Climbing "El Mulhacén" (Spain)

When I was in in Granada, I really wanted to do a 2 day hike in the Sierra Nevada nearby...
So I asked on CouchSurfing for some tips, and decided to do conquer Mulhacén!

I packed some food, a lot of water and got some warm clothes and was psyched to go!

Early in the morning I took the bus to Güejar Sierra, a small mountain town, from there it is only a few kilometers to the beginning of
"La Vereda de la Estrella", a hiking path along a valley into the Sierra Nevada. The early sunrise on the "path of the star" was incredible :)

Weather was great, the path was beautiful and easy: very green, following a riverbed, over some bridges, passing an old deserted mining town...

And in the distance El Mulhacén appeared:

Then the vereda de la estrella ended at the cave "La Cueva Secreta", and from there on the vegetation got more and more sparse, and the hike started getting steep...

Looking back I could see the valley I hiked up so far, even the mountain town I started in.

After almost 20km and 2000m of altitude and another very steep ascent I finally got to "La laguna de estrella", where I planned to sleep below the stars before going to the the summit on the next morning!

Before sleeping I removed the bag with my food from my backpack, so I could use the backpack as a pillow.
After a picturesque sunset, temperatures dropped quite a lot in that altitude, so I put on my warm clothes and went to bed early.

In the night I awoke from a sound right by my head.
Did some other people come? I turned on my headlight, but noone there.
But then I saw a pair of eyes staring at me: A small fox (in 3000m altitude?!) stood right next to my camp staring at me, my bag of food in his mouth! I got out of the sleeping bag, yelling "Hey! This is my food!" and throwing a stone after him.
Luckily he dropped the bag so I could go back to sleep, this time with my food safely hidden.

In the morning I got on my way to attack the last 500m of altitude left to the peak, up the rocky and steep terrain.

Now my way joined with the more popular path starting on the other side of the mountain, so there were some other people on the way. Reaching the top, it sadly completely disappeared in a cloud, so the view was practically nonexistent...

It was cold and windy on the summit, so I just had a quick meal and decided to go back down, not waiting for the cloud to go away. Hiking down I could see the lagoon I slept in from above :)

Getting lower, it got really hot again, my water supply got low, and the last kilometers I was looking forward sooo much to go to one of the restaurants I saw near Güejar Sierra...
But of course: We are in Spain: Siesta! Everything was closed when I got there, so my well deserved meal had to wait a little longer :D

After this great adventure I had to rest my sore muscles a little though, so back to the sea, relaxing in my hammock :)