European mountains
La Gomera, Canary Islands, Spain

Lomo de Harinero (861m), Montaņa Del Adivino (722m),
Montaņa de Guergenche (Las Pilas), 661m + Barranco de Argaga, Jan 2 2010


To the main Lomo de Harinero/Barranco de Argaga page (maps, route descriptions, other trip reports, etc.)

To the La Gomera introduction page.

 

 

The route - as seen in Google Earth

The route - as seen in Google Earth
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This was our (Anne Rudsengen and me) sixth and last day on the island of La Gomera. We had gone a bit tired of driving around, and agreed to check out the local peaks on the east side of Valle Gran Rey. Time (and other factors) permitted, the plan was later to descend the Barranco de Argaga canyon. Through literature found on the internet, we learned that it seemed impossible to descend this route, but clearly - this being a popular (upwards) hiking route, Anne and me would certainly have no problems of going in the opposite direction.

But we would visit the tops first, and first on the list was Lomo de Harinero - the "proudest" of the peaks along the ridge. We had no information about this mountain, and perhaps we hoped that there would be some challenges along the way....

Lomo de Harinero seen upon our arrival on the island

Lomo de Harinero seen upon our arrival on the island
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We drove up to El Guro, parked, asked around for the trail to the other side of the valley, found it, and by 10:08am, we were on our way. We found the trail up the mountain, survived rock fall from a sheep at a slightly higher elevation and arrived on the ridge (approx. 680m) 11:20am. We sat our direction towards the north and followed the ridge crest as long as it was possible.

The scrambling was fun, but then we reached a wild rock that we couldn't traverse. We had to descend to a lower ledge and work our way through bush and cactuses. The sandstone rock was just amazing, and parts of the mountain seem likely to collapse any time soon...

 

Below Lomo de Harinero

Below Lomo de Harinero
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We reached the top of Lomo de Harinero 12:16pm, after taking a detour in respect to grassing sheep. We didn't know exactly how steep the terrain was, and didn't want to scare them off a cliff. This consideration for animals resulted in more cactuses and blood. From the summit, we had a good view towards the other tops and (still, if permitting) our route into Barranco de Argaga.

 

Our onwards route

Our onwards route
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We returned to the pass where we came up from the valley and continued in the direction of Montaņa Del Adivino. This was fairly easy terrain and we reached the summit 1:27pm. We proceeded across the summit and joined the ridge path after a little while. The path took us up to point 643m on Montaņa de Guergenche (Las Pilas), which turned out not to be the high point. After a 320m walk to the north, the true summit was in the bag (2:22pm) and the reward was a nice view towards La Playa - our neighbour village down by the sea.

 

La Playa seen from Montaņa de Guergenche

La Playa seen from Montaņa de Guergenche
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We didn't have a lot of hours of daylight left, but we seemed to have enough to take on Barranco de Argaga. The only potential concern was about having to turn around deep down in the canyon. But we concluded (one more time) that if people come up this way, we certainly can go down this way.

The route into the canyon was a bit .. rugged, but we found a vague path that brought us safely into it. Anne treated herself with the luxury of a nice swim in a canyon pool. Then we had to ascend a bit in order to join the canyon trail. It didn't take long before the canyon dropped - steeply. An abyss seemed to present itself ahead of us. Excitement was rising! Just above the steepest part, we ran into a couple - on their way upwards. I asked them if they had control in terms of daylight, and the guy insisted that they did. They were on their way to Gerian. The girl didn't seem to enjoy herself at all - probably overwhelmed about the air below her...

 

Descending Barranco de Argaga

Descending Barranco de Argaga
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The descent went just fine, although it was nice to no longer have to hold on to something. On the way down to Playa de Argaga, we heard flute music from somewhere up below Teguergenche. We stared up the mountain for a while, but didn't see any musician. How odd! But what we heard was probably the ancient whistling language that La Gomera is known for.

