Trail of El Pozuelo
Trail: circular
Difficulty: medium - low
Time: 3 hours
Distance: 6 Km's
View map
PHOTO: Beginning of the trail from the road MA-469
It is also known as the Jose Lima trail, named after this man that worked for these mountains as a Forest Guard for many years. Part of this trail originates from a very ancient hunters way.
First we have to get to the Refugio de Juanar by road. Here we can park the car on the dirt trail. See how to get here.
Being a circular route you can do it which ever way you like. Our opinion is that it is a nicer climb starting from the road and returning to the Hotel, but either way you do it you start off with a climb and finish off with a steep descent.
PHOTO: We will have to walk down the road MA-469 for a few hundred metres
We start off walking back down the road we have just driven up, so the valley of the Juanar stream will be on our left. After a couple of bends we will come to the sign and plaque that mark the beginning of the trail. First we go down a little to the stream's bed, nearly always dry. Then we start a slow but sure climb to the top of these hills. Once up the top we go through to the other side of these mountains and the trail still climbs slightly between two ranges.
PHOTO: A view of the road from the trail climbing up the hillside
Before us and to the right we will begin to see the sharp and bare lines of the peaks of Sierra Canucha. The first peak from left to right (or south to northeast) is the Picacho de Castillejos (1288 mt's) and then the Cuchillos (Knives in Spanish) (1198 and 1206 mt's), the "Knives" sure do live up to their names. The next peak is the Alto de Canucha (1149 mt's). On these mountains it is quite common to see the odd family of mountain goats, so it is good to have a pair of binoculars to see them clearly. There are also many prey birds living up there.
PHOTO: One of the "Knives" of Sierra Canucha
There is a moment where the trail opens up a little. It is not very easy to find, but suddenly there is an opening towards your right, with Sierra Canucha ahead and if you follow this opening you will come to a valley at your feet that opens towards your right (east). There is a trail there that takes you all the way down to the flats of Pula (Llanos de Pula), but this is another path that would take us a long way away from the car.
PHOTO: El Pozuelo
So we go back to our trail and we come to an area with pine trees. We have arrived at El Pozuelo (the well) where we will find water streaming all year round.
We continue through the pines with a lot of undergrowth around us now. This climb ends up at the Alto del Pozuelo (1029 mt's). From here there was a trail that took us over to the Sierra Canucha and up to the peak of Picacho de los Castillejos, but it is too overgrown at the moment to use.
The trail levels off now and we have the most spectacular view before us. We can see from Picacho de los Castillejos to Peña Horadada (1044 mt's) peak, the Istan valley and the Sierra de las Nieves (the snowy mountain range) in front of us too. Takes your breath away on a clear day.
PHOTO: A view of the valley of Istan
Now we go through a shady area and a forest of Pinsapo fir trees.
PHOTO: the Pinsapo fir tree forest
We will come to a natural viewpoint, from there the trail descends a bit. We will see the peak of el Gurapalo to our right (south east). We will pass through pine trees and the trail will go round the mountain we are on, at this point we will be looking at a big mountain (south east) called La Fulaneja (1162 mt's). When we begin to see another trail on the hill in front of us we will be looking at the Puerto de la Viborilla (1149 mt's). These mountains belong to Sierra Blanca, this means the White Mountains in Spanish, not because of the snow, that is very very rare, but because they are made of white limestone.
PHOTO: near the end our trail joins up with another one
There is a slope down to a real beach of fine white sand, formed by the erosion of the soft rocks. The trail rises slightly to join the other trail we have just seen. From this viewpoint we can see the city of Malaga and the Mediterranean sea on a clear day.
Then we start the steep descent down the wide trail. We will pass through a Chestnut forest just before arriving at the hotel. A few steps ahead and we will be back at the car.
Updated: january 2007
PHOTO: descent down to the chestnut trees and the road
PHOTO: map of the Pozuelo trail - click to enlarge