Canyoning in the Gorgo de la Escalera de Anna

Last Saturday, instead of staying at home as we usually do, I decided to have a different experience with my partner.  We decided to try canyoning, so without further delay, I contacted a company that organises this kind of activity and off we went.

It was recommended that I try a beginner course, since I had never practiced this type of sport. It was a beautiful, wild and simple water ravine located in the Valencian town of Anna, known as the Gorgo de la Escalera.

We met at nine o’clock in the morning at the location provided to me by the company via WhatsApp, which was the gas station at the town entrance, where the guide met us and explained the activity to us. After marking some guidelines, we began to equip ourselves while he explained how to put on each piece of equipment and told us the reason for its importance and use. Once we suited up, we set off towards the start of the ravine, what the guide called the “approximation”. This part only lasted about 5 minutes; we walked along the shoulder of the road to town for a few metres down a path just until we reached a bridge on this same road, where they had prepared a wall to explain rappelling technique to us before the start of the activity.

The guide explained the equipment we were carrying to us as well as the function for each piece, the figure eight, carabiners, ropes... He showed us how to position our body and the correct rappelling technique in a very easy and entertaining way. I think we all understood it right away, now it was a matter of putting theory into practice. After the explanations, we headed over to the top of the first canyon, a short wall, about 4 metres high with water at the bottom, which was fantastic, at least with our wetsuit on, ha ha.

To access the top of this rappel line, he gave us a horizontal line that he called a handrail, and told us that this was a safe way for us to access the canyons; in case we were to slip or in the event anything unexpected happened, we wouldn’t fall down.  I was felt very reassured about the situation and safe after having everything explained to me. We used the anchors move along this “handrail” and we reached the spot where he was waiting, which was only 4 metres away. Once I was by his side, he anchored me to a safety rope, attached the figure eight and I got right down to business. As I travelled down the rope, the guide spotted me with another rope that was anchored to me, so that, if I were to let go, he would keep me safe from above. I reached the water, freed myself from the ropes and placed myself in a safe spot that he indicated to me. We walked about 150 metres along the riverbed until we reached the second canyon, this time it was a little higher, about 8 metres high. Here he repeated the same operation, handrail, rappelling, safety rope, explanation and off I went.

This time the canyon also ended in the water, but this one was very different. I was surrounded by rocks covered with green moss and a lot of different coloured plants, light and dark, brown, green, silver... I stayed floating for a moment in the crystal clear water and I felt at peace. I completely forgot all my daily worries, there was no stress, no noise, and I was in the most beautiful place I had ever seen in my life...

When the guide came down, we left this incredible place by swimming down a narrow corridor with rock walls on both sides until we could stand. Here we continued trekking through the water, climbing over protrusions and embankments, leaving the riverbed from time to time to walk on the trail buried in leaves from deciduous trees. I particularly remember two moments in our journey that made me feel wild, well actually, there were three.

The first was a stretch when we were tucked into a forest, the birds sang as if they were safe and happy, of course, as any animal in that setting would be.

The second was a cave with a small waterfall that the guide called the “Jacuzzi”. It was a circular cave where you could sit and there was a sparkling waterfall that fell between the rocks. I never wanted this moment to end, I was very happy.

And the third moment was when we reached an incredible waterfall that I would never have imagined could have been there... we crawled through a narrow and small tube formed by reeds and plants, against the water, and if you got down too low, it would hit you in the face. We climbed a small one metre protrusion and when I raised my head I could not believe what I was seeing. There was a 20 metres waterfall right in front of my eyes, full of life and vegetation, with so many different colours like those of the rainbow, greens and blues, yellow rays of light, greys, reds...it was simply beautiful...

We stopped here for a while to take some pictures and we left through the same place we had entered. We continued to swim about 200 metres until we reached a tourist bathing area where there were a lot of people, truth is, there were too many for my taste. We went up some stairs that took us to a jumping area.  There were two 6 metre jumps and an 8 metre jump.  I wanted the activity to live up to my expectations and to keep adding to the day’s experiences, so I decided to jump from the 8 metre platform.

The guide explained the correct way to jump, never with both feet together, but with one foot in front of me and the other behind me, with my arms at my side and my body as straight as a board... After he took the first leap and I had a good look at his technique, it was my turn. I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it, but you have to be daring in life and overcome your own limits so.... 1...2...and 3... Splash!!! Perfect entry!!

At least according to what he told me, the truth is that I closed my eyes and I didn’t see a thing, but I will never forget the feeling of flying and entering the water... Well, after this jump he came up to me and gave me a high five, a gesture that was accompanied by a great energy, I liked the feeling, I felt like I was with my mates.

We were coming to the end of the activity, when I hit the biggest challenge of my life, a 25 metre leap... when I saw it, I freaked out, but thanks to everything I learned during my canyoning experience, I felt capable of that and much more. Just like with the previous canyons, the handrail was mounted so we could safely approach it, and I held on tightly, anchored by my carabiner until I reached it.  It was literally next to a waterfall. I anchored the safety rope to one of my anchor lines and placed the figure eight.  The guide explained how I had to pass a small protrusion at the end of this rappel and then I would be completely hanging. My feet wouldn’t touch the wall…and there I went. I grabbed the rope so hard that at first I couldn’t descend until I began to relax a little and he helped me remember how to rappel properly. The first 4 or 5 metres I was able to descend with my feet on the wall. The impressive waterfall was right to my left; there were times when, if I got too close to it, it would hit me on the left shoulder with a stream of water that came out with an incredible force. I placed myself right behind it and went down little by little, holding my rope tightly, until I got to the point where I had to hang. I let myself hang and I continued descend slowly.

Once I had reached the end of the rappel, I couldn’t believe what I had managed to do. I had descended a 25 metre waterfall. I... was just... I was speechless... I went to the safe area where the guide had indicated that I wait for him to come down and from where I could see whole waterfall. I was mesmerized, such clean water, those colours, the roar of the water as it crashed onto the ground, the moss-covered rocks, the fish... just everything...

When I had realized, he had flown down like a ray of lightning, put the ropes in his backpack, came up to me and we took an incredible photo in front of the waterfall, I thought, this is for Instagram, ha ha.

He said we could take our helmets and harnesses off here, and at this point we started the “return trip” to our vehicles. We walked for about 20 minutes along paths and later down a trail that took us to the top of the bridge where we had started the descent. We continued along the shoulder to the gas station and finally, we reached our cars.

We took our wetsuits off on top of a tarp that he put on the ground; the truth is that he was very careful with the safety equipment. He put it in the van and we headed for a beer. He told me that on the mountain, the activity is not over until you’ve had a beer.  I thought it was a great way of thinking. We were talking about my experience and he told me some funny anecdotes about other personal experiences of his, we laughed a lot and it was time to say goodbye. I thanked him profusely, and he thanked me for trusting him, we each went to our cars and left. I know I’ll do it again...