We reached the shore and followed the road to Vueltas and the main road back to our hotel in La Puntilla. 4:37pm (6,5 hours after heading out). The (long) hike had come to its end, but we still had to pick up the car. After a short break, I volunteered for the task, and thought I was able to run (with moccasins) the 3,2km up to El Guro. But I'm not 20 years old anymore, and at La Calera, I got into a cab and enjoyed the remaining 1,5km from the back seat...

 

Back in La Puntilla

Back in La Puntilla
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The next morning, we left the island and the long and aggravating journey back to Norway is documented on the main La Gomera page. But in retrospect, compared to the stranded travellers after the Eyjafjalla eruption, we had quite a smooth travel back home...

Pictures

The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 450D + Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM F 4-5.6

 
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To the ridge

0A. The route, seen through Google Earth 0B. The route, seen through Google Earth 0C. The route, seen through Google Earth 1. Through an orchard 2. So this is where it comes from! 3. Across the valley 4. Up a stairway 5. Up the mountain 6. On the mountain trail 7. Valley view 8. On the mountain trail 9. Dangerous animals 10. Almost up 11. Montaņa Del Adivino 12. On the ridge

Lomo de Harinero

13. Along a rocky ridge 14. Just move on! 15. Tårnfalk - Falco tinnunculus - Common Kestrel 16. Tårnfalk - Falco tinnunculus - Common Kestrel 17. Tårnfalk - Falco tinnunculus - Common Kestrel 18. Tårnfalk - Falco tinnunculus - Common Kestrel 19. A rocky stairway 20. Rocky terrain ahead... 21. Anne enjoys the terrain 22. OK - let us see... 23. Things are getting complex 24. Are you sure? 25. About survival 26. Below the summit 27. A touch of jungle 28. A touch of cactus 29. A touch of scrambling 30. OK - not quite there yet... 31. Mom!! 32. The route to the north 33. Annne on Lomo de Harinero

Views from Lomo de Harinero

34. Wide-angle view from Lomo de Harinero 35. Wide-angle view from Lomo de Harinero 36. Valle Gran Rey 37. La Merica 38. Eta. San Antonio 39. Valle Gran Rey 40. Fortaleza de Chipude 41. Fortaleza de Chipude 42. Garajonay 43. La Merica and Valle Gran Rey 44. View down the mountain

Montaņa Del Adivino

45. Leaving Lomo de Harinero 46. The onwards route 47. Extremely cool terrain 48. Sandstone detail 49. Terraces 50. The Phantom 51. Looking back on Lomo de Harinero 52. Towards Montaņa Del Adivino 53. Below Montaņa Del Adivino 54. A rare sight - running water 55. Lomo de Harinero 56. Barranco de Argaga 57. Fortaleza de Chipude 58. The trail from El Guro 59. Valle Gran Rey village 60. On Montaņa Del Adivino 61. On Montaņa Del Adivino 62. Wide-angle view from Montaņa Del Adivino

Montaņa de Guergenche (Las Pilas)

63. Descending Montaņa Del Adivino 64. Montaņa de Guergenche (Las Pilas) 65. La Playa 66. La Playa 67. Barranco de Argaga 68. Ocean view 69. Fortaleza de Chipude 70. On point 643m 71. Point 643m 72. La Playa 73. On Montaņa de Guergenche 74. About to take off 75. The way we came 76. Lomo de Harinero

Barranco de Argaga

77. About to enter the canyon 78. Into the canyon 79. Cool terrain 80. In the canyon 81. Cool terraces 82. On the canyon trail 83. New terrain around every corner 84. Abyss alert! 85. Getting steeper 86. About to - seriously - descend 87. Mind your steps... 88. Balance is key 89. A cave 90. View up the mountain 91. Steep terrain 92. Another corner... 93. Canyon crossing 94. Hmm.. left is bad 95. A feeling of depth 96. Cool rock feature 97. Closing in on civilization 98. Yet another abyss 99. A pool 100. View up the canyon 101. Changing colors 102. Teguergenche 103. Where is the musician? 104. A cool ship

To Vueltas & La Puntilla

105. Below Teguergenche 106. The end of the canyon route 107. Playa de Argaga 108. Vueltas 109. Vueltas 110. Back in La Puntilla

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