Trekking In The Sierra Nevada For Two Months

I have done a few treks in my time, some were just for the day, others where for longer. I done a week long trek to Machu Picchu, not the Inca Trail, but an alternative trek called SalKantay. I done that one with a guide and it was amazing. I also done a few treks through the jungle, in Peru, Mexico and Malaysia, also with guides. But the longest one that have I done to date, was here in Spain and there was no guide. Just me, my kids, a friend, her son and two horses and a dog.

Up until this point I had no real experience with horses, besides knowing how much I loved being in their companion. So when a friend of mine, suggested doing a trek with our kids, I jumped right in. There was also meant to be another mother joining us, but she was unable to in the end. In the weeks leading up to the trek, I spend my time making friends with the horse, that would be carrying equipment and supplies for me and my girls.

My friend found some great second saddle bags online for her horse. But I wanted to try my hand at making my own. Which I did, using a pair of jeans and two rucksacks. I cut the seam of the jeans, so that each leg fitted over each side of the horse. You can see the denim over the saddle, in the picture above. Then I sown the rucksacks onto each leg. This invention, lasted me the whole trek and they carried our clothes and some of our sleeping bags,along with cooking and eating utensils and some wholefoods. Mostly rice, oats, millet, lentils, nuts, dried mushrooms and dry fruits.

Preparation is so important and we made a list of what we would need to be self sufficient, as we planned to sleep in our tents in the wild each night. It's really important to have a tent that is super easy and quick to assemble. I shared a tent with my two girls (ours is the orange one) and we each had a sleeping mat and sleeping bag. I took a tarp for extra shade and in case it rained. (it never rained in the end, but best to be prepared and it is not heavy).

Clothes wise, we all had good hiking shoes/boots, warm trousers for when we were in higher altitude and a warm jumper. And then shorts and vests for when we were walking. We brought rain coats, but never needed them. We got up with the sun each day, so that we could start walking while it was still cool and then stopped at midday for a few hours, for lunch and when it cooled down we would walk a little bit again. The most we walked in one day was 15 kms, which is great when you have little kids with you.

We had two maps and our plan was to follow the GR7 trail, but in places it was not safe, so we decided to take the higher routes.
We had a wonderful portable wood gasification stove. You can see me using it in the photo above, it's just to the left of me, we found a lovely shady spot to stop and have some lunch. cook our lunch on. The kids were responsible for collecting twigs, which feed the fire. Because of how it is constructed, the fuel burns more steady and there is no smoke.
A friend very generously lend us a portable water filter, which we used often. As we were quite high up, we did manage to drink from springs most of the time, but sometimes we just filtered the river water.

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I also had a multi tool, a fold able shovel, my Opinel Knife, some matches and some flint.I wish I took more pictures of all the tools I had, but it just wasn't on my mind at the time.
If you look at the picture above, you can see a bag hung up in the tree, that has our food in it. There are a lot of wild boar around and we wanted to make sure that our food was safe from them. Sometimes we found the most beautiful spots and stayed there for a few days. That's whats so nice about having no deadline and no guide, you move at your own pace.

And we camped in some beautiful places. We always made sure that we travelled close to a river or spring, so that we always had access to water. This was also really important for the horses. There were times when we came across dry riverbeds, which was worrying. (Even though we used really great maps, they still were not accurate all the time) On these occasions, we had to approach farmers who lived close by and ask them for water, which they were happy to provide. Sometimes they also invited us to camp on their land, but we preferred the wild

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We also made sure that every 3-4 days we came into a mountain village, so that we could buy some fresh fruit and veg. We often received gifts of fruit and veg from farms we passed and we also foraged and ate a lot of wild greens. Nettles, dandelion, wild rocket, fennel and wild mustard. A few times we came across cherry trees that was just overloaded with fruit. What a gift! I got super healthy and fit during those two months.

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Sometimes the route we chose was not so easy, as the track just got smaller and smaller. It's not to bad if you are just walking, but when you are leading a horse, it is a different story all together. The track in the picture above, may not look too difficult to you, but as we climbed upwards, the width of the track got smaller and smaller and it made me quite nervous. Which is the not the best way to be when you are leading a horse.

Horses are super sensitive creatures and if you do not feel confident leading them, then they will take the lead. Which is not what you want happening on a track, like the one in the photo. Each time I took the rope in my hand, I took a deep breath, telling myself that I was capable. Whilst stepping into my power and leading Solas (the name I gave the horse, Solas is Irish for light) confidently. I came away so much more stronger in so many different ways, thanks to the relationship I developed with Solas.

Those two months changed my life, I became so much more confident in my own capabilities. Being so immersed in nature, day after day, made me much more calm and brought me great healing. I feel blessed to have been able to share this experience with my children. For them to understand how little we actually need in life and how we can be so content with what little we have.

I think it speaks volumes, that the file where I hold all my photos from the trek, is called Happiness.

This is my entry into @galenkp's Outdoors Contest, which you can find here. There is a wonderful selection of questions to choose from and I know that I will be writing a response to a few more of them.