Roundtrip Barranca-La Maliciosa-Bola del Mundo-Valley Río de Navacerrada 13 km

Beautiful roundtrip from the Barranca parking to the peaks of La Maliciosa (2227 meters) and La Bola del Mundo (2265 meters) and back. I did this hike on a day at the end of April on which there was still quite a lot of snow at higher altitude, which made progress slow. The last part of the climb to Maliciosa is quite steep with scree and some scrambling, and walking on snow and icy patches. Most of the route is on clearly visible paths (unless there was snow on it), but especially in the climb to Maliciosa you need some orientation skills and follow cairns. Waterproof (or snowproof) shoes are recommended apart from summer. You need to cross or jump across a stream (Arroyo de la Maliciosa), all other rivers and streams are crossed on bridges (and may largely dry out in summer). No restaurants along the way. There is a large parking at the start at the end of an asphalt road. I saw a monk vulture (cinereous vulture), griffon vultures and female ibex with young, among others. Views across the Sierra de Guadarrama are great, and I could see as far as Madrid, El Valle de los Caidos and Segovia, for example.
From the start you cross the reservoir dam of Embalse del Pueblo de Navacerrada, and then start on the Camino Sur de la Maliciosa. This path takes you all the way up to the top of Maliciosa. At the start there is some wood and some boulders and the path is not too steep. You gradually climb out of the valley, and out of the woods. Going up you pass several formations of strangely shaped rocks and boulders. You pass by Cueva Vivac (a shelter between rocks) and climb further to pass by the rock face of the Peñotillo peak. Here I deviated shortly from the main climb Camino Sur de la Maliciosa to end up with de Vivac del Peñotillo, a shelter in the rock face. On the rocks here I saw the ibexes. You climb further past the rock face and then you get onto a steep slope taking you up all the way to a ridge just west of La Maliciosa. The last stretch of the climb to the summit is easy. The views here are great in all directions. The Bola del Mundo with the TV towers and the rocket like buildings on top is already clearly visible. You then follow the PR M 16 path down along the ridge and then onto the saddle point at Collado del Piornal. From here the path ascends again towards Bola del Mundo. There was quite a lot of snow here. You keep to the south side of the TV towers and pass around it. Again, the views are great here, among others towards Segovia. You get to a mountain road and follow this down towards Dos Castillas, a mountain station of a mountain lift from Puerto de Navacerrada. Just before this building you keep to the left and keep following the winding mountain road down until you choose a path on ridge down past Ventisquero de la Estrada. This path takes you to a minor peak, and here you keep left on the path Camino de la Tuberia. You follow this path down into the valley of the Arroyo de Peña Cabrita. The path takes you into the pine woods at about 1800 m altitude, and you follow it down to a semi-paved forest road. You cross the road and take a path along the Arroyo de Peña Cabrita down to the Fuento de Mingo on the same forest road. You follow the road slightly uphill across two bridges and then take the Senta Alacan path down along the Río de Navacerrada, still through the woods. The path takes you up away from the river and then down to the Arroyo de la Maliciosa. This stream you have to cross without a bridge. During my trip there was enough water, but the stream is not very wide, so I could jump across it. You then follow minor paths along this stream downhill until it flows into the Río de Navacerrada. A bit further this river flows into the reservoir Embalse del Ejercito del Aire. You walk along it, and then cross the reservoir dam. You follow the forest road down to the parking lot at the start.