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The Ordesa & Monte Perdido, National Park, Spain
This National Park is dominated by a glacier-topped mountain - The Lost Mountain
The Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, in the Aragón Pyrenees in Huesca province, is dominated by the glacier-topped massif of Monte Perdido ('the lost mountain'), rising up to a height of 3,335 m, with the peaks of the Tres Sorores - Monte Perdido itself, Cilindro and Soum de Ramond - looking down onto the four valleys of Ordesa, Pineta, Añisclo and Escuaín.
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Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park is in the Aragonese Pyrenees at the foot of Monte Perdido, which rises up 11,007 feet.
Ordesa and the neighboring French Western Pyrénées National Park have been recognized as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site.
The Arazas River with its beautiful waterfalls weaves over the park. The landscape varies from lush valley forests and meadows, to steep limestone slopes and delicate alpine reaches.
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| Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park |
The Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park at the north of Huesca province in Aragon includes one of the highest peaks in the Pyrenees, the Monte Pedido, at 3,355m, and sits roughly midway along this mountain range.
The park extends to 15,000Ha and includes lush green valleys and forests, high meadows and steep slopes, surmounted by the high peakswith glaciers.
The Ordesa valley, with its attractive rock formations on either side, coming down from the Monte Perdido faces west and catches plenty of the moist air coming in from the Atlantic (most valleys in the Pyrenees face either north or south) leading to a lush flora.
Above the tree line, many seasonal wildflowers including edelweiss, gentians, orchids, violets, belladonna, and anemones, can be found in the meadows.
The birdlife in the park runs to 170 species, including golden eagles, griffon vultures and alpine finches, while the mamals present include ibex, wild boar, otters and foxes.
There are a wide variety of walking and climbing opertunities in the park which has unrestricted access from May to mid November though snow can be a problem at either end of the season.
The park can become quite busy during mid August when most of Spain is on holiday.
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Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park Facts
- The park is a land of sharp contrasts, from the arid landscape of the high grounds, where any rainfall and ice-melt disappears into cracks in the rocky ground, to the lush green of the valleys below, blanketed with forests and meadows, with the water forming waterfalls as it flows through the ravines.
- The original area of Ordesa y Monte Perdido – the Ordesa Valley – was declared a National Park by Royal Decree in 1918. The park was extended to the 15,608 hectares it covers today in 1982, and forms, along with the Viñamala Hunting Reserve, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and is also classified as a World Heritage Site and a special protection area for birds.
The variety of ecosystems found here have both Atlantic and Mediterranean influences, with a rich variety of flora and fauna
- Extensive forests of beech are seen growing on the valley slopes, together with oak, birch, ash and willow. The higher slopes are covered with forests of black pine, giving way, in the high meadows above a height of 2,500 m, to smaller species of flora, many of them native, which have adapted to this harsh environment.
- Animal species abound, from the Pyrenean muskrat and wild boar, to the mountain cat and marmot.
Birds of prey found here include the Golden Eagle, Royal Owl, and the bearded vulture, or ‘quebrantahuesos,’ for which feeding stations are set up in the Escuaín area of the park as part of a recovery plan underway in Aragón.
- The park was the last refuge of the Pyrenean Ibex, a species which had reduced to just ten animals in 1993 when a management plan was brought in to preserve the species. It became extinct when the last Pyrenean Ibex was found dead in the Park in January 2000.
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| Getting There
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By car: : the simplest access to the Valle de Ordesa is via the E07/N330 Huesca-Biescas, followed by the C140, Biescas-Torla via the Cotefablo Pass, from where you can drive into the park. For the Añisclo, Escuaín and Pineta valleys take the C138, Ainsa-Bielsa, and side roads that branch off toward these valleys.
During Oct-Apr weather conditions, particularly snow levels, should be checked because often the park is inaccessible by car during these months.
By rail: one daily service runs from Madrid to Sabiñánigo and on to Jaca, and Regional services run on the Zaragoza to Canfranc line.
By bus: in July and August there are 2 buses daily between Sabiñánigo and Torla operated by Uberbus, T: (974) 21 32 77. From Torla during these months there are buses every 15 min to the park. Call T: (974) 24 33 61 for more information.
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