Tenerife: Afur and the Trail of Tears

On the third day of our vacation, we wanted to do a hike of low to medium difficulty, and chose the trail leading from Afur to the coast.  It seemed to be doable, but as we got farther and farther in, it turned into the Trail of Tears. 

 We had a strong start on a good trail in the mountains with cool rocks all around.

We passed what I dubbed "The Garden of Eden"--a private garden right on a bend in a little stream, complete silence among the mountains.  This place is perfect!

 

 We met a nice mountain goat on the way.

 

We really should have started questioning the ease of this hike after the first set of steep steps carved into the side of the mountain, as you can see above.  But no, we forged ahead. 

More steps, even steeper paths, we basically scaled some cliffs.  Our concentration and that of the kids was waning.  We stopped for lunch, and debated what to do.  It was one of those hikes where you have the feeling that you'll reach your goal just around the next bend, it can't be much further, we must have the worst behind us.  Finally, after debating back and forth, I put a veto on continuing this particular trip.  It was just too strenuous, our energy was gone, and there was just no end in sight.

 

Our Trail of Tears ended here at the River of Tears.  The kids got to throw some stones into the shimmering water and then we turned around and were off.

I would have loved to have continued and walked all the way to the ocean, but we just weren't able to on this day.  It was a scenic tour, but probably better done without kids due to some pretty steep drop offs right next to the trail, lots of steps with shaky hand rails, and steep paths with very loose stones.  Maybe next time.