TRIP REPORT PHOTOS
The entrance to Sarakina Gorge (called Sarakinas Canyon on this sign) is located northwest of the small village of Mythi:
A short narrow road leads to the parking area:
This is part of the water collection system which pipes water in from an area beyond the end of the lower gorge in the bamboo valley:
First view of the mouth of the canyon from the parking area:
To get into Sarakina Gorge, it is necessary to climb these concrete steps through the brush:
At the top of the steps, a small pathway leads hikers to the canyon mouth:
There are a few tight spots like this crossing between a large boulder and some tall grass:
The pathway eventually ends and deposits hikers in the canyon wash:
Just inside the mouth of the canyon looking back out:
This is the most photographed spot in Sarakina Gorge -- the beginning of the 1st Narrows:
A picture of Steve taken at the entrance of the 1st Narrows:
Beautifully polished walls with colorful patterns:
Hiking through the towering walls of the 1st Narrows:
In the shadows of the narrows on another hot day in Crete, Greece:
Looking straight up out of the 1st Narrows. Sarakina Gorge makes hikers feel really small:
A stunning contrast of blue, grey, and tan rock walls:
The next section of the 1st Narrows features a large amount of fallen boulders:
Another look back at the spectacular first passage in Sarakina Gorge:
This place definitely rivals some of the best canyons back home for scenery:
Look how small Gary is in the picture in comparison to the canyon walls and huge boulders:
Another pretty collage of colors on the canyon wall:
Climbing through a boulder-filled narrow passage:
Steve pictured in the darkness of the narrows while climbing:
The first example of Crete's "Moki steps". Some would call these steps helpful, while others would call them vandalism. I lean towards the latter as I prefer to see a canyon in its natural beauty:
Absolutely huge boulders which have fallen into the wash. These must be navigated around and climbed:
Notice the narrow passage to the right which allows hikers to continue up canyon:
Amazing scenery can be seen high above the canyon on the walls and rim:
Trees finding a way to thrive in the wash despite so many boulders everywhere:
Consistent high narrow walls through the early part of the canyon:
Two pictures showing the continuous challenges while hiking. This shows a typical boulder climb:
And this shows a polished dry fall climb:
Since we needed plenty of rest breaks in between obstacles, we could always enjoy the beauty of Sarakina Gorge:
At this spot, three quick obstacles presented themselves. First, it was necessary for us to walk in these "Moki steps" and avoid falling into the brush on the right:
Then we had to climb under the branches of this tree and pull ourselves up these boulders:
Finally, we had to climb through this rabbit hole passage in the boulders in order to keep going:
Sarakina Gorge once again rewarded us with spectacular canyon walls and scenery:
Zooming in on the canyon wall which looks very similar to slickensides back home:
Hopefully you can see what I mean about endless obstacles and climbing spots in the canyon:
Up ahead, we could see the gateway into the 2nd Narrows:
This is perhaps my favorite spot in Sarakina Gorge where the high narrows get very tight and lean over even closer about halfway up:
Two pictures of Steve and Gary at the beginning of the 2nd Narrows:
The nice thing about passing through the narrows (besides the great beauty) is that the wash levels off and there are less obstacles:
Depending on what time of day you are hiking through here, the sunlight and shadows will create some great contrast pictures:
Yet another very beautiful spot which was amazing to walk through:
Another one of my favorite pictures in Sarakina Gorge. We got the lighting and angle on this one just right:
Alternate portrait view showcasing the height of the walls a little bit more:
Portrait and landscape views showcasing the polished rock walls with white patterns:
Notice how the walls of the 2nd Narrows stay continuously close together for quite some distance in the next two pictures:
View looking out the end of the lower gorge. This is technically not the head of the gorge, but it feels that way since the high walls soon disappear:
Sarakina Gorge wasn't going to let us escape the canyon that easily. It presented one more major obstacle. This is the pool obstacle as seen at a dry time of year. To bypass it, we had to climb to the right on some rock steps and then use the rope and ladder to get down:
Exiting the 2nd Narrows and lower gorge:
Looking back into the end of the 2nd Narrows:
From here, we followed a path which cut through some brush on the left hillside:
We varied between the hillside path and dry wash in the next two pictures:
Eventually, we saw an exit sign for the gorge to take the loop hike back. That spot is what I refer to as the "3-way Split". To start with, we stayed to the left and attempted to follow Sarakina Gorge farther upstream:
There were a few challenging climbs and bypasses which were much harder than the basic climbs in the lower canyon:
The canyon finally closed in and became a slot once again:
The short impressive slot quickly dead-ended at this major dry fall:
Zooming in on the top of the dry fall and the treacherous canyon above us:
Looking back out the slot as we turned around:
Being used to doing major bypasses to continue up canyons in California and Utah, we attempted a very steep hillside bypass on the right side of the slot:
We did find our way above the slot. This is the view looking down into the slot which certainly is a bit scary. I didn't actually get this close to the edge, but held my camera over and took the picture:
There was no way to safely get back into the canyon. Thus, we continued more steep hillside climbing, following closely behind some Cretan goats we ran into:
Eventually, we called it quits. We couldn't seem to find a way back into the canyon and kept running into a large fence which blocked access (built to protect goats from falling into the canyon from above). Also, the terrain kept getting worse and worse. We enjoyed this view for a while and then headed back to the 3-way Split:
Once back at the 3-way Split, we chose the middle option and followed this rough road briefly:
We found a way to hike from the road back down into the wash of a stream. This is the stream from which water is being pumped down canyon into the collection system. We were now in the central part of the bamboo valley:
This area consisted of bamboo, tall grasses, and flowing water:
It was quite scenic and pretty, as well as very refreshing in view of the heat:
For a while, we hopped across rocks and walked on one side of the stream or the other:
As the pools of water got deeper, it got harder to keep our feet dry:
Checking out the bamboo valley proved to be a great addition to this hike:
At this spot, Gary decided to relax by the water for a while as I continued upstream:
Around right here, I gave up on keeping my feet dry and began hiking directly through the stream:
A pretty series of waterfalls began as the steepness of the area increased:
Two small waterfalls with a good amount of flowing water:
Bigger obstacles presented themselves beginning with this massive boulder jam:
I decided to turn around at this pretty waterfall, because the terrain got steep and the stream seemed to take a sharp turn to the right just above this spot:
Relaxing in one of the natural pools in the bamboo valley area of Sarakina Gorge:
A fresh-water crab kept playing hide-and-seek with us:
Picture the scene -- an extremely hot day, a long challenging hike, and two weary hikers. Now imagine stumbling across these mouthwatering wild grapes:
There was no way we were passing the grapes up. We both picked a couple of bunches and enjoyed a delicious snack which gave us a burst of energy and helped us finish the hike:
Once back at the 3-way Split again, we took the right hand fork (on our left hiking down canyon) and began the loop route back to the car:
View looking as far up the bamboo valley as we could see:
View of the historic village of Males as seen during the loop route back:
We decided to take a shortcut through this olive tree grove in order to avoid a longer hike on pavement. It was quite challenging and probably consumed more time than just sticking with the roads:
After we got back to our car, we drove partway back to Myrtos and then checked out this isolated lower section of Sarakina Gorge. In the distance, we could see what looked like slot narrows:
Zooming in on the separate lower section of canyon. The terrain didn't look easy to get there as it was quite overgrown, so we decided not to check it out at this time. Instead, we drove back to Ammoudara and called it a day:
