Refugio de Juanar (Ojen) - Istan

Trail: lineal
Difficulty: high
Time: 8 hours (there and back)
Distance: 10 Km's

What makes this trail so hard is the length more than the terrain or the climbs. You have to be aware that once you get to the town of Istan you have to return on the same trail to the car, or have some other sort of transport the other end.

We will leave the car in the Refugio de Juanar area (see how to get there).

Photo: the last few olive trees before we enter the pine forest

We will walk up the trail where we have parked the car, first between pines until we get to the Juanar esplanade where we will be walking along olive trees. Before we pass a white house, that is a Wildlife Conservation Centre, we take the trail that descends to the right. We follow between the olives to another fork, here we will take the left, marked to La Concha by a notice on an olive tree.

Photo: Inside the pine forest

The olives will give way to a big pine forest where the ground is covered by ferns. In the pine forest there will another fork, the trail to La Concha mountain will be marked to the left, we follow the trail marked to Istan, straight ahead.

Photo: View of the path that climbs la Viborilla

When we exit the pine forest we will be standing on very sandy ground and at the foot of the Viborilla mountain. The zigzag trail climbs heavily. Once up the top you will have a marvelous view over the Juanar olives and pines and the north side of the Cruz de Juanar peak. Over the other side of the hill we have just climbed we will looking out over the Molinos river valley across to La Fulaneja mountain, and further away in the distance the Sierra de las Nieves, that are in Ronda, and it's main peak, El Torrecilla, that is the highest of the whole of Malaga's province with 1919 mt's.

Photo: the narrow trail that climbs Viborilla. A good view of the pine forest and the olive trees we have walked through.

Photo: we will pass under the rocky wall of Viborilla. Keep a look out for mountain goats up there.

After a sandy area at the top of the Viborilla the trail sticks to the side of the rocky wall, and now is shady and in some places rather difficult. If we look out for them we will see marks on the rocks that indicate we are on a trail.

Once we have passed the rocky part the trail descends into an area with more undergrowth. We will be following the valley of the Molinos river down to Istan.

Photo: Valley of the Molinos river, with part of the Fulaneja mountain and the Torrecilla peak of the Sierra de las Nieves mountain range.

The last part of the trail will descend towards the white town of Istan down in it's valley, next to La Concepción reservoir. We will have lovely sights of Istan and it's valley all the way down.

Photo: the trail descends down the Molinos river valley to the city of Istan

Photo: end of the trail under the Picacho mountain in Istan

Updated: december 2006