Parc Nacional D’Aiguistortes y Estany de San Maurici - Spanish Pyrenees
Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2019 7:32 am
My wife and I visited a national park in the Catalonian (Spanish) Pyrenees: Parc Nacional D’Aiguistortes y Estany de San Maurici.
There are countless small lakes in this relatively small park.
We were in Barcelona and had planned to stay for the better part of the week, but we soon remembered we are not big city fans, so of course we plotted our escape to the mountains.
We rented a car in Barcelona and drove 4 hours to the town of Espot, which is the perfect place to access the park. We stayed in Espot and day hiked. There are also “Refugi” accommodations available in the back country that looked really nice.
We day hiked to many lakes (18) and over four mountain passes in 3 days of killer day hiking. The aspen trees turning color into bright yellows and oranges were a real treat.
The park reminded me of the Sierra, there were endless ridges, passes and peaks and cross country routes throughout the park. If you go, make sure to get the detailed trail map because from the mountaineering shop in town - it shows many more use trails and routes that are not on the park’s trail map. 01 - Estany D’Sant Maurici – entry point for most people from the East of the park -– reached by jeep taxi or 1.5 hour hike from Espot
02 – 3 small lakes as we got higher in the park above the Amitges lake and refugi
03 – Descending from our first mountain pass – headed back to Estany D’Sant Maurici
04 – View of Estany D’Sant Maurici with fall colors
05 – Fall colors on hike up the valley of the monastery
06 – A little class 3 bolder fields on the way up to our next pass
07 – Looking back down on the valley we ascended
08 – Almost at the pass
09 – Descending the other side of the pass to another series of small lakes
10 – back on trail
11-Crossing dam at Estany Negre
12 – Lakes just below Estany Negre – notice the Refugi on the peninsula – reached by a 3,000 for ascent from Espot. We were headed down to complete our big loop hike (9 hours)
There are countless small lakes in this relatively small park.
We were in Barcelona and had planned to stay for the better part of the week, but we soon remembered we are not big city fans, so of course we plotted our escape to the mountains.
We rented a car in Barcelona and drove 4 hours to the town of Espot, which is the perfect place to access the park. We stayed in Espot and day hiked. There are also “Refugi” accommodations available in the back country that looked really nice.
We day hiked to many lakes (18) and over four mountain passes in 3 days of killer day hiking. The aspen trees turning color into bright yellows and oranges were a real treat.
The park reminded me of the Sierra, there were endless ridges, passes and peaks and cross country routes throughout the park. If you go, make sure to get the detailed trail map because from the mountaineering shop in town - it shows many more use trails and routes that are not on the park’s trail map. 01 - Estany D’Sant Maurici – entry point for most people from the East of the park -– reached by jeep taxi or 1.5 hour hike from Espot
02 – 3 small lakes as we got higher in the park above the Amitges lake and refugi
03 – Descending from our first mountain pass – headed back to Estany D’Sant Maurici
04 – View of Estany D’Sant Maurici with fall colors
05 – Fall colors on hike up the valley of the monastery
06 – A little class 3 bolder fields on the way up to our next pass
07 – Looking back down on the valley we ascended
08 – Almost at the pass
09 – Descending the other side of the pass to another series of small lakes
10 – back on trail
11-Crossing dam at Estany Negre
12 – Lakes just below Estany Negre – notice the Refugi on the peninsula – reached by a 3,000 for ascent from Espot. We were headed down to complete our big loop hike (9 hours)