In order to hike up to the seven lakes, we had to retrace our steps a bit above the Refugio. This time though, we took a slight detour to search out a Geo-cache in an old wartime bunker that is now an emergency mountain shelter. It used to be a machine gun post, guarding the old route over the Sierra Nevada.
The third highest peak in the mountain range, lies at the head of the valley above the lakes, but for today, we were content with just hiking as far as the first lake. It was going to be a 20km plus day as it was, so to continue to the summit would have made it a monster! As we hiked up to 3000m again, a huge cloud began to build over the top of the range. It was really interesting to see it build in isolation until it flattened off to a classic anvil shape.
We had a few drops of rain blow over us. Enough to get jackets on, but not enough to cause concern. Up by the lakes felt wild and remote. Just for fun, we climbed one of the old snow patches.
At the top of the snow, where it had began to melt away from the cliff, a large cave had formed. Using the rope as a safety system, we explored into it then practiced our glissading skills, to slide back down the snowslope!
Our high point for the day was at the cliff tops above the first lake. It was more of a damp area of ground than a lake to be honest, but the views were fab.
As the day moved into afternoon, the clouds continued to build into an enormous storm cloud. We were glad to be walking away from it and not heading to the mountain tops, especially as the thunder began.
But it was a real time lesson in meteorology watching it grow.
On the journey back down to the trail head, we chose to follow the old road for ease. It took us past a few rocky outcrops where loads of Ibex were loitering.
The final few kilometres back to the van were the hardest. The sun beat down relentlessly as we gradually lost altitude. When we eventually arrived back at the van, the temperature read 31 degrees on the dashboard. Getting our boots off was pure relief! We had hiked 22km, ascended 750m and descended 1200m. A big day out by anyone's standards and an impressive effort for such a young team.
The van bumped its way down the dirt road, coasting into the village of Capileira, coated in brown dust. Hot showers at Hostal Rural, set us up for a great celebratory meal and final review outside in the village square. After dinner, ice creams, table games and a few speeches on the expedition high-points, we set out to find a cafe for a pre-bed drink. The one we found had the oldest till I've ever seen, an even older landlord and some rather un-vegetarian friendly decorations hanging from the ceiling!
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