Steep hike to a cave

With nice weather in the forecast, we decided to head to higher elevation to do some hiking. There is a recreation park only about 10 kms (6 miles) from Castalla called Sierra del Maigmo and I had read of an area where we could park overnight.

The road up was steep in places, with signs warning of a 20% grade. 

In fact, climbing the pass from Castalla, the elevation gain is 440 meters (1,450') in less than 4 kms (2.5 miles).

We are headed up there.

Max handled the climb up in second gear with no problem. Nobody around at the parking area. It's a recreation park and the area where we pulled into had a bunch of picnic tables and bbq pits and washrooms and shade from pine trees. You could tell it's a busy spot in the summer. But at this time of year, there was nobody around.

But, there was no cell signal! I hadn't thought about that possibility and I had some work to do before we could go for a hike. So we actually drove back down to a lower spot we had seen on the way up. 

A little tough to get level, but I did it.

Max, parked at GPS 38.545199, -0.659235

Lots of hiking trails in the area. We didn't get going until about 3:30pm, but we needed some exercise. I found a route that would take us up to a cave that was marked on the maps.me app. But I've learned in the past with the maps.me app that when they say it's a cave, you never know what you're going to get. It could be something worthwhile, or it could be just a rock overhang.

But it was fairly steep route headed up there.

Gaining some altitude.

Hm. It's getting really steep now.

But the views were pretty good.

Interesting because it had clouded over quite a bit, but there was still sun in the valley.

We made it to Cueva del Tio Melchor.

Just a hole in the ground. And the opening looked like you would have to be a child to fit in. I tried shining the light on my phone in there, but it didn't look like it went very far. I found out later, that full size adults actually do fit into the cave, and it goes for about 15 meters (50') once you're inside, and while you have to watch your head, you can actually stand up. Now I wish I had gone inside!

Looking back at the town of Castalla.

We ended up doing 5.8 kms (3.5 miles) which is not that far in distance, but the climb up was a lot of work! One part of the trail gained 320 meters (1,050') in 1.6 kms (1 mile). Oh well... we needed the exercise!

We're going for another hike this morning, then doing a drive for about 100 kms (62 miles).

Gotta like the weather forecast for the next four days!

22C is 72F.

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