We all got up at 7:30 and got ready to go to El Monte Perdido (also know as Ordesa national park). The drive there was really nice, with the Pyrenees mountains showing conifers and cliffs, Yellow-billed Choughs flying through and evaporating mist. We stopped by a visitor's center, and Vanessa and I birded while our parents went inside to look at the small museum. We saw a lot of Griffon Vultures, Choughs, and a White Wagtail flicking its tail in the parking lot. We also noticed a few people walking with large hiking packs on their backs. There had been quite a few Camino de Santiago hikers in Getaria, and I was pleasantly surprised to see them here. El Camino de Santiago is a Catholic pilgrimage going from France to Spain. Pilgrims (?) hike alone or in groups, and stay in hostals at night. The end point is key: the beginning is in France, but Santiago de la Compostela in Spain is always the end. It's pretty amazing.
The nice park rangers in the Ordesa park itself had seen Wallcreepers just days before near the Coto de Cuitero. Vanessa and I were set on seeing the rare Wallcreeper; a small gray bird that utilizes high altitude cliff walls to eat. So, we headed up the mountain instead of around it like to the famous, more touristy Coto de Caballo trail. It was beautiful, the trees and plants; old, big, slim pines, the pretty bird Coal Tits chirruping and singing in the forest. The hike was difficult but exhilarating. As we reached a fork in the trail a couple of hours in, we knew we would go left because of what the rangers had told us. Rock cliffs would be our queue to start looking for wallcreepers. We went right for a few minutes though to cross a small bridge. The bridge gave us an amazing view of a 200 meter waterfall swooshing down into a river. Small waterfalls glittered toward us, and cliffs rose on one side, dark green conifers on the other. Of course, it started raining right then. Then, to our mingled surprise and delight, it started hailing little balls of ice. Thanks weather! Very fortunately for our frostbite-susceptible selves, there was a small cabin/hut shelter that we had seen a minute before that said "for emergency use only." We took that to mean that if it was a hailing and cold and slippery to hike up a mountain, we could huddle in the hut for a while. So we did, listening to the rain and hail, reading the Ordesa brochure.
Once the beautiful sun came out, we continued on our hike. We got to the rock cliffs, Vanessa and I stopping after taking a family picture to scan the cliffs above as our parents went on. They found a better view, and it was absolutely spectacular. Vanessa and I were half-gaping at the sight and half-staking out a place to look for wallcreepers. After a while, no luck. We did see a large flock of chattering Yellow-billed Choughs, and as we admired the view, a suspiciously large raptor flew across the sky. Another of the Pyrenees must-sees is the Lammergeier, or Bearded Vulture. They are enormous raptors that are known for breaking dead animal bones and eating the marrow. The bird we saw was completely backlit, so we didn't see any markings, but it had long, sharply rounded tail, thin wings, and flew differently than a Griffon Vulture. So. . .one of our dream birds had been seen! I would have jumped up and down if I hadn't been scared I would fall off the cliff :).
We hiked down the mountain quickly because of looming storm clouds. We went home, then went out. The pizzería in Biescas, the closest town that actually had stores and restaurants, has delicious food. I ate a fantastic tostada with jamon serrano, chorizo, a little tomato sauce, and goat cheese. We took advantage of the wifi in the pizzería, seeing as how our Airbnb house was lacking in that area. Then, we went back to Orós and chilled before going to bed.
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