Barranco Gloces and Barranco Furco

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6-26-2019
DAY 8


Today was another day of double adventures. It started off with Canyon Gloces. We were told to do Gloces around noon because it is such a narrow canyon that it is only during the height of the day that sunlight reaches into the narrows. We hiked in and dropped into the canyon around 11:30.




A decent rappel down a waterfall is the first thing you do in the start of the canyon. We have gotten much faster since the beginning of this trip at setting up and taking down rappels - even though a guided group came down to put on their gear as we were heading out, we didn't see them until very end!

Once you have entered this canyon, there are towering walls reaching up into the sky on either side of us with curtains of vines and other greenery giving it a magical touch. Most of the canyons we have been in, there has been plenty of sunlight throughout the entire canyon and the clear water makes it so you can see all the way to the bottom even in deeper sections. However, in many places in Barranco Gloces, the walls of the canyon are so tight and tall that sunlight does not even reach the water at the peak of day. Throughout the canyon, there were several repels, some fun jumps, and many water slides.









The hike out was our least favorite part as it was in the heat of the day and went straight up until we emerged. We think there may have been an easier, less steep way that most people take but we decided to follow Papa's map and suffer the climb. 

We had a little over an hour before we needed to start our next canyon, so we headed back to our room for a quick lunch. I do not think any of us kids would have minded a little nap then, but hey, we have to make the most of our time here I guess!

After fueling up, Canyon Furco was our next stop. My parents did this canyon about 20 years ago as their first canyoning experience. This canyon had several decent length repels down waterfalls, but we were most excited about the awesome water slides. There was one that we did over and over again. James especially had a ball with the slides - with each one, he does it over and over again until he can do it perfectly. it seems he analyses every curve and bump of a slide to make it as fast and smooth.







While it was not a long canyon, it took us a while because of all the rappels.



We have done a bunch of canyons and it is hard to believe how different each one is. It is hard to pick out our favorites because they are all so different. For now, we are done with canyons until Canyon Llech. Too bad we are in the middle of a heat wave and we won’t be hanging out in water all day anymore. In fact, we are doing a big hike tomorrow and it is supposed to be 101℉ in the town!

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