Interactive hiking guide
Carros de Foc
Carros de Foc is a circular route in the Central Pyrenees and it traverses through Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park. The park is home for over 200 lakes and along those 63km you'll see plenty of them. It's a hut-to-hut hike that you can complete in 5-7 days. Most of the route is inside a National park so pitching a tent in any circumstances is completely prohibited. This includes "sunset to sunrise" bivouacking as well.
You can do the hike either way: clockwise or anti-clockwise. It seems to be more common to do it anti-clockwise. I did it clockwise only because the refugios didn't have availability on the dates I needed. However, I'd say the biggest question is whether you want to climb up or come down a big boulder field. If you prefer climbing boulders it's better to do it anti-clockwise.
The hike is hard mostly because of Col de Contraix and the boulder fields that are on both sides of it. If you wish to complete the hike by yourself you should have experience navigating in the high mountains and reading the signs on the terrain. I did the hike by myself and slept all the nights at the refugios.
Adventurous route filled with pristine lakes in the Pyrenees
- LocationSpain
- DifficultyHard
- Distance63km
- Stages5 days
- Elevation Gain 4600m
- Elevation Loss 4600m
The Elevation Profile
Total Distance
-km
Elevation Gain
m
Elevation Loss
m
Max Elevation
m
Min Elevation
m
- Stage
- Point of interest
How to get there
The best place to start would be Espot. From there you can take a jeep taxi that takes you to the trailhead and one of the most beautiful lakes in the park: Estany de Sant Maurici. You could also hike from Espot if you want to do an extra 7km. Since it's a circular route you can take the taxi back to Espot once you finish.
The closest airport is in Barcelona. Getting to Espot would be easiest with your own car (3,5hr) but it's also possible with public transport. I took Alsa bus from Barcelona (6hr) and it dropped me off at Pantà de la Torrassa which is a 7km walk from Espot.
Water & food
The hike is an isolated high mountain route, so you won't pass through any villages or restaurants. You'll only go through nine mountain huts which do offer food and drinks. I'm a big fan of Catalan cuisine but unfortunately the food at the refugios was a disappointment. I slept all the nights at the refugios so dinner and breakfast was included. I only carried my own snacks for lunches.
Water is not a problem along the hike. You'll follow many rivers and pass by numerous lakes.
Accommodation
The route is connected by nine mountain huts that are all staffed, they have warm showers and they offer food throughout the day. You need to bring your own sleeping bag. You can make reservations through this link.
Wild camping
Inside the National Park it is completely prohibited to pitch a tent in any circumstance. Even "sunset to sunrise" bivouacking is illegal.
Some parts of the trail goes outside the National Park so technically you could do a bivouac in the high mountains above the tree line.
When to go
The refugios open from early or mid-June and close end of September or mid October. Since it's prohibited to camp inside the National park you can only do the hike when the refugios are open. I did the hike in mid July.
Money
You should carry cash because not all the refugios accept cards and the service might not work for card payments.