Los Umbrales

For this route we chose a clear day at the end of October. The weather forecast indicated a clear sky. The temperature was expected to be ideal to enjoy our mountain range.

Almijara Square

At 7.45 a.m., as the light of day fills the Plaza Almijara, we see an almost clear day, although above, above the houses, some clouds threaten to cover the sierra. Determined in our adventure we set off with two "all terrain" vehicles in the direction of the Barranco del Zarzalillo, the starting point of the hike. After forty-five minutes of road, in which we travel fourteen and a half kilometers of the lane that serves as the backbone of our routes and that we described at the beginning, we arrived at our destination.

Barranco Zarzalillo

The Barranco del Zarzalillo gully collects the waters from the slopes of the Tajos de la Cueva del Daire and the Cerro de los Bojes, closely guarded by the slender figure of the Lucero, and descends down the mountain until its connection with the Barranco Moreno to finally merge with the waters of the Patamalara River.

The water resounds insistent in the silence of the morning, as if inviting us to enter into its mysteries.

After a few moments of preparation, the vehicles continue their march to the Higuerón River while the rest of us start the march on foot. Just at the beginning of the ascent, to the right of the ravine, innumerable brambles indicate the origin of its name.

Cortijo del Minro

After crossing a small branch of water that feeds the flow of the ravine, the path becomes a lane flooded with gorse and rosemary blossoms (once used for the removal of wood from the fires); after about a hundred meters the road offers two options, we take the left that zigzags to reach the Cortijo del Minro, coquettish and demolished by time with its threshing floor almost intact, but populated by native vegetation.

Collado de los Civiles

The lane leads us to cross the Barranco del Mirlo ravine, normally dry, although downstream, as it passes through the central lane it always carries water; soon the lane becomes a path and the plain in a steep climb that winding along the hill will take us from the 850 meters of the beginning of the road to the 1,078 of the Collado de los Civiles in just over a kilometer.

El Collado

The pass, flanked on the left by the Cerro de los Bojes and on the right by the Cerro el Panizo, full of stories of maquis and civilians, is an open window to another world, disturbing and mysterious, of which the Cerro el Cisne is a fortress; that other world is watered by the Higuerón River and the Barranco Bartolo.

The descent seems to push us to immerse ourselves in the lush vegetation that fills the course of the two streams; in just fifteen minutes the path takes us to the lane of Panaderos.

At this point the richness of the valley offers us several possibilities that we will consider in successive days: the Puerto de los Umbrales and the Puerto de Frigiliana. Another possibility is the ascent to Cerro el Cisne, which we will not consider in this guide because of its difficulty and the reasons we stated at the beginning, although we will describe it briefly. Today we have opted for the gentle ascent of the first of the passes so we take the lane to our right until we reach the intersection of another that goes down to the water reservoir used in firefighting, where the vehicles are waiting for us.

We are in a majestic valley, at 720 meters, surrounded by mountains and flooded by the silence of the morning only broken by the gentle rolling of the water in its constant search for the sea. On the way, before descending we have left behind the remains of Venta Camila, which we can see from our position.

From there we cross the Higuerón river in a southerly direction and after about fifty meters the path that will lead us to our destination awaits us.

Barranco de las Piedras

During the first meters a sudden ascent totally covered with vegetation seems that it wanted to introduce us in another world but after a small zig-zag we leave the tunnel and we continue, always in smooth ascent until, abruptly it becomes steep shortly before passing the third hill since we crossed the river and to arrive at the Barranco de las Piedras in whose intersection we are to 850 meters of altitude after having walked little more than a kilometer.

From here ascending for him, to 1.068 meters the path is reached that from the other slope ascends until the Swan, ascent this one that is less abrupt and more comfortable. As we climb, to our left rises the imposing Cisne and to our right, between the Sierra de Enmedio and Cerro El Fuerte, the course of the Higuerón opens a huge exit to the Mediterranean. Now the ascent is smoother, even flat many times and allows us to contemplate the wonder that surrounds us dressed in green, gray, blue and gold.

Barranco de las Barrigüelas

Before climbing the last hill from where we can see the port, the Barrigüelas Ravine, fed on rainy days by three streams that flow down from the slopes of the Swan, shows us the effects of erosion and the land surrounding the effort of nature to prevent it by colonizing everything with various plants. We climbed a hundred meters from the last ravine in just over eleven hundred meters.

Puerto de los Umbrales

Finally, after skirting a small hill, about four hundred meters we saw the Puerto de los Umbrales crowned by a sturdy black pine, now constantly rocked by the wind that blows, sometimes angry, throughout the mountains. Its 1,030 meters allow us to contemplate in front of us the rocky walls of the Tajos del Sol and the Almendrón that proudly watch over the headwaters of the Chillar River. Continuing the path that has brought us here we would arrive at the Fuente del Esparto and by the lane that arrives there to the coast; if once in the river, at the height of the Cortijo del Imán, we would decide to take the path to the left, this would take us to the Refugio del Cuervo converted into a lane after crossing the whole valley and later to the Puerto de Frigiliana.

To do either of the two options from this port you have to have at least 6 hours and we will not describe them either because they are beyond the purpose of our guide which is, as we said at the beginning, to make our lands known through short walks and with a medium difficulty at most.

The way back to the Higuerón river, once we have regained our strength with a good breakfast, is done comfortably while we contemplate the same landscape but from another point of view.

Now the wind has calmed down and the day has become clear.

From our position we can see the ravages of last summer's fire in the Fort and on the slopes of the Sierra de Enmedio.

Our path is also marked by numerous remains of black pines that have fallen in the successive fires that destroyed our mountains.

Some of them, already dead, still standing resisting all the attacks to testify and claim the right of every pine not to die in the fire uselessly ... and while the Swan, refuge of pines, shows us majestic, in watchtower, waiting for the rest of the golden eagle.

At 12.30 we arrive at the water pool.

It has been three intense hours breathing the life that the mountain range offers us. Once in the vehicles, we take the road back while we discuss the incidents of the day and express the desire to climb the other port as soon as possible. At 2 p.m. the Almijara Square welcomes us, full of sun and foreigners, breathing the air of the sierra that speaks of pilgrims and pines.