With jeep taxis up to the Aigüestestortes National Park.
Start from 8.00 a.m. in the small mountain village Boí (Alta Ribagorça) the jeep taxis up to the national park AiGüestortes. We left early enough and ride in one of the first Defenders. The narrow street is closed to public transport. It goes past river courses, lake and waterfall, through lush green forests with black pines, noble firs, forest pines, birch trees and beech trees up to a fascinating natural paradise.
The National Park established in 1955 AiGüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici has an area of 10,230 hectares and forms its own ecosystem in the high mountains of the Pyrenees with around 200 lakes, impressive rock cliffs such as Els Encantats and the characteristic meanders (Catalan: Aigüestortes = twisted water). Most of the park is over 1,000 meters high – some of the surrounding peaks are even up to over 3,000 meters high. The rare bearded vulture still lives here. If you’re lucky, the big bird of prey is just drawing majestic circles high up in the air.
Sant Nicolau
The jeep ride ends where the plain of the Aigüestortes begins: through the valley of the Sant Nicolau with its meadows and meanders, a wide, slowly ascending hiking trail leads up to the Estany Llong. The tour lasts about 1.5 hours and is also suitable for inexperienced hikers with sure-footed mountaineering boots.
The green alpine meadows of the high mountain valley are enchanting. You walk as if on a thick luxury carpet accompanied by the rushing and splashing of the mountain stream Sant Nicolau. First fir trees and roots that have fallen victim to the water are picturesque motifs for landscape photographers.
Large boulders on the shore invite you to linger and have a picnic. So many families came up here especially for this purpose and enjoy the day in the shade of the old fir trees on the edge of the bubbling water.
Picnic on the lake
We hike up to the lake. A larger hiking group has already landed there in front of us, and a herd of mountain cows also uses the opportunity to cool down in the cold mountain lake. We sink our drinking bottles for cooling in the water and unpack the picnic. A siesta in the shade of the trees with your feet in the lake is now just the right thing to then master the march back. If you are well trained, you can of course scramble further up from here and explore the surrounding peaks. Only a few bring up this condition today. Most enjoy the picturesque landscape as we do and eventually relax and hike back to the information point at the end of the Sant Nicolau valley. Here it goes by taxi transfer back to Boí. The Parque Nacional de Aigüestortes enchants with its lush vegetation and its extremely beautiful landscape. A paradise world that also offers blooming landscapes in summer thanks to the many winding waters and provides fantastic photo opportunities. Definitely recommended!
