The wind raises loose ashes from the enormous hump of this gray and naked mountain, crisscrossed by ravines dyed red. I stare in disbelief, reminding myself of an absurd fact: this entire mountain has not yet celebrated its third birthday.
For 86 days, ending in December 2021, the Tajogaite (‘cracked mountain’) volcano took thunderous shape, spewing ash and rivers of lava over the lush Aridane Valley. Houses, roads, fields and banana plantations were swallowed whole.
“The sensational doesn’t compare to what we witnessed,” says Simon Orr-Ewing, a Canadian resident of La Palma licensed to guide groups in this area, which would otherwise be off-limits to live volcanic activity. But it was brutal, devastating. More than 7,000 people had to be evacuated.’
To reach our viewpoint, we had followed Simon up a path through hardened ash covered in chunks of pumice. The tops of trees and chimneys loomed through the devastated ground.
My wife Hennie and I are on a week-long itinerary along the volcanic trails of La Palma, put together by specialist hiking company Inntravel to enjoy the island’s stunning newborn landscapes. We stayed in a trio of small hotels that we walked between with luggage transported by taxi.
Rock star: Martin Symington and his wife travel to La Palma (pictured), where they join Inntravel’s Volcanic Trails itinerary, walking between hotels to enjoy the scenery of the Canary island.
Even before the eruptions temporarily closed the island to visitors, La Palma was a less visited Canary Island. There are few beaches or hotels and little nightlife. Instead, it attracts niche markets such as walkers, nature lovers and stargazers.
The fact that La Palma is not easily accessible is an advantage. We arrived there by propeller plane from neighboring Tenerife. At first glance it’s lava: a jagged chunk of rock, wrapped in a tattered green shawl, drifting in the white-covered Atlantic. La Palma rises to form a volcanic cone higher than Ben Nevis, with Snowdon at the top.
Our first stay is in small, windy Santa Cruz, the main city, which in the days of the Spanish Empire was an important port. We found tree-shaded squares and houses painted in pastel colors with wooden balconies that could be in colonial Colombia.
Martin walks to the Tajogaite volcano (seen here), which erupted on the Spanish island in 2021. “It was brutal, devastating,” says Simon Orr-Ewing, a Canadian resident of La Palma. “More than 7,000 people had to be evacuated”
Above, a sign next to the Tajogaite volcano directs hikers to various landmarks. “One characteristic of volcanic islands is the variety of terrain,” says Martin
A characteristic of volcanic islands is the variety of terrain. In the next few days we will navigate through dizzyingly deep valleys, terraced in small plots of avocados and dragon trees, to emerge in thickets dotted with prickly pears. We immerse ourselves in a laurel forest covered in lichens and dotted with the cones of the eruptive past.
The last walk takes us to Las Indias near the southern tip. On what is our most physically exhausting day, we hike along the rugged coastline and then descend precipitously as the sea grows ever larger.
Beyond Las Indias we emerge to vast flows of magma discharged by the El Charco and San Juan volcanoes in 1712 and 1949 respectively. Our footsteps crunch and pop along a path of black ash. The naked lava makes me feel like an ant on the flank of an elephant. A side trail reveals inlets with waves crashing over strange black sculptures of solidified lava.
Along the way, Martín stays in Santa Cruz (pictured), the main town of La Palma. “We found squares shaded by trees and houses painted in pastel colors with wooden balconies that could be in colonial Colombia,” he writes.
Martin describes La Palma, pictured, as a “piece of jagged rock, covered in a tattered green shawl, adrift in the white-covered Atlantic.”
The final stretch to our urban destination Llanos de Aridane is by car on a new road devastated through the wasteland of the 2021 eruption. As our eyes follow the thick tentacles of octopus lava towards Tajogaite, I remember that geography and geology do not They are history in an active volcano; They happen before your eyes.
I mentioned stargazing. With a clear atmosphere and light pollution minimized by law, La Palma is one of the best places on the planet to observe the sky. So, on our last night, with astronomer Elena Nordio of Ad Astra, we spiraled up to the Llano del Jable viewpoint.
Through Elena’s telescope, we are amazed by Jupiter and its moons, the Orion Nebula and the hazy Andromeda galaxy. Did I write before that La Palma has a negligible nightlife? Sorry, clean that up. With swaths of lava below and diamonds in the sky, the nightlife is out of this world.