[RWD version 1 ] Montaña Escanfraga is the highest mountain of northern Fuerteventura. It dominates the eastern view from the roadside village of Villaverde, which is easily reachable by bus from Corralejo or Puerto del Rosario.
There are more direct routes to the top such as from the north of the mountain but we opted for a route along a neighbouring ridge to the south. Something like this is shown on the Kompass 1:50k map which shows a route up the ridge using an access road to a reservoir. The route we choose went directly up the ridge to its highest point at 358m
Escanfraga hasn't been actively volcanic for over a million years in the Pleistocene era however the terrain has stretches of molten or bubbled lava with almost no soil on it.
The route proceeds east along the ridge to a large reservoir with 200mm pipes coming out of it.
After around 900m and following the vague route of the Kompass map we turned left, downhill and north over rough but passable ground towards the valley. This brought us downwind of a large goat farm easily discernible by smell.
From there we walked to the extreme eastern end of the ridge that leads towards Escanfraga up a barranco (streambed).
The we walked up the long ridge towards the summit. For the first 2k or so this is gently sloping and with only occasional signs of a path. This apparently is not a popular route for locals or tourists.
The final 800m or so becomes steep and bouldery though moderately easy to get up. There was a howling gale from the north east which I suspect is common, however by keeping to the west of the track we avoided most of this.
The Pirate Lookout
Because Escanfraga is higher than the other mountains of northern Fuerteventura it is a great place to see the other mountains and also the coastline. In fact the three older main ports of the area can be seen from here. This was important in earlier centuries to keep a watch out for pirates who raided the coastline.
The Caldera
When you reach the top you can see the spectacular red caldera of the volcano. The route we choose uses a path that circles the caldera.
The route down
We took a route towards a gps waypoint away from houses and followed this. The slopes were rough and steep but manageable. After reaching roads we walked back into Villaverde