We were supposed to wake up at 6:30am and leave at 8:00am to Los Llanos for La Caldera hike, but we wanted to sleep a bit longer after yesterdays trip to La Zamora. 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.
Table of Contents
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 more risk of flooding (especially of winter), when you are trapped in La Calder. 3 people even died in flash flooding there and there are more cases for other reasons.
Permits for camping in La Caldera
If you are doing only one day hike and not planning to camp there then you don’t need a permit, but if you are camping then you must request the permit as you would be camping in the national park.
Permits can be requested here. Make sure you have your passport at hand as it is required for registration (or NIE for Spanish nationals). Bring your ID with you on your hike.
Select “Caldera de Taburiente”.
Then select “ACAMPADA EN EL PARQUE NACIONAL” from the list.
Then click on RESERVAS.
The confirmation email should be something like this:
Make sure you register when you arrive to camping site in the little office in there as well. This is just for your safety in case of emergency like heavy rain or forest fire, so they know you are sleeping there and you are accounted in the rescue operation.
Hike from Los Brecitos to La Caldera
First, we drove the car to the parking of La Caldera (which I have marked on the map linked), from where we took a taxi to Mirador de Los Brecitos. The parking was free of charge. 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. Alternatively, if you have time and stamina you can hike up all the way to Mirador de Los Brecitos free of charge. In any case, that prices should be around 50€ per car.
Carrying all the canned food, 4 litres of bottled water and sleeping bag wasn’t easy. On the bright side, we forgot the tent so it was to carry.
The hike to La Caldera took us like 1.5 hours, which was quite easy as it is mainly walk down the hill.
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 if you are planning to stay overnight.
You can see the Spring stream that we all drank from and everyone was fine. We just chose a part where was a bigger current and water is not standing still.
Firemen brigade training in La Caldera
There was a firefighter training happening while we were in Camp Site, since La Plama have suffered several big wild fires in the past and they are often ocurence recently due to the climate change and some stupid people starting fires intentionally. We’ve felt safe in their persence. Just remember it is illegal to start fire places in La Caldera, unless there is a designated place for BBQ.
From La Caldera to Cascada de Fondada
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.
Getting closer to the Cascada de Fondada the path was protected in some places by rails, but not everywhere. In some places the sides were really steep and unprotected, so we had to be careful when walking.
It was exhausting to reach that waterfall especially in the hot sun! Also, to our disappointment the waterfall was quite dry! Some of my companions wanted to go to Hoyo Verde too, but that was another 1.5km up the steep hill. I immediately knew that I cannot do it as I was running out of water and also my legs were killing me already. So three of them went further. Two of us sat down to have a snack 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 there was no rails, nothing – just a steep mountain. Not great if you acrophobia (fear of heights). Well, it will be for the next time.
Hike down wasn’t easy either, as the spikes of the pines were very slippery and almost fell all the way down at the end of the trail. I’ve ended up cutting my left palm. Well I was prepared with tissues and disinfecting wipes and plasters, so it wasn’t a big issue. Can you imagine if you slip all the way down the slope on those spokes?
Dip in a freezing water
After the hike to Cascada de Fondada, we took a dip into small waterfall of the spring, which was actually freezing cold! It is also a good place to cool off your water in a hot day.
The locals say that you can drink that water, since it is spring water from the mountains. So we did.
We topped our water in the tap of camping site near the toilets, which comes from the same spring water as untreated water. I just felt safer filling from the tap, than straight from the stream, since the spring water had full of green stuff floating. Though the braver ones have tried it too and they were fine. If not that refilling of the water, those 4 litres of water wouldn’t have been enough for me alone. I think I drank 8 litres more or less as it was quite warm during the day.
There were Figs grow here in the wild. We’ve tasted some 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 hiking.
I went to the bathroom (oh yes they have a bathroom with sinks!) and brushed my teeth before sleep. It is not far from campsite, but when it gets dark it is good to have a torch.
Two of us found a place behind the stones to hide from the wind in our sleeping bags, since we forgot the tent, but falling spikes on our faces were super annoying. Also sticky resin from the trees on the ground were also irritating and it stuck to the sleeping bags, which was almost impossible to wash out. So be warned, don’t forget your tent! As it was getting darker and darker we looked for better spot in the dark as the first one wasn’t very flat and we were sliding down all the time. We found another spot between stones to block the wind and built a cover over our heads from two of our micro-fiber towels. Both towels were destroyed with tree sap too though.
Meanwhile, two other of our friends were comfortably sleeping in their tent (it was too small to host 4 people). Safe from wind, falling spikes and sap. Also, protected from any animals crawling at night. There is not much animals except some lizards and birds. Well if you are lucky you might see a small rabbit, bit not very common in La Caldera. Not much bugs either, including mosquitos.
I was looking at the shimmering starry sky, listening to music of wind and thinking “When is the morning coming? What a nightmare.”
I had to sleep, as tomorrow a long hike back was waiting.
Tips
- Request the permit in advance (even better before booking trip) so you don’t have surprises if it is a busy week and etc.
- Do bring a tent if you plan to camp as it was very uncomfortable without it.
- Do bring inflatable mattress or a sleeping mat as the ground is quite hard. Of course, it depends on what you are used to.
- Don’t bring too much water, as you can drink from the stream and from the tap (same untreated wate). You can also bring LifeStraw bottle if you don’t feel comfortable to drink untreated water. Some of us drank and were fine.
- Have cash for Taxi (~50€).
- Do not start your own fireplaces. It is illegal and you risk of starting a wild fire that you might not be able to escape.
- Use only ecological soap (no normal shampoo, detergents and etc) when swimming in the spring water as all of that will affect the ecosystem, especially if many people will do that.
- Bring a head lamp as it might be dark at night. I think they had some light in some places, but it is switched off at some point in the evening.
- Have plenty of time and ideally you might want to stay 2 nights as there are Cascada de Fondada waterfall and Hoyo Verde.