15/950 Petrified Falls Lollipop
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 9.48 mi
- Elevation gain
- 3,156 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Very difficult
- Elevation loss
- 3,156 ft
- Max elevation
- 3,548 ft
- TrailRank
- 30
- Min elevation
- 2,237 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 5 hours 29 minutes
- Coordinates
- 5136
- Uploaded
- January 20, 2021
- Recorded
- January 2020
near Lentegí, Andalucía (España)
Viewed 159 times, downloaded 15 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
NATURAL PARK
Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama
The Cascade of the Petrified Trees
This spectacular waterfall is even more remarkable for the petrified tree trunks lying in the water. How did they get here?
In the 1920s, logging companies in the Sierras used the river network to transport resin pine logs, cut in the forests upstream, to the sawmills of Cázulas downstream about 20km inland from Almuñécar.
During their journey, some logs were left stuck in areas that are difficult to access, such as this waterfall. With the passage of time – and the lack of oxygen within the waterfall to rot the wood – the limestone-rich water here filled the cells and other empty spaces of the trunks, which are coloured yellow by minerals such as iron or manganese. The petrified wood that resulted preserves the original structure of the stem in all its detail, from tree rings down to the microscopic level.
These curious creations of nature are a rare sight in Spain, as the majority of these old trees, thanks to the skills of the loggers, made their way to the sawmill to be transformed into railway sleepers.
Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama
The Cascade of the Petrified Trees
This spectacular waterfall is even more remarkable for the petrified tree trunks lying in the water. How did they get here?
In the 1920s, logging companies in the Sierras used the river network to transport resin pine logs, cut in the forests upstream, to the sawmills of Cázulas downstream about 20km inland from Almuñécar.
During their journey, some logs were left stuck in areas that are difficult to access, such as this waterfall. With the passage of time – and the lack of oxygen within the waterfall to rot the wood – the limestone-rich water here filled the cells and other empty spaces of the trunks, which are coloured yellow by minerals such as iron or manganese. The petrified wood that resulted preserves the original structure of the stem in all its detail, from tree rings down to the microscopic level.
These curious creations of nature are a rare sight in Spain, as the majority of these old trees, thanks to the skills of the loggers, made their way to the sawmill to be transformed into railway sleepers.
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