Roca de la Gauba
This is the second biggest hike we have done in Andorra. As we climbed up to the mountain to the first plateau, we heard rustling in the woods. Horses were grazing in the forest brush just a few feet from the path. Baloo was frightened by all the horses and cows when we first moved here, but after calling them “big doggies” he seems to pay them no mind anymore. At the plateau - a big grassy field covered with sunbaked cow patties - we stopped to look at the view where I found this tiny bee nest.
We traveled along a steep path, until we got to a ridge where we found strange sticks and heard strange noises. A man was singing his heart out while walking with his dog. We crossed the ridge, pausing at various view points until we reached the very top. I was too scared to get to close but I leashed Baloo and called my mom to share the view for her birthday since the last time she visited we had called it quits because of icy conditions.
A tiny bee veranda
New Hiking Rule: Dessert before Descent. We ate some crema catalana (they come in little brown jars with the sugar packet that you are suppose to flame on top to make a type of creme bruleé, but we just ate them like pudding) and then, feeling adventurous, we decided to take a new route down the mountain, encouraged by cheerful yellow trail markers and promises of owl sitings.
The most perfect Lily of the Valley
I don’t have any pictures of the majority of the descent because we were mostly sliding down the trail on our butts while Baloo sped straight down the mountain. A described this terrain as steep and “chossy” - a new vocabulary word for me, basically meaning loose, unstable rock. Now imagine sliding on a bunch of choss while holding onto saplings, that’s basically what we did for 35 minutes.
I thought that the view point would be the highlight of the hike but we were graced by several fascinating plants and animals in the last quarter of the trail. We came across my favorite flower, The lily of the valley, suitably found in the valley.
As we approached flat ground again and walked through a grassy tunnel, we heard a thunderous commotion on the other side of the trees. We had startled some horses grazing. They visited us curiously until they realized we didn’t have any snacks for them.
Our Strava route hike up Camî del Jou to the Roca de la Gauba. About 5.3 miles at 2k ft elevation gain. 2 hours and 20 minutes.
