Circular Cycling route: Campos de Hernán Pelea
This route runs through the extensive karstic platform of Campos de Hernán Pelea, a plateau standing at 1600 to 1700 m above sea level that is a major underground reservoir for the entire Nature Reserve. This is a circular route that starts in Aldea de Don Domingo, a town you can reach by taking an asphalted road from the town of Santiago de la Espada.
NAME OF THE TRAIL
CIRCULAR CAMPOS DE HERNÁN PELEA
TYPE OF TRAIL
Linear and circular
START POINT
Village of Don Domingo
ROUTE: DON DOMINGO- LA RAMBLA- CAMPO DEL ESPINO- PINAR NEGRO- LOS CHARCONES- RAMBLA SECA- JUAN FRÍA- DON DOMINGO
HEIGHT
1544 m
ARRIVAL POINT
Village of Don Domingo
HEIGHT
1544 m
TOTAL DISTANCE (IN KILOMETERS)
48220
Asphalt or cement section % of total 0%
Section of track or forest road or promenade % of total 100%
Senda section % of total 0%
Sections of livestock track. Green way % of the total %
Type of firm
Sandy and rocky
SLOPE
852 m
836 m
DIFFICULTY. ASSESSMENT ACCORDING TO METHOD MEASURE
0
MEDIO.
Severity of the natural environment
0
Itinerary
Orientation in the itinerary
0
Displacement
Difficulty moving
0
EFFORT.
Amount of effort required
TYPE OF CARTOGRAPHY
Topographic maps of ANDALUCÍA DE IGN (1: 25.000): SHEET 21
PASSAGE PLACES (IN ORDER TO THE DIRECTION OF TRAVEL)
Inicio-Fin Aldea de Don Domingo
30S x=530553 y=4209391
1544
Rambla de los Cuartos
30S x=530226 y=4208436
1492
Desvío a Cortijo la Chaparra
30S x=526950 y=4208787
1611
Desvío a Cortijo de Camarillas
30S x=525456 y=4207206
1640
Desvío a derecha
30S x=525308 y=4206813
1646
Desvío ahacia la derecha
30S x=524608 y=4206699
1664
A la Izquierda Refugio Cañá del Rincón
30S x=523211 y=4207452
1737
A la izquierda Sima del Hundimiento
30S x=522892 y=4207904
1757
Cortijo Campo del Espino
30S x=522603 y=4208652
1706
Desvío hacia la derecha subida al Banderillas
30S x=521458 y=4209098
1682
Cortijos de Pinar Negro
30S x=521458 y=4209099
1672
Desvío hacia la Tiná de Pinar Negro
30S x=519565 y=4206910
1661
Rambla Seca
30S x=518645 y=4200048
1573
Refugio de pastores
30S x=521458 y=4209098
1581
Bifurcación
30S x=521687 y=4201033
1631
Refugio de Monterilla
30S x=524018 y=4203197
1678
Bifurcación- seguimos a la derecha
30S x=525255 y=4203985
1720
Refugio de Cañada Mergosa
30S x=525569 y=4203900
1727
Cortijos La Pinadilla
30S x=527126 y=4205021
1693
Bifurcación- seguimos de frente
30S x=528744 y=4205379
1703
Pino Galapán
30S x=529575 y=4207087
1570
Tiná Prado Flores
30S x=530481 y=4207848
1574
HEIGHT PROFILE
MUNICIPAL TERMS BY WHICH IT RUNS
Santiago Pontones Sierra de SeguraDESCRIPTION
The route takes place through the great karst platform of the Campos de HernáN PeLea, a plateau located between 1,600 and 1,700 meters above sea level, and which constitutes the largest underground water reserve in the entire Park. It is a circular route that begins in the Aldea de Don Domingo, which can be reached by paved road, from the center of Santiago de la Espada.
You have to take the track that begins next to the Casa Forestal de Don Domingo, in the direction of La Rambla, after 1.5 km we reach it. It is a stream that occasionally carries water, but shows large avalanches at times of flood, before crossing it, we must take a track to the right that runs parallel to this stream. It is a livestock area par excellence, so along the route we will find herds of Segureña sheep, tornajos (troughs) for water and large pastures dotted with black pines in some areas, black broom in others and barberries.
At km 5.5 we find a fork, to the right the track leads to the Cortijos de la Chaparra, we continue ahead. Later, at km 7.5 we find another detour to the right, this one to access the Cortijos de Camarillas, and we also continue ahead.
At 8.4 km we come to another intersection and here we must turn to the right and at 600 m we will find another intersection that we must continue to the right. Before it we will have also left a secondary track to the right.
At km 11.5 we pass another track on our left that leads to the Cañá del Rincón shepherd's refuge. Our track goes up little by little, and practically 500 meters later we must leave it, to continue on a less traveled one that goes to the left. Right at this point and just 200 m to our left, there is a very striking sinkhole, as it has an almost perfect funnel shape. Soon we pass through a hill and begin a steep descent towards some great plains that make up the Campo del Espino. In front we see the Banderillas peak and just ahead a wooded mass that corresponds to the Pinar Negro farm, which we will visit from this moment on. At km 13 we leave the Campo del Espino farmhouse on our left, moving at this moment to the right, to skirt the aforementioned forest and turn left again, later towards Banderillas. On our right we pass a tree-bare hill that is the Majal de la Carrasca.
After 15.2 km we pass a secondary track to the right by which we could access the top of Banderillas, we continue in front and just 1.3 km we leave the Cortijos de Pinar Negro on the right, which have a cistern. The route at this time and for several more km runs through the base of the Banderillas that is to our right and to our left countless sinkholes, with rocks, pine forests and large grasslands.
At km18 we find a fork that we must follow to the right, the track on the left goes towards Tiná de Pinar Negro and we could also go through it to the Sima de Pinar Negro, a vertical hollow of several hundred meters of galleries.
From this moment on, we will visit the area known as Los Charcones, very rich in fauna, and closed to motor vehicle traffic, so fauna observation is very frequent. We are descending but soon the track begins to climb towards the steep ridges of the Cuerda del Risco and Alto del Infierno, to go down again towards Ramblaseca.
When we get to Rambla Seca we will take a little more than 28 km. Here we will find a shelter for shepherds and a water trough with water. To continue our route, we must turn left and continue the main track. To the right is the old Rambla Seca control.
From here it is difficult to get lost, as long as we maintain our criteria of following the busiest track. At km 31.5 we will leave a new forest track to the left, and at km 35 the Monterilla Refuge. 1.7 km from it again, we leave another track on the left and soon we arrive at the Cañada Mergosa Refuge.
At km 39, the landscape begins to change, appearing some black pine trees and soon, at 500 m, we leave the Cortijos de la Pinadilla on the left. Further on at km 42 we will leave the track that goes to the Cuartos del Pinar to the right. We continue forward on the right side of the Arroyo de la Juan Fría. Very soon, to our left, we began to see some specimens of laricio of extraordinary dimensions. On the other side of the stream, at km 44.2, is the Pino Galapán, the highest of the larices in the entire Park.
Then we must follow our track, which begins a small climb, in a small hill we leave Tiná Prado Flores on the left and at km 47 we arrive again at Rambla de los Cuartos, which we saw at the beginning.