El Naranjo de Bulnes
The striking prominence of the Naranjo de Bulnes, also known as the Picu Urriellu (8,261 ft; 2,518 m), rises from the central massif of Picos de Europa National Park, Asturias, Spain.
There is a Refugio at the base of the Naranjo de Bulnes, and I briefly entertained the idea of hiking there to stay the night and then witness sunrise the next morning. It is reported that the morning light washing over the limestone cliff-face is a spectular sight to behold. The climb to reach the Refugio is also a somewhat spectacular effort, requiring almost 5,000 feet of elevation gain from the small village of Bulnes, which itself can only be reached by funicular (or by yet more climbing). I was informed by my family that this level of effort did not constitute vacation, and we all agreed that a shorter loop with less climbing (only 3,000 feet) would likely still fall within the adventurous bounds of what could be considered “fun”.
I saw a photo of this area, probably taken from this same view point, on the front of a map that I purchased almost 30 years ago. The Picos de Europa have been in the back of my mind ever since. Just give me a few decades and I’ll get there eventually.
I have fallen woefully behind with all of my Flickr friends, and hopefully I'll be able to appreciate at least some of your more recent work soon!
El Naranjo de Bulnes
The striking prominence of the Naranjo de Bulnes, also known as the Picu Urriellu (8,261 ft; 2,518 m), rises from the central massif of Picos de Europa National Park, Asturias, Spain.
There is a Refugio at the base of the Naranjo de Bulnes, and I briefly entertained the idea of hiking there to stay the night and then witness sunrise the next morning. It is reported that the morning light washing over the limestone cliff-face is a spectular sight to behold. The climb to reach the Refugio is also a somewhat spectacular effort, requiring almost 5,000 feet of elevation gain from the small village of Bulnes, which itself can only be reached by funicular (or by yet more climbing). I was informed by my family that this level of effort did not constitute vacation, and we all agreed that a shorter loop with less climbing (only 3,000 feet) would likely still fall within the adventurous bounds of what could be considered “fun”.
I saw a photo of this area, probably taken from this same view point, on the front of a map that I purchased almost 30 years ago. The Picos de Europa have been in the back of my mind ever since. Just give me a few decades and I’ll get there eventually.
I have fallen woefully behind with all of my Flickr friends, and hopefully I'll be able to appreciate at least some of your more recent work soon!