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Google Maps revealed an entrance point for Canada del Lobo a 6.5 KM upward walk away. In total this hike would be 20 KM. Michelle decided to stop using water as weight as it was potentially inaccurate and way too low on our backs. She decided to pack her bag for the real world which our Camino would be. I chose to do the same. It took some time to sort my stuff into 3 piles. Pile 1 might be clothes I'll donate. Pile 2 is clothes I hope to store until after the Camino or return home with Mike and Donna. The rest is production Camino stuff. I did not pack all that hard and the bag was tough to close. I'll pack harder next time. We weighed what we had and again things did not make sense. I was 30 pounds and Michelle was 27. Now I'm really confused.
The route to the Canada del Lobo makes similar uphill turns as our Benalmádena-Arroyo de La Miel Train station trip. The difference is soon way more up towards the Train tracks and under the highway. Once under the highway a nice sidewalk welcomes you up some more. We took a short break at a cemetery that offered a bathroom and a few stray cats to try to pet. Not too long later is a well paved unused road that leads to many trails. Our route hit several KM's of pretty steep switch backs. In both directions we pass by other walkers, real bikes and hybrid bikes. This was a popular route despite being challenging. It really was a painful slog up and up and up.
Thankfully we came to a decision point in the route for multiple trails. It was nice to see something different. We came across a group from Quebec for a short section of the trail. We were now on a trail towards the Mirador de la Cañada del Lobo https://maps.app.goo.gl/4bREBtK1tuFdpW1t8 and the Albergue Cañada del Lobo https://maps.app.goo.gl/3hVYCLeKcstQjqMcA
I wanted to stick to the plan of walking our entire 10 K so we skipped the extra distance needed to see the Wolf. We were entering into some really nice trails and foliage visited by both hikers and mountain bikers. After some tough rocky descents and hard climbs we were only 800 metres from our intended destination. Michelle was toast. I was toast too but it was wise to stop. The signage was poor and it was hard to tell the direction to follow. One trail went up even more while another led down towards a familiar site of a limestone quarry. I suspected we could probably shorten our walk home by heading towards the Canada del Lobo sign we passed on our first attempt of this trail. In fact a few KM's earlier we passed a young couple happy to see us indicating they had hiked from Torremolinos. I'll do some research later to see if we can make more sense of this trail.
The safest way back although possibly longer was to backtrack the way we came. We knew in our heads the huge accent would be easy going down. Sadly we had some slogging to do just to get there. I met a Chinese couple I saw earlier. The wife first approached me asking for help. With no words of English I could not. Her husband spoke decent English and we learned they wanted to return to Torremolinos as well. I suggested the longer way as it was known. He was willing to take a chance and push forward into the unknown. Assuming they made it back, I hope his wife still loves him.
It was finally time to start our switch back descent. It went on for a crazy amount of time. We had no real sense of how much work we had done. Thankfully the city sidewalks and roadway portions of the descent became easier and easier. We did not bring enough water so the first restaurant we found, despite being closed offered, us yummy coke zero's to take away. Siesta hours are a pain here.
A few more steps down and we stumbled into our hotel room. A quick clean up, Happy Hour dinner and bed. We were toast.
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