CANARY ISLANDS

Summary

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This short hike through ancient volcanic landscape on the northern aspect of Fuerteventura is well worth the effort.

Trail Stats

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Trail Details

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Located just outside of Corralejo on the northern side of Fuerteventura, Volcanes de Bayuyo is a short trail up to a volcanic cone. There are multiple approaches to the peak. One begins in the village of Lajares and is a little longer. We chose to begin from a dirt road closer to the west of the peak as we were already on it, having visited another volcano, Calderon Hondo, earlier in the morning.

From the parking area, cross the road and hop onto the trail. Should you desire, there’s an old stone fenced area you can visit. As we’d already seen plenty of these, we passed on the opportunity and proceeded along the main trail. You’ll get a nice overview of it from the peak.

There are options on how to do this trail. We chose to visit it as a semi loop and add on the Cueva Natural de las Calderas as a bonus. Plus, we accidentally drove past the Cueva earlier. Seemed just as easy to walk to it as it would be to drive back over.

To begin our ascent we chose to walk the main path from the parking lot that goes straight up the ridge line. Granted, it didn’t look that bad or steep from below. Didn’t start out all that steep either. However, it quickly devolved into a ridiculously steep trail. One with loose footing that made you pay attention to each and every step. Even with scrutinizing the path and where to place each foot, I slid backwards more times than I can count. The hillside is barren of any significant vegetation. There’s nothing to grab onto as you slip and slide along.

As we were climbing up, we could see a group of four heading down. Very slowly. At first we couldn’t tell if someone was injured in the group. There was one who seemed to be sitting a lot. When we eventually got close enough, we were relieved to find everyone in good health. No injuries. Just moderate terror in regard to the descent. Can’t say that I blame her. I was having difficulty walking up. Down is always worse. It was somewhere around here that we decided to make the trail a loop. Neither of us wanted to experience that grade on the way back down.

After a bit, the slope grade becomes a gentle climb. You’ll follow the ridge as it circles toward the peak. There’s a cement pillar marking the top. We chose to go down and beyond a tad to see more before returning to the peak.

From here there are fantastic views. One can clearly see the surrounding volcanoes and out to the ocean. The nearby island of Lanzarote is visible. While we were here the hills were relatively green due to recent frequent rains.

Heading back down, we took the offshoot trail toward Las Calderas, the next volcano down the line. I believe the trail will take you to Las Calderas if you’d like. We’d already seen a few volcanoes and chose to turn onto another trail heading down to the road. Once on the road we walked southwest for a bit before crossing to a trail leading to the Cueva. There’s a relatively steep embankment to clamber down on the trail. Doug unfortunately hit a loose pebble wrong and did the most graceful slide into a fall onto his rump that I’ve ever seen. I really thought he was going to walk out of that one and not go down. He almost had it. To be fair, I landed on my derrière later on in the hike. And I was not on a steep embankment. Slid off a rock. One moment my feet were on the ground and the next the flew out from beneath me. Both of us left with scuffed palms. Maybe a new bruise for me. Otherwise we left unscathed.

The cueva itself is not really a cave. More of an ancient lava bubble that has partially caved in. It’s mildly interesting, unless you’re really into volcanic things. We looked around for a brief bit and then headed up the road. For some weird reason Doug didn’t care to go on that embankment again. Strange that.

Walked along the road for a bit and then took a trail off to the right that lead back to the Volcanes de Bayuyo trailhead. There were some pretty flowers along this section. Somewhere along this path is where I biffed it. Otherwise it was relatively uneventful.

The trail was great in that in a short distance we got to explore volcanic landscape and soak in terrific views. If I did it again I might pick another route up. There are interconnecting trails all over the place and seems to be quite a few routes available.

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