Saturday, February 05, 2011

Daredevils Walk El Camino del Rey in Spain



I am looking for translators to translate this post into German. Email me if you are interested.

Spanish translation (en Español).


The Camino del Rey is a very narrow pathway that winds along the edges of a steep mountain gorge in El Chorro, near near Álora in the province of Málaga, Spain. Málaga is in the far south of the southern autonomous community of Andalucia, on the Mediterranean Sea.

Over 100 years ago, hydroelectric dams were built at Chorro Falls and Gaitenejo Falls in the gorge, but it was difficult for hydroelectric workers to go back and forth between the two projects. A pathway needed to be built. It was commissioned in 1901 and finished four years later.

The walkway is only about one yard wide and it is extremely treacherous. Over the years, it has fallen into serious disrepair. Most of the handrails have fallen off and in many places, the trail itself has collapsed, leaving only narrow steel bars or other objects to connect one section of the trail with the other. A safety wire still runs along the path though.

In recent years, several people have fallen from El Camino del Rey to their deaths in the gorge hundreds of feet below. After two deaths, one in 1999 and one in 2000, both entrances to the trail were closed by the Málaga Regional Government. Yet if this video is any evidence, people are still finding a way to hike this completely insane and dangerous as all get out trail.

This video is wild. You would have to be insane to hike on this trail in the shape it's in, but many people, mostly young males, apparently continue to do anyway.

No comments: