Towering walls
2,000 metres.
imehling — CC BY-SA 3.0 · H. Zell — CC BY-SA 3.0 · imehling — CC BY-SA 3.0 · imehling — CC BY-SA 3.0 · HLI-Photography — CC0
Caldera de Taburiente is a national park on the island of La Palma in Spain's Canary Islands, containing a huge caldera that dominates the north of the island, about 12 km west of Santa Cruz de La Palma in a straight line. It was declared a national park in 1954. Caldera means cauldron in Spanish, while Taburiente comes from the Guanche language and means plain. The caldera is a depression about 10 km across, with walls in places towering 2,000 metres above its floor. Its highest point is the Roque de los Muchachos on the northern rim, at 2,426 metres, close to the telescopes of a famous observatory. It is an erosion caldera, formed by a landslide followed by erosion rather than by volcanic collapse. Towering red, brown and green rock walls ring the caldera, cloaked in pine forest, with clouds often draped over the peaks. Streams and rocky beds run along the floor, and to the southwest the caldera opens to the sea through the Barranco de las Angustias, home to the only permanent stream in the Canary Islands. Visitors drive up to the Roque de los Muchachos for views down into the caldera, or to the La Cumbrecita viewpoint on its southeast rim, while others hike the long trails to the caldera floor. The trails are demanding and long, and the weather changes quickly up high.
2,000 metres.
The highest point.
On the walls.
Caldera de Taburiente National Park, La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain
Drive to Roque de los Muchachos.
Long and demanding.