Coll de l’Estany Pudo - Estany Pudo - Coll del Serrat de Garrabea - Estany de Garrabea - Estanyolets de Gabarrea Loop

Magnificent walk through high mountain areas that will allow you to see some very beautiful and less visited places. Start of the trail is at the small parking lot that at kilometer 48 of the C-28 close to Port de Bonaigua.

This scenic loop through the Vall d'Arreu follows an established though unsigned trail from Port de la Bonaigua up and over Coll de l’Estany Pudo to the lake below. The trail often starts through herds of cows and horses and climbs steeply up until a little plateau where below you can see the small Bassa de Boscàs. Shortly after there is an intersection where the descent route joins and I turned right at the unclear junction. This leads down slightly then a the trail becomes more clear again up to the Coll de l'estany de Pudo.

After the Coll is an easy, clear descent to Estany Pudo, panoramic views and lots of wildflowers to enjoy on the way. At the Estany the trail skirts along the right side then becomes less clear after leaving the lake, though there are rock cairns to follow that lead up across rocky screw then up a steep grassy slope to the Coll del Serrat de Garrabea.

From here the trail descends the other side to the small grassy lake en route to Estany de Garrabea. I wanted to visit another little lake/pond I saw on the map therefore here I deviated from the standard, direct way to Estany de Garrabea and this part of my recording does not have a trail or route markers. I would recommend skipping this side trip and continuing directly to Estany de Garrabea from the little grassy lake as the detour meant my way down to the lake was slow going through big boulders and overgrown vegetation.

After skirting the left side of Estany de Garrabea I found the yellow paint markers that guide you for the rest of the route. It is a steady but easy climb up to the right of the estanyet de Garrabea and then continues a little steeper to the little coll above. Panoramic views to be enjoyed on both sides. At the coll starts the descent down along the eastern flank of Tuc de la Cigalera, again I detoured to pass by three estanyets en route down but followed paths the entire time. Then back to the connection to the ascent trail at the Boscàs bassa and the return.

NOTE: my garmin watch recorded the distance as 10.19km and 754m elevation gain - just as reference for planning as the wikiloc recording is not as accurate.