Rio Glorieta, A Hidden Refuge

This weekend, I went on a hiking trip with some of my Spanish friends. Reus, the town I have been staying in, is situated fifteen minutes from the sea and a half an hour from nearby mountains. Thus, the people who live here are really active. My friends and I have had active plans for nearly every single weekend. And this weekend, we decided that we wanted to hike alongside a river to bathe in the midst of a neat waterfall.

Our hike’s trailhead was at a restaurant situated five minutes from a small town in the middle of the mountains. When we arrived at the restaurant, we parked and had some coffee and juice before starting on our excursion. The restaurant was really neat. It, and an old church, stood alone on the side of the road amidst the hills. From the doors of the restaurant, there was a view of the declining mountainsides, the cities below, and the small outline of the blue sea. After enjoying our drinks, we took off.

The hike reminded me of the Big Bear Mountains of California. Pine trees were scattered across the mountains, with their needles strewn across the ground. Many of the bushes were also similar to those in Big Bear. Some of the big differences, however, were the trail upkeep and ruins of older buildings. The trails were poorly conserved, forcing us to search around a couple of times to get back on them. But, the old, decaying buildings added an interesting aspect in our hike. We imagined what it would be like to live there, out of contact from the road and completely submerged in the nature. But, as we looked around for signs to find out the purposes of these buildings, we were left disappointed. There was nothing to help us figure out anything about these buildings. Much like the poorly kept trails, the buildings received no attention from people in an effort to preserve their history. We had to keep on hiking, never to know the uses of the buildings.

The end of the hike was absolutely beautiful. We looked down from the trail and could see the waterfall (a rather small one) hidden between two ravines, with a swimming pool at the bottom. Water streamed through at a steady pace, and created a tranquil, magical scene. After taking pictures (how could you not?), we climbed down to the pool, and took a swim. The water was so cold! But, it was great to escape the Spanish heat. We swam up to the bottom of the waterfall, and under it. From behind the waterfall, we could see out into the pool. Because the water was really cold, we only stayed in for five minutes. But, we relaxed on the outside rocks for more than an hour afterwards, taking advantage of a peaceful afternoon away from the noises of the default world.

After seeing the waterfalls, we hiked down the mountain. We had coffees again at the little restaurant in the mountains to conclude our hiking trip. And we drove back home. Thus, this concluded a spectacularly average day trip in the mountains of Catalonia.