World's Scariest Path

Thursday, November 12, 2009

When I first saw the title "World's Scariest Path" to the video, I thought, "OK, yeah, right."

:| Boy was I wrong to doubt! This path really IS horrible!! It is the walkway of El Camininto del Rey (the king's little pathway). At first I thought it was perhaps near Mazatlan Mexico or some place in South America; but El Camininto del Rey is in El Chorro, near Álora in Málaga, Spain.

The video, below, is amazing. For one, I cannot BELIEVE that this guy carries it with him the entire way, even when he has to jump across gaps in the pathway, held together by mere rebar (*gulp*); two, there are OTHER walkers on the path-- he just says "hi" and walks AROUND them! Wha?!!?! I'd be freaking out or clawing the rock walls by now. See for yourself. It's a long video, but boy, this really is some walkway, lol!


El camino del Rey - Brightcove
by joliduc


Wikipedia says of it:
El Caminito del Rey (English: The King's pathway) is a walkway, now fallen into disrepair, pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, near Málaga, Spain. The name is often shortened to El Camino del Rey. In 1901 it was obvious that the workers of the Chorro Falls and Gaitanejo Falls needed a walkway to cross between the falls, to provide transport of materials, vigilance and maintenance of the channel. Construction of the walkway took four years; it was finished in 1905. In 1921 the king Alfonso XIII crossed the walkway for the inauguration of the dam Conde del Guadalhorce and it became known by its present name.

The walkway has now gone many years without maintenance, and is in a highly deteriorated and dangerous state. It is 3 ft wide, and is over 700 feet (200 m) above the river. Nearly all of the path has no handrail. Some parts of the walkway have completely collapsed and have been replaced by a beam and a metallic wire on the wall. Many people have lost their lives on the walkway in recent years. After four people died in two accidents in 1999 and 2000, the local government closed the entrances. However, adventurous tourists still find their way into the walkway. The regional government of Andalusia budgeted in 2006 for a restoration plan estimated at € 7 million.


Yikes. Talk about a "tourist trap." :S

5 remarks
Unknown said...

Wow. My heart was in my mouth. I didn't really want to spend the time watching all of that but it was irresistable. I'll link to it from my Writelink blog.

5:32 AM  
Buggys said...

I have a real fear of heights and I coudn't even finish watching this! You would have to be crazy to walk this path!!

10:42 AM  

I told you it was scary!! I had a dream about walking this path last night, YOW!

11:41 AM  
Kim, USA said...

Oh yeah I saw this one featured in Discovery channel I thought it is a bogus but it was not. The part where there was this snake along the path that makes me freak out!! I don't have a fear of height but with snake, yes I do big time LOL! ^_^

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8:55 AM  

Really, it is a good adventure place .I like this type of place for visiting. After saw this video,
I will must be go there on my upcoming journey .

10:42 AM  

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