Accessible hiking in Ordesa, the nature that Victor Hugo fell in love with

Through the Ordesa Valley, hikers walk with their heads held high. Even if one eye is on the stones and obstacles on the way, it is difficult to stop looking at the heights fascinated by the forests and rocks of the environment. It is common for hikers to recreate themselves in comparisons between this postcard landscape of Huesca and other very distant ones seen in books and screens. Some equate it with certain alpine valleys and there are those who sense a Hispanic imitation of the American Rocky Mountains.

Similes of praise, though inaccurate. At least that’s what Victor Hugo would think, who discovered the mountain range during a trip in 1843 and expressed his love for these Pyrenean lands in laudatory paragraphs like this: “Now they have the Pyrenees before their eyes. Whatever they may have seen, what they see now is nothing like what they have found elsewhere.”

The French writer fell for his charms. So much so that he wrote a travel account about what amazed him here: “The invited traveler, going through these scenes, will appreciate the greatness of the objects and the silence of nature. He will contemplate above his head the immensity of space and under his feet the depth of time. He has never seen anything more imposing than these wide and majestic valleys covered with forests as old as the world”.

Grandiloquence very typical of the 19th century, but which is still valid. It may be that another tone and language is used today, but the sensations that Ordesa provokes in the present are very similar. The almost 600,000 visitors that the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park receives each year share the same astonishment as Hugo when they dwarfed themselves under those “rocky ledges, giant stony risen from the sea, which lean out into the void in astonishment at this spectacle. A scene created by nature over millions of years.”

A natural show that deserves to be enjoyed by everyone. For this reason there is an accessible path for people with disabilities. Obviously this path does not reach wild places such as Gradas de Soaso or the Cola del Caballo waterfall. And it is impossible for it to reach the meadows of Góriz, the starting point for the ascent to the summit of Monte Perdido. But it is a path at an altitude of 1,300 meters that is perfectly suited for people with mobility problems.

It is a journey of more than a kilometer from the Ordesa meadow, where there are also several parking spaces reserved for adapted vehicles for people with disabilities. From there begins a walk on a platform flattened with earth and concrete, which is also flanked by a skirting board, very useful for visitors with vision problems.

The accessible path of Ordesa hardly has any slope, since in its 1,200 meter journey there is a slight difference in level of 30 meters and the most powerful ramp is 6%. And as if that were not enough, there are rest areas along the itinerary. To go up this short section of the Arazas River, the great sculptor, with all the calm that is necessary, next to the ancient ice of the Ordesa canyon.

Once the meadow and the parking area are left behind, the path initially runs through a more open area that appears to be surrounded by the usual plant species found in Pyrenean riparian forests. But after crossing a bridge and going to the other bank of the Arazas, the hikers enter the thicket of a beech forest typical of tales of gnomes and enchanted fairies.

It is a radical immersion in nature, as accessible as it is unexpected for those who suffer from mobility problems. Visitors end up getting used to walking surrounded by the colours, smells and dim light of the beech trees. You might think that this is the high point of the tour. However, it is not so. Suddenly the forest ends and the landscape opens up to discover the monumentality of the canyon that gives its name to the national park. Faced with this vision, one cannot agree more with Victor Hugo: “Nature is magnificent; wild as the dreamers need it”.

The trail continues a little further until it reaches a second bridge over the waters of the river. It is the end of this accessible road. You have to return along the same path but with the opposite perspective, although equally beautiful. Although before the return it is essential to sit for a moment in the rest area raised above the riverbed. Some benches invite you to relax in front of the panoramic view. And for those who want to enlighten themselves, there are several information panels in various languages, including Braille.

However, when you read something in front of the formidable limestone massif and the glacial cirque of Cotatuero, nothing better than a quote from the author of Les Miserables, who in his nineteenth-century style makes the best description of the enclave: “Is it a mountain? But what mountain has ever presented such rectilinear surfaces, these strange symmetries? Is it a wall? Indeed there are towers that buttress and support it. Battlements here, cornices there, and the foundations and stones that the eye distinguishes and could almost count. They are mountains and walls at the same time. It is the most mysterious building of the most mysterious of architects. It is the Coliseum of nature”.

After visiting the Ordesa Valley, returning along the road towards the town of Torla, there is a detour to the right, at the height of the Navarros bridge. If you are sure of the driving level and the quality of the vehicle’s damping, do not hesitate to take this track. In about six kilometers you will reach the spectacular Bujaruelo valley.

If in the neighboring canyon of the national park one attends a spectacle of natural solemnity, here one discovers a friendlier and more welcoming aspect of the mountains. This was always a place of passage for shepherds, pilgrims, smugglers or exiles. That is why no one should be surprised by the presence in this remote corner, the graceful bridge of San Nicolás rises next to the ruins of an old medieval hermitage.