We were supposed to wake up at 6:30am and leave at 8:00am to Los Llanos. We got up a bit later and left the house 8:30. My friend from La Palma was hiking with us and I’ve added him to the permit to camp.
If you are doing only one day hike then you don’t need a permit, but if camping you have to.
Permit can be requested here. Make sure you register when you arrive to camping site, just for your safety in case of emergency like heavy rain or forest fire, so they know you are sleeping there.
To get a better idea about the hike you can also read up here and here. The hike is really spectacular so totally recommend it. It is better when the sky is clear and not much clouds in La Caldera. Also much more spectacular waterfalls in late fall or winter, but that comes with risks of flooding (especially of winter), when you are trapped in La Calder. 3 people even died in flash flooding there and there are more case for other reasons.
First we drove the car to the parking of La Caldera (which I have marked on the map above), from where we took a taxi to Los Brecitos. There was a lady at the parking lot which is organising taxi as well as collecting the money for it. 51€ for a car for 5 of us. Then from Los Brecitos we hiked down.
Carrying all the canned food and 4 liters of water, sleeping bag wasn’t easy. Good we forgot the tent lol. Less to carry.
The hike to La Caldera took us like 1.5 hours.
The river is stronger in late fall or winter when there is more rain, but also entire hike becomes more dangerous. Best to wear hiking shoes and have warm clothes and a tent.
There was a firefighter training while we were in Camp Site, since La Plama have suffered several big wild fires in the past, so better to be prepared. We’ve felt safe.
Once we built one tent (other got forgotten) we went to Cascada de Fondada. Make sure you leave all bags at the camp and take plenty of water. It was so exhausting and up the hill! Around 2km to Cascada de Fondada.
The views though were amazing!
Some trees have suffered the wild fires here, but went green again, only their crust has black marks left by the fire.
It was exhausting to reach that waterfall especially in the hot sun! The waterfall was quite dry! Some of my companions wanted to reach Hoyo Verde. Another 1.5km up the steep hill. I knew immediately that I cannot do it as I was running out of water also my legs were killing me already. So three of them went further. Two of us sit down to eat and wait. Not long after those three came back as one of them got really scared and had a panic attack, since the path was so narrow and on the side nothing – just a steep mountain. Not great if you fall.
Hike down wasn’t easy either, as the spikes of the pines were very slippery and almost at the end I felt down, cutting my left palm. Well I was prepared with tissues and disinfecting wipes and plasters lol.
After the hike to Cascadas, we took a dip into small waterfalls of the river, which by the way was freezing cold! Good to cool off your water in a cold day.
The locals say that you can drink that water, since it is spring water from the mountains.
We topped our water in the tap of camping site near the toilets. Same spring water – untreated. Just felt safer since the spring water had full of green stuff. Though the braver ones have tried it too and were fine. If not that refill, those 4 liters of water wouldn’t have been enough for me. I think I drank 8 liters more or less.
Figs grow here in the wild. We’ve tasted some – so sweet.
Dinner was delicious – never would have thought that canned food can be so good! Some corns, tuna all was so good when you are exhausted after a day of hike.
We found a place behind the stones to hide from the wind in our sleeping bags, but falling spikes on the face and sticky resin from the trees on the ground were really annoying. Conclusion – don’t forget your tent. As it was getting darker we looked for better spot in the dar as first one had angle and we were sliding down all the time.