The Second Day: Ordesa

resting in the clearing

We had a great sleep and breakfast at our mountain lodge (La Peña Montañesa, a great place for families. We used it as a base to explore, but we could have just stayed and relaxed, enjoying the mountains only for their views. They have a pool, restaurant, children´s playground, family friendly rooms, and very family friendly staff.). Time for day two!

We drove down another winding road, this time on the canyon floor, and with a full tank of gas. We got off to a later start than planned (never wake a sleeping baby!), but it was nice to have a leisurely morning after the long drive. We were rested up and ready to take on the Añisclo Canyon trail, a five hour, 16km trail through the gorge. We started on a flat, wide trail that quickly went from easy to never ending. Beautiful as it was, this trail tired me out! The difficulty was the steep, stony, switchback section. Every time we thought we were "up", we´d turn to face another climb. While I didn´t find that section especially attractive, it did lead us to a beautiful forest path which opened onto an enchanted clearing.

thrilled to see a sign for the "flat forest"

We splashed our feet in the water and played on the rocks with Baby, enjoying the solitude. This part of the park is quite remote, and while we had parked in the overflow lot, there were way fewer people than we would encounter in the main area the next day. As we were hiking out, we saw a number of families heading in. This trail is linear, so you can make it longer or shorter according to your time frame. The first part is a quick walk on a wide trail, but it´s worth pushing through the climb to get to the greenest, densest section and the clearing.