Natural Park Posets-Maladeta: Ibón del Sen

As a result Raquel's very impressive guide to Sestrales Alto, I extended my stay in Escalona by 2 more days. Raquel thought I would like a change of scenery and gave me 3 options (1 easier, 1 similar and 1 more difficult than the trek to Sestrales Alto). I chose to visit 3 lakes,  Ibón del Sen, in Parque Natural de Posets-Maladeta (Natural Park Posets-Maladeta). No R&R!

The Posets-Maladeta nature reserve is "a group of mountains located in the most north-easterly sector of the Aragonese Pyrenees. It is situated at a great height, between 1,500 metres at the bottom of the valley and 3,404 metres at the summit of Aneto". (Source: www.spain.info). The national park was named after the 2 highest peaks in the Pyrenees.

We ascended from Engrota (1800m). It was colder and I had to put on a long sleeve top and pants before I started. There was a dam next to where we parked and this time, I could not see my destination. Again, Raquel did the emergency briefing. Again, Javier packed too much food.

My picnic basket

Orange lichen

The terrain was different from yesterday's. Today where we started, there were trees. There were also green, orange and grey lichens on the stones. I thought that the grey bits were just colouration of the rocks until Raquel pointed out that they were just lichens in different colours and then went on to explain that they were actually a parasite and and a plant. (For those who are interested, lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and a photosynthetic partner, usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium.) 

Green and grey lichens

The rocks were limestone (Raquel told me in Spanish and I only understood when she told me CaCO₃. There were some flowers which were the same as yesterday's and there were different ones:

Androsace alashanica

Narcisse (Eng: Narcissus)

Once we were on the plains, Raquel told me to observe the valleys. She explained how we were going to ascend and that would come down on the left and the river would be on my right. She was rather serious because it concerned my safety.

Valley on the left

Valley on the right

Today we were nearer to the snow and also passed by waterfalls and rivers along a trek marked by yellow and white.

Melting snow

We passed by a field of dried iris (from last year). Imagine how this place will look like in summer.

Today, besides the flora and fauna, we also examined the holes made by wild pigs and mamotas (they live 7m underground) and excretion of fox, etc.

Entrance to a marmot's dungeon also acted as a marker for trekkers

Dung beetle

Excretion of fox

I finally got a clearer picture of a marmot too.

Marmot

Then we had to get across some rocks to get to the first lake (a pond really) that we did not stop for.

The first lake (pond)

Next came the tricky part – snow. We did see patches of melting snow along the way but to get to the bigger lake, we had to put on gaiters. Raquel had the difficult task of setting the way and I merely followed her footsteps. Except for some parts where I sunk into the snow and got my ankle lodged, we reached the 2^nd and biggest of 3 lakes – Ibón del Sen (2350m) without issues to have lunch.

The Ibón del Sen is a glacier lake, which was formed when glaciers retreated. It was thawing and would eventually appear as blue water in summer. Once again, my enviable position to have lunch:

Ibón del Sen and Aguilas d'el Sen in the backround 

After lunch, I scrambled (Raquel skipped along) on some rocks to get to the 3^rd lake, which was at a lower altitude and therefore less frozen.

On our return leg, we were very lucky to see more than 10 pyrenean rebecos (in Spanish) (Eng: pyrenean chamois, Aragonese: sarrio, Sci: rupicapra pyrenaica). They were in groups of 3s and 4s. We were probably about 100m away from them and gave them a scare. They danced their way up the rocky mountains with such swiftness and grace, I was in awe.

Where the sarrios danced up

Raquel went on to explain that these were the females and their kids. The males travel alone and only join the females in the mating season each year. Sure enough, we saw a lonely one by a stream.

Raquel must have had let me into a great secret because except for the flora and many birds and sarrios, we did not meet anyone at all.