cool!
Shelter with Veleta in background.
Looking down on the Sierra Nevada ski resort and straight on to Granada in the valley.
On top of old Veleta...or something like that. I told myself I wasn't going to do it (short on time) but I couldn't resist hitting mountain one and two in the same day.
From Veleta, Mulhacen know's she's the Queen of Spain!
Radio center on top of Veleta.
Granada...somewhere out there.
Voila! Mulhacen.
Fixer upper planetarium anyone?
Veleta from bottom of slopes.
Sierra Nevada ski village, or, Spanish ghost town. No one there, most places closed and all for sale.
Ummmm, beer while waiting for bus to Granada in ghost town (save to two stray dogs)
Ummmmm-er. Tapas and beer(s)!
Did you just hear a pin drop?
Bus ride down to valley was thrilling in so many ways. 4-wheel drifting, blipping throttle diesel downshifts, led me to believe it wasn't the driver's first day on the job.
From Granada, middle peak is Mulhacen and right peak is Veleta.
