A remote and exposed hike in the Sierra Nevada provides ample reward for the effort!
Even reaching the trailhead for this hike requires a substantial effort. Heading out of Granada by car, your journey takes you up the lush valley of the Rio Genil, passing the reservoir of the Rio Genil, surrounded by cliffs and rocky promontories. Travelling through the quiet agricultural town of Güéjar Sierra, you head north, away from the valley of the Rio Dilar on a winding paved road high into the hills.
You already feel you are leaving ‘civilization’ behind and for me, after a week of graft in the city, that’s always a refreshing bonus. It’s a feeling I relish. Crossing a trickling stream, the tarmac disappears altogether and you begin a steep climb on a rough dirt track for about 30 minutes, past cherry trees, heavy with fruit, heading up into the mountains and passing some seriously isolated fincas. Make sure your car is up for the punishment! As you ascend, the trees thin out and finally disappear, replaced by a rolling alpine grassland with some good views down into the Dilar Valley, to the reservoir and to Granada itself.
As the road finishes next to a parking area, a magnificent vista reveals itself to the south, the Dilar Valley plunging away beneath you to the Vereda de la Estrella and the three highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada dominating the skyline above: Alcazaba, Mulhacén and Pico de Veleta. It’s a wonderful sight and a great place to begin the real journey. Time to wear-in the hiking boots and begin the adventure!
The first 6km or so is a generally uphill hike through alpine scrub. It’s a very open, exposed environment with no shade, so make sure you remember a hat and you layer on the sun cream. Constant views of the big mountains to your right keep the walk interesting.
After passing a mountain refuge called Peña Partida, the mountains disappear from sight and there’s a fairly featureless slog up the mountainside before you reach the place that makes this whole trip worthwhile, the mountain valley of the Lavaderos de la Reina, the Queen’s Washing Room. When we made this trek, in early June, there were still isolated snow fields in this valley that lay below us. Green fields and marshes are sustained by the snowmelt, and the valley’s itinerant cows were making the most of this fact, munching away contentedly below. The valley stands beneath a large elegant peak, which I believe to be the 3139m Puntal de Juntillas. To reach the cascades the valley is named after, you must traverse a pyramidal hill called Cerro del Trigo, which dominates the centre of the valley. In early summer, with the meltwaters rushing off the snowfields down a series of spectacular waterfalls, this valley really is a gem. Snow, mountains all around, roaring waters and choughs riding the thermals above. A slice of the Sierra Nevada at its very best.
The way down on the circular route described here is spectacular as well. Steep in places but gorgeous, following the left bank on the river beside a group of cascades that plunge a hundred meters or so in steps. After this the return is simple – if a little dull – a trail looping to the North of the outward route. The vistas of the big mountains are hidden, but you can see out across the lowlands to the Guadix Valley and the Sierra de Huétor, but the undoubted highlight of this trek is the Queen’s favoured washing location. Truly a place of Kings and Queens. If you take the time, you can be one of them!
