Pico Peñalara
Trail description
A 4.4 km climb of about 650 m from the Puerto de Cotos, past the Mirador de la Gitana and the Laguna Grande de Peñalara in its glacial cirque, then up the slopes below Hermana Mayor to the summit of Peñalara, at 2,428 m the highest peak of the Sierra de Guadarrama. The mountain lies in the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park and is the highest point of both Madrid and Segovia provinces; on the summit there is a survey pillar and wooden signs for several routes. Above about 1,900 m the Scots pine forest gives way to alpine meadows and high mountain scrub, and on the eastern side a glacial cirque holds more than twenty small lakes, home to over ten species of amphibians. The massif, mostly gneiss, lines up Dos Hermanas, Peñalara, the Risco de los Claveles and the Risco de los Pájaros from southwest to northeast